Census of Alexandria Va., 5c Black on Buff, Postmaster's Provisional (Scott 1X1-1X2)

Notes:

The “Blue Alexandria” (Bartels #5)
Stamp cancelled by black “Paid”, second strike and “Alexandria D.C. Nov. 25” (1847) cds on brown cover to Miss Jannett H. Brown, care of Mr. Washington Gretter, Richmond Va.
Envelope has some faults and mended tears
Letter dated Nov. 24, 1847, from James Wallace Hoof to his second cousin, Jannett, who married on Feb. 17, 1853 (see May Day Taylor, “The Alexandria Blue Boy: The Postmaster, the Letter, & the Legend,” The American Philatelist, May 2006)
Never certified

Provenance:

1907 (around Nov. 10) Discovered by Mrs. Jannett B. Fawcett, daughter of addressee and widow of Dr. Fawcett
1907 Offered to J. M. Bartels by Mrs. Fawcett; before Bartels could reply she sent it to her cousin, a Philadelphia attorney named Mr. Brown
1907 (shortly before Christmas) To George H. Worthington thru Bartels for, Realized $3,000
1915 To Henry C. Gibson from Worthington, private sale thru Warren H. Colson
1922 (Feb.) To Alfred H. Caspary thru Colson
1955 Nov. 15 Caspary sale, H. R. Harmer sale, $10,000, to Raymond H. Weill Co. for B. D. Phillips, Lot 4
1961 (Jan. 17) to Josiah K. Lilly Jr. from B. D. Phillips, private sale thru Weill
2/2/1967, Siegel Auction Galleries, The Josiah K. Lilly Collection, Part 1: United States Postmasters Provisionals, 19th Century Postage and Official Issues, Sale 312, Lot 3, Realized $18,500, 1967 Feb. 2 Lilly sale, $18,500, to Weill for John R. Boker Jr.
1971 Traded by Boker (along with Baltimore 10c on Bluish cover) for some important German States items [1]
1973 Bought by a group of international dealers and then to David Feldman [1]
1975 To an anonymous European collector from Feldman for CHF350,000 [1]
1981 (May 8) to a German collector for $1,000,000 [2]
[1] L. N. Williams, Encyclopaedia of Rare and Famous Stamps, 2. The Biographies, page 171
[2] As advertised by David Feldman

Certificates: