UNITED STATES CONFEDERATE STATES LOCALS Athens - Greenville

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Local issues in the Confederate States were issued in (1861): Athens, Baton Rouge, Beaumont, Bridgeville, Charleston, Danville, Emory, Fredericksburg, Galatin, Gollad, Gonzales, Greenville, Greenwood, Grove Hill, Halletsville, Helena, Independence, Jetersville, Kingston, Knoxville, Lenoir, Livingston, Lynchburg, Macon, Marion, Memphis, Mobile, Mt. Lebanon, Nashville, New Orleans, New Smyrna, Petersburg, Pittsylvania Court House, Pleasant Shade, Rheatown, Salem, Spartanburg, Tellico Plains, Uniontown and Victoria. Information on forgeries and bogus issues can be found on http://www.rfrajola.com/csa/csaindex.htm or at http://members.home.com/kr.baker/csa/fakes/ (Kevin Baker) or at http://www.jlkstamps.com/webpage/index1.htm

Athens, star 'paid' and value in double ellipse, inscription 'T. CRAWFORD PM'

Genuine! Genuine, image obtained from a Cherrystone auction Type 2


(Image obtained from a Siegel auction, other type)

  5 c violet (2 types) 
  5 c red (2 types)

The red stamps are even rarer than the violet ones.

Examples of forgeries:

This forgery does not have a line below 'PAID'

Bogus issues for Athens:


(inscription 'POST OFFICE ATHENS, GA. 1 c, 2 c and 5 c, value in black)

I have also seen this bogus issue with a smaller red value inside (3 c red).

 

Baton Rouge La. inscription 'J. Mc Cormick'


(Genuine, reduced sizes, images obtained thanks to a Siegel auction)


(Genuine, images obtained from a Siegel auction)


(Genuine, image obtained from a Rumsey auction)

  2 c green
  5 c red and green 
  5 c red and green (border different)
  10 c blue

A misprint of the 2 c green exists with inscription 'McCcrmick' ('c' instead of 'o'):


Misprint of the 2 c, once belonging to the collection of Ferrari.

Forgeries, examples:

Forgery! Forgery!


Forgery in wrong color (green on yellow) with background pattern in the same color. I've also seen 5 c red and 5 c dark-green of this particular forgery.

Some more sophisticated forgeries:

5 c red and green

The distance between the tiny background circles should be 4.5 mm, however in the above forgeries it is 3.75 mm. If I'm well informed these forgeries were made by the forger Upham.


Some other primitive forgeries, reduced sizes


Bogus stamp.

 

Beaumont


(Genuine, image obtained from a Siegel auction)


(Genuine on letter, reduced size, images obtained thanks to a Siegel auction)

  10 c black on yellow
  10 c black on lilac

Non issued stamp?
(Bogus issue)

 

Bridgeville

(Sorry, no picture available yet)

  5 c black (border red)

Only one pair of these stamps seems to exist.

 

Charleston, inscription 'P.O. CHARLESTON S.C. POSTAGE PAID'

Image obtained from a Siegel auction

  5 c blue

Forgery?
Bogus issue, I have seen cut squares in a similar design, but without the dotted background.

 

Real envelopes with this design exist (without the dotted background):


(genuine envelope, image obtained thanks to a Siegel auction, reduced size)


(Some other forgeries or essays?)


Charleston P.O. Paid, fort. Two types, note the different 5's

I have also seen a 2 c brown in the above Charleston design. Album Weeds also mentions a 1 c in this bogus design, but I've also seen 10 c values. I have also seen a green stamp in the above design with 'X's in the corners instead of a value. Several colors seem to exist of each value.


Another bogus design for Charleston, now "5 cts." in an ellipse. I've seen this design in the colors red and black on yellow, besides the black on green color shown above.

 

Danville, inscription "PAID 5 CENTS W.D. COLEMAN P.M."

Image obtained from a Cherrystone auction.


(Genuine on envelope, reduced size, image obtained thanks to a Siegel auction)

  5 c red

Similar stamps but with inscription "J.P.JOHNSON" were issued for Pittsylvania Court House.

I've seenrather deceptive forgeries in red and blue with slightly different lettering and ornaments.

 

Emory, 'paid' and value in circle


(Reduced size, picture obtained from a Siegel auction)


Image obtained from a Spink auction.

  5 c blue

 

Fredericksburg, inscription 'FREDERICKSBURG S.T. THOM POST OFFICE VA'

Genuine Genuine, image obtained from a Cherrystone auction


(Reduced sizes)


Genuine? Image obtained from http://www.webuystamps.com/provision.htm

  5 c blue
  10 c red

I've seen forgeries in wrong colors of the 10 c value: 10 c black on red, 10 c black on lilac, 10 c black on yellow. All of these forgeries have the '10' in much thinner numbers than the genuine stamps shown above.

Non issued stamp?
(Bogus issue, made by Taylor? Note the security underprint on the blue stamp)


A slightly different forgery, but in a similar design.


(Another bogus issue closely resembling the above one, now with inscription 'Post Office.')

 

Galatin, inscription 'Galatin, Ten. To a finish'

(Sorry, no picture available yet)

  5 c green on yellow

It is not quite clear if this is really a postage stamp.

 

Goliad, inscription 'Goliad POSTAGE'


Image obtained from a Cherrystone auction


10 c; image obtained from a Spink auction.

  5 c black
  5 c black on red
  10 c black
  10 c black on red

forgeries exist, example:


(Forgery!)


Other forgery, reduced size

With name of the postmaster left and right


(Genuine, reduced sizes, images obtained from http://www.webuystamps.com/provision.htm and a Siegel auction) The 10 c stamp belonged to the Ferrari and Hind collection.


Image obtained from a Cherrystone auction; 10 c black on blue

  5 c black on grey
  5 c black on blue
  10 c black on grey
  10 c black on blue

Image obtained from a Siegel auction
'GOILAD' error, stamp once belonged to the Ferrari collection

The next stamp is probably a forgery:

I've seen a forgery of the 10 c design (with name of the postmaster) in the bogus color red.

 

Gonzales, no value indicated

(Sorry, no picture available yet)

  5 c yellow on blue
  10 c yellow on violet

 

Greenville


Genuine stamp, image obtained from a Cherrystone auction.

Image obtained from a Siegel auction
10 c Greenville stamp, once belonged to the famous Ferrari collection

  5 c blue and red
  10 c blue and red

Apparently two types exist of each stamp.

A certain James A. Petrie discovered the first Greenville stamp. Instead of selling it, he decided to sell a limited number of forgeries of these stamps, which he made himself. He managed to fool everybody (even the Scott catalogue had a picture of his forged stamp instead of the genuine one), until a genuine second copy was found in 1881. Later his fraud was discovered. (source: 'Philatelic forgers, their lives and works' by Varro. E. Tyler). I have not been able to obtain a picture of a Petrie forgery. If anybody has a picture of such a stamp, please contact me!


(Forgeries, wrong colors)

I have seen many other forgeries in the wrong colors.

 

For locals of Greenwood to Marion click here.


Copyright by Evert Klaseboer