THREE RARE AND GEM MINT REMARKABLE PROOFS OF STAMPS FROM GREAT CENTRAL SANITARY FAIR

The Great Central Sanitary Fair, like others held throughout the North, used many methods of fund raising with all of the revenue going toward purchasing a variety of necessities for soldiers in the field. This consisted of paper and envelopes, ink, sox, soap and a long list of items. Everything sold at the Sanitary fairs was donated and the items were sent to soldiers in the field. ALL of those working at the fairs were donating their time and noto taking even a small salary.

Sanitary fairs were held for the express purpose of benefitting Union troops. The fairs, not unlike a modern bazaar or fair were held in a very large warehouse-like building with booths for selling goods and spaces for various displays. The range of items donated to be sold covered a large spectrum of goods--pies, dolls, pictures, jam, farm and household goods and even a specially written and signed copy of the Gettysburg donated by President Lincoln--was enormous and they sold quite well.

These Northern fairs, each typically running for a couple of weeks, were incredibly successful in raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the benefit of the troops.

These are proof stamps, on special heavy paper, trimmed and with no perforated edges or gum on the back. The proofs were made for the same reasons most any stamp or printed item is proofed--to study the color and quality. And in this case, the Sanitary Commission also had to decide on what colors would be used. The 10-, 20-, and 30-cent stamps would each be one color and these proofs would help decide on which colors. You will notice that all three of the stamps carry the same 20-cent denomination.

These "Cinderella" stamps--the name indicating they were not real and could not be used for actual postage--were all sold to raise money. I assume that the stamps were actually sold to fairgoers by denomination. One could purchase 10 20-cent stamps for 20 cents each or perhaps a number of each denomination (10, 20 and 30 cents). The costs would be denomination on the face of the stamps. Many were kept as souvenirs and others were used on mail.

The fairgoers were urged to put one or more of these stamps on their outgoing envelopes along with the actual postage required. Those purchasing the Cinderellas were made aware--repeatedly--that they were not to substitute for actual postage.

As one would expect, proofs were made in very smal quantities, just enough to answer a variety of questions. All are very rare and some are printed on this type of paper, some on the very thin, lightweight "proofing" paper and others on quite heavy almost cardboard-like paper. Once the stamps were printed, they were all on typical postage stamp paper and with gum on the back.

We were very fortunate last year to acquire a collection of proof Sanitary Fair stamps. If you have interest in other proofs or in the actual examples of the stamps, please contact us as we have a nice variety available. --and that number should drop considerably once this sale is underway.

Proof stamps often sell in a range of $100 to $200 or more each. The price here is for ALL THREE 20-CENT STAMPS SHOWN.

Please contact us for additional actual fair stamps and/or proofs.

WE WILL SEND THIS LOT POSTPAID...& WITH REAL MODERN POSTAGE.

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