Signed Postal Cover / Unsigned Photograph

As commander of U.S. forces in Germany (1947-49), Clay was in charge of the 1948 Berlin Airlift. Signed Postal Cover, 6½" X 3½", cancelled in Marietta, Georgia (the city of Clay's birth) on 1972 April 23 (the date of Clay's birth). Fine. Single 6-cent "Dwight D. Eisenhower" stamp and 2-cent "Frank Lloyd Wright" stamp at right. In addition, an appropriate 32-cent "Berlin Airlift delivers food and fuel in 1948-49 blockade" stamp added in later years -- cancelled, appropriately, at Berlin Station, APO, on 1998 June 26. No decorative cachet at left; no distracting recipient's name/address. At the center, Clay signs large and bold in black fineline, adding "Gen USA (Ret.)." NOT a First Day Cover, but an enterprising collector created this unique cover cancelled in appropriate places on appropriate dates. Accompanied by an absolutely superb and itself scarce 8" X 10" news agency photograph (International News Photo) of 7 October 1947 depicting Clay (in uniform) and two others leaving a military airplane; caption running alongside reads in part, "U.S. Ambassador to Russia W. Bedell Smith and Lt. General Lucius Clay, Commander of American Occupation Forces in Germany followed by Ambassador Robert D. Murphy, political advisor to the commander in chief in Germany as they arrived today from Russia and Germany for conferences with the State Dept., White House, and Dept. for National Defense to discuss means of combatting the new Soviet move to block the Marshall Plan...." A fine pair.