Lot
2959 
Confederacy, 1862, 5¢ blue. Defect at left, tied by "Charleston, S.C., May 19" cds on cover to addressed to Mrs. John H. Chiles, New Market P.O., Abbeville District, South Carolina with manuscript endorsement at lower left "Please send by Millway Carrier.", F.-V.F. and rare. Scott No. 4 Estimate $400 - 600.
The "Millway Carrier" notation has always been somewhat of a mystery. Even though the cover originates in Charleston, the mark is associated with the Millway S.C. post office. Pre-war and C.S.A. covers are both known with the "Millway Carrier" notation. "Millway" was also the name of a plantation in that area. Noted C.S.A. Philatelist Dick Krieger wrote a two-part article on the "Millway Carrier" notation which appeared in the May-June and July-August 1988 issues of the Confederate Philatelist. In his article, he outlines the very confusing mail routes in the Millway region of the Abbeville District and points out that the "Millway Carrier" notation is seen only on covers addressed to New Market S.C. New Market was a depot on the Greenville and Columbia Railroad some 15-20 miles distant from Millway. Neither New Market nor Millway appear on a current map of South Carolina. He further concluded that the notation was a routing instruction applied by the sender to make certain that the letters were carried on to Millway by the official government mail routes. In other words, this was not a private carrier service. There has been some speculation among SC Postal Historians that a slave from the plantation may have been used at least part of the time to bring the mail from New Market to Millway, but this remains as speculation and has not been proven.
Realized: $250