1864 Gonzales Provisional envelope hits auction block

An envelope sent from Gonzales to Houston in the latter days of the Civil War should fetch a nice price when it goes to auction later this month.

On June 21, 2023, H.R. Harmer Fine Stamp Auctions will be offering at public auction the ninth of ten installments of the “Erivan” Collection of United and Confederate States Postal History.

This collection represents one of the most comprehensive and important holdings of American postage stamps ever assembled, and its appearance at auction marks a watershed moment for the hobby of philately.

Highlights from the past few years include an envelope carried by Pony Express to Abraham Lincoln, which sold for $330,000, and the famous “Blue Boy” stamp of Alexandria, Virginia, which realized an impressive $1.18 million. 

This upcoming sale includes an 1864 envelope from Gonzales, Texas to Houston Texas that was sent near the end of the Civil War. 

When the Civil War broke out, the newly-formed Confederate States of America was left trying to figure out how to set up their own postal service. The Confederate government was not initially focused on producing postage stamps, as resources were being directed towards more pressing matters. Consequently, some Southern postmasters began creating their own stamps and stamped envelopes in lieu of federally issued stamps. 

This “stamp” is actually an advertising label for the firm of Coleman & Law that the town used in place of postage stamps. John V. Law was the postmaster at the time and used his own labels presumably as a form of free advertising. There are only three genuine envelopes with the Gonzales Provisional stamp. This envelope has not been offered at auction since 1999 and is expected to bring in far more than the $5,000 starting price, according to experts in the industry.

“This Gonzales provisional represents a very rare instance of a postmaster’s ingenuity in a time of need,” remarks Charles Epting, CEO of H.R. Harmer Fine Stamp Auctions. “It also gives you an appreciation of how the Civil War affected every corner of people’s lives, including how they communicated with each other.” 

The value of this item cannot be measured in merely monetary terms — it is a key piece of Americana and Texas history.

Erivan Haub (1932-2018), a German businessman and philanthropist with a love for American history, spent decades curating a collection of United States stamps and postal history that documents the rise of America in the 19th Century and beyond.

Haub preserved some of the most precious artifacts from America’s past, and this coming June this extraordinary Gonzales envelope will once again have a chance to make history on the auction block.