1c Blue, Type IV (9). Position 80L1, recut once at top and bottom, large even margins, tied by "New York Feb. 14" circular datestamp on Barnabas Bates illustrated propaganda cover with elaborate design for Cheap Inland and Ocean Postage, wonderful depiction of steamship and railroad train, imprint on back, our 1978 Baker sale description noted a "closed tear" in the bottom of stamp but this might be nothing more than a slight crease, and is not mentioned on new P.F. certificate

EXTREMELY FINE. A MAGNIFICENT BARNABAS BATES "CHEAP INLAND AND OCEAN POSTAGE" PROPAGANDA COVER AND BELIEVED TO THE ONLY EXAMPLE KNOWN WITH THE ONE-CENT 1851 ISSUE.

Barnabas Bates (1785-1853) was born in England and came to the United States as a child. He became a Baptist preacher in Rhode Island, where he was also for some time collector of the port of Bristol under President Adams. Bates became a Unitarian and established in New York in 1825 a weekly paper called the Christian Inquirer. During the administration of Andrew Jackson he received an appointment in the New York post office and was for some time acting postmaster. He became a reform advocate for cheap land and ocean postage, founding the New York Cheap Postage Association, which published this envelope in 1851.

Ex Knapp, Fleckenstein, Baker and Vogel. With 2021 P.F. certificate

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