August 18 & 19, 2020 Edged Weapons, Armor, & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/18/2020
A period mock mourning card for the demise of the Confederacy framed with a pro-Confederate colored carte-de-visite of Confederate flags. This is a very interesting presentation of a Civil War mocking broadside posing as an obituary notice printed by James B. Rodgers at 52 & 54 North Sixth Street, a Philadelphia printer. Measuring an impressive 8-3/4" by 7", the card has great visual appeal, printed in black, with a black border and black filigree corners, professing to announce the demise of the Confederacy, "near the south-side railroad on Sunday, April 9th, 1865." It includes a 10-stanza rhyming epitaph. No date is given, but it is significant that location of its death is given as the "near south-side railroad" rather than the much more familiar later designation of Appomattox. It is also telling for the date that Lincoln is designated as the "attending physician," a bit of black humor that wold have been inappropriate after his death on April 15. This has been nicely matted on a piece of black fabric to simulate mourning crepe, on which at lower center is an original colored carte-de-visite showing the Confederate first and third national flags with the Confederate battle flag at center, below which appear cannons and dismounted cannon barrels amid ruined stone walls with drums, swords, and a spade in the background. Period cartes-de-visite featuring Confederate flags show up with several different designs, some include a setting sun or clouds suggesting a vanishing dream, but they plainly express a southern sentiment and are marketed to a pro-Confederate clientele. The juxtaposition of the carte-de-visite with the mock mourning card is clever and suggestive bit of framing. SR
Item Dimensions: 17 - 1/2" x 13".