Ice House cover found
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One of the most famous covers in United States postal history has been recovered after more than 38 years. The cover was stolen from the collection of J. David Baker, a specialist in postal history of the 1869 series. Mr. Baker died several years ago, but received an insurance settlement for the cover shortly after the theft. Now, there are several issues surrounding ownership of the cover, as nobody is quite sure which insurance company paid the settlement, and there is at least one collector that claims ownership by virtue of having bought the rights to the cover from said insurance company. This cover will surely be the subject of many philatelic news stories in 2006, not the least of which is just the fact that it has been found.
The cover is famous because it is the only cover known with a 90c Lincoln stamp from the 1869 series. There is, however, some doubt as to the genuineness of the cover, and there have been many expertisers in the last few years that have lamented the fact that it has not been available for examination. Now, the truth may finally be determined about this cover. Then again, maybe it won’t, as items like this tend to take on a legend status that outlives the reality of the item itself. The cover is pictured below. Here is a link to a much more in-depth article on VSC. There is also a very lively discussion of the cover taking place at VSC. Click here to view the discussion.
