Spring 2022 Sale

"No Mail Service", crisp strike of straightline handstamp from Memphis, Tennessee, with additional "Mails Suspended" in oval applied at the Washington, DC Dead Letter Office, "New-York Nov 20 1862" double circle datestamp on cover to Holly Springs, Mississippi, sender's "via Memphis Tenn." at top, "Memphis Tenn. Dec 2" duplex backstamp, small tear at left edge due to opening, otherwise very fine, the only recorded example of the Memphis "No Mail Service" handstamp, 2022 Philatelic Foundation certificate
Specific handstamps were used by the post offices in Memphis, Nashville, and New Orleans to indicate the suspension of mail service during and after the Civil War. Mail was then sent to the Dead Letter Office in Washington, DC, where an additional "Mails Suspended" handstamp was sometimes applied. These markings are discussed in more detail in Benjamin Wishnietsky's 1983 article "Thoughts On 'Mails Suspended'" in the Confederate Philatelist (Vol. 28, No. 4).
Provenance: Rarities of the World (R.A. Siegel 596, 1982)
Milton Mitchell (R.A. Siegel 859, 2003)