#64b
1861 Rose Pink 3¢
Basic Info
3¢ Rose Pink
Printing Method: FLATE PLATE
Printier: The National Bank Note Company
Subject: George Washington
Number issued: not known
Perforations: 12
Watermark: Unwatermarked
Scott #: 64b
Issued: August 17th, 1861
Value
Used
$150 - $200
No postmark with gum (MH)
$160 - $300
Full perfect gum, no postmark
no trace of stamp hinge mark (MNH)
$800 - $1,100
First day cover, August 17, 1861
Montgomery Blair was the Postmaster General at the time. He was an ardent and loyal Lincoln supporter. He was enthusiastic in his drive to deprive the South of both a mail service and Federal Stamps. His haste only led to delays in the transition and the birth of various schemes by entrepreneurs to profit from the change. He was fortunate in that new designs had already been prepared prior to his tenure and thus he was able to implement his plans a little more quickly than possible.
Union patriotic cover with #64b
Due to the Confederacy we need to change the design!
In order to prevent the fraudulent use of the large quantity of stamps remaining unaccounted for, in the hands of postmasters in the Confederate states, it was deemed advisable to change the design and the color of those manufactured under the new contract, and also to modify the design of the stamp upon the stamped envelope, and to substitute as soon as possible the new for the old issues. It was the design of the Department that the distribution of the new stamps and envelopes should commence on the first of August, but, from unavoidable delays, that of the latter did not take place until August 17th.
You have seven days notice to do so!
A notice went out to Postmasters declaring that they could exchange the old design for the new design, but they only had seven days to do so. After that point all the old designs would be demonitized and therefore of no value. This notice was an abject failure, and the period of grace was twice extended, all the way up to November.
Some of the border states of the confederacy kept the stocks of the new design , although invalid in the Southern States they were happy to sell at 50¢ on the $ to postmasters in Union Kentucky.
The Postmaster General declared that no from the North would be delivered to the South by the US Postal Service. This was also a failure. It prompted two companies in Kentucky to start a roaring business delivering mail across the border. These companies then smuggled guns, slaves and all sorts of contraband during the course of the civil war. Two examples of this private mail service are shown below
Union patriotic cover with #64. The cover ridicules the concept of the Confederacy repaying its bonds
Whitesides, delivering US mail and contraband, across the border to the Confederacy
The 1861 1¢ and 3¢
