The William H. Gross Collection: 1847 and 1851-56 Issues continued...

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VERY FINE APPEARANCE. ONE OF THE MOST REMARKABLE EXAMPLES OF A CALIFORNIA PENNY POST COMPANY FRANKED ENTIRE. EXAMPLES WITH ADHESIVE STAMPS FOR GOVERNMENT POSTAGE ARE RARE, THIS BEING ONE OF THREE WITH FOUR 3-CENT 1851 STAMPS. ANY PENNY POST ENTIRE WITH THE ADHESIVE STAMP TIED BY A COMPANY HANDSTAMP IS EXCEEDINGLY RARE.

The California Penny Post Company was established in June 1855 by Henry L. Goodwin (sometimes reported as "J. P." Goodwin). The Penny Post advertised service in several larger California towns and cities, offering to carry letters to and from the local post office, to bring letters to one post office and deliver them to the addressee from the receiving office, and to run an express service between towns after the government mails were closed for the day. A specific rate was charged for each service, and these rates are reflected in the stamps and entires issued by the Penny Post. For a relatively short-lived operation, the Penny Post produced a large variety of stamps and printed envelopes to facilitate prepayment and collect-on-delivery mail.

Almost immediately the Penny Post incurred the wrath of the San Francisco postmaster, and Goodwin became involved in protracted litigation trying to fight the government. Most writers have reported that the Penny Post closed down after twelve to eighteen months, but we have never seen source documentation to establish exactly when service ended. There is one June 1, 1856, Penny Post entire with the name of the post and "Penny Postage Paid 7" crossed out (Siegel Sale 773, lot 219), which might be evidence that the Penny Post closed before that date.

The printed franks are found on plain envelopes and U.S. 3c stamped envelopes. The rates correspond to the company's advertisements, but the application of these rates, patterns of usage and certain enigmatic covers have yet to be explained to our satisfaction. The cover offered here, for example, is a very rare use of the 5c frank on a plain envelope (34LU9) with U.S. postage paid by the 3c 1851 Issue. The 5c Penny Post rate covered delivery of the letter from the San Francisco office to the addressee. Why 12c government postage was required is not obvious from the cover itself. Perhaps the sender or Penny Post office in Stockton applied enough postage to one envelope to cover four letters for delivery in San Francisco.

A pencil note on back in Edward S. Knapp's hand reads "P.P. can(cel) on 3c is a rarity. This cover one of the few examples known and one of the rarest items from Dr. Chase's collection--1929". The Scott footnote to 34LU1-34LU15 states "The U.S. adhesives are seldom cancelled with the Penny Post cancellation. When they are, the cover sells for more."

Illustrated in Letters of Gold (p. 65). Ex Chase, Knapp, Hindes, Haas, Dr. Martin and Hackmey. With 2005 P.F. certificate. (Image)

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VERY FINE. A REMARKABLE USE OF THE CALIFORNIA PENNY POST COMPANY FRANKED ENTIRE. EXAMPLES WITH ADHESIVE STAMPS FOR GOVERNMENT POSTAGE ARE RARE. THIS USAGE FROM ST. LOUIS SENT WESTWARD TO SAN FRANCISCO IS UNIQUE.

The California Penny Post Company was established on June 25, 1855, by Henry L. Goodwin (sometimes reported as "J. P." Goodwin). The Penny Post advertised service in several larger California towns and cities, offering to carry letters to and from the local post office, to bring letters to one post office and deliver them to the addressee from the receiving office, and to run an express service between towns after the government mails were closed for the day. A specific rate was charged for each service, and these rates are reflected in the stamps and entires issued by the Penny Post. Almost immediately the Penny Post incurred the wrath of the San Francisco postmaster, and Goodwin became involved in protracted litigation trying to fight the government. Most writers have reported that the Penny Post closed down after twelve to eighteen months, but we have never seen source documentation to establish exactly when service ended. There is one June 1, 1856, Penny Post entire with the name of the post and "Penny Postage Paid 7" crossed out (Siegel Sale 773, lot 219), which might be evidence that the Penny Post closed before that date.

For a relatively short-lived operation, the Penny Post produced a large variety of stamps and printed envelopes to facilitate prepayment and collect-on-delivery mail. The printed franks are found on plain envelopes and U.S. 3c stamped envelopes. The rates correspond to the company's advertisements, but the application of these rates, patterns of usage and certain enigmatic covers have yet to be explained to our satisfaction. The cover offered here, for example, is a very rare use of the 5c frank on a plain envelope (34LU9) with U.S. postage paid by the 10c 1855 and 3c 1851 Issue. The 5c Penny Post rate covered delivery of the letter from the San Francisco office to the addressee. Very few Penny Post covers originating outside of California are known, and almost all came from the East Coast. The gap between the Feb. 23 origin date (indicated by the docketing) and the St. Louis Mar. 1 postmark date is intriguing. Perhaps the letter was written by someone travelling eastward from California, who carried with him a Penny Post entire and used it to mail the letter at Saint Louis. Another possibility is that the letter originated in the East, the entire (furnished by the California correspondent) was pre-stamped with the 10c for the transcontinental rate, then carried by a westward-bound traveller to Saint Louis and mailed from there. This latter scenario might explain the additional 3c stamp, possibly applied in response to a persnickity postal clerk who questioned the legitimacy of the 10c stamp.

Ex Dale-Lichtenstein and Hackmey. With 2004 P.F. certificate. (Image)

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VERY FINE. ONE OF SEVEN RECORDED EXAMPLES OF ADAMS & COMPANY'S PRINTED FRANK, OF WHICH ONLY TWO HAVE ADHESIVE STAMPS. THIS IS THE FIRST PRINTED FRANK USED BY ANY OF THE WESTERN EXPRESS COMPANIES. A COVER OF GREAT HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE AND ESPECIALLY DESIRABLE WITH THE 3-CENT 1851 ISSUE.

Adams & Company set up its California and Oregon business in December 1849 under the direction of William B. Dinsmore of New York and Daniel H. Haskell of Boston, with Alvin Adams as a third partner. Dinsmore left shortly thereafter. In 1852 I. C. Woods joined the firm and two years later became a partner. Its business in the shipment of gold, merchandise, parcels and letters flourished, and its related banking operations established Adams & Co. as a major force in the economic development of the West. All of this figuratively turned to dust in February 1855 with the failure of Page, Bacon & Company, a prominent banking firm. Two days later Adams Express collapsed as depositors rushed to withdraw their gold from a concern that was already weakened by competition (source: Wiltsee, The Pioneer Mule and The Pack Mule Express).

The significance of Adams & Company's printed franks is two-fold: first, they were produced in 1853, making them the earliest franks actually printed on envelopes or stamped entires, and, second, their function "was to facilitate the deposit of mail in letter boxes after the normal business hours of the express. Much like a printed adhesive stamp, these could be used to prepare letters for mailing so that they could be deposited in a box and without having to wait in line if the express office was still open." (Frajola).

With the Dale-Lichtenstein dispersal, the number of recorded examples of the Adams & Co. frank rises to seven, including three slightly different formats on plain envelopes, both stamped and stampless, and the 3c Nesbitt entire. Only two covers have adhesive stamps (pairs of the 3c 1851 in both cases).

Ex Parker, Jessup, Haas and Hackmey. With 2005 P.F. certificate (Image)

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VERY FINE APPEARANCE. A RARE USE OF THE 1851 ISSUE ON A WELLS, FARGO & COMPANY EXPRESS ENTIRE FROM SACRAMENTO TO CINCINNATI VIA NEW YORK.

Illustrated in Ashbrook book, Vol. II where he notes "this cover shows a California origin but no California postmark, showing it was carried outside of the mails to New York where it was marked with the 'N. York Steamship'. This cover may have gone by an independent line via Panama but it is more than probable it was the Nicaragua route."

Ex Dr. Polland, Kramer and Hackmey. (Image)

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VERY FINE. A RARE 6-CENT NESBITT ENTIRE WITH PACIFIC EXPRESS COMPANY FRANK AND 1851 ISSUE STAMPS MAKING UP THE 10-CENT TRANSCONTINENTAL RATE.

Ex Emerson, Knapp, Piller, Rogers and Hackmey. With 1993 P.F. certificate. (Image)

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VERY FINE. AN IMPORTANT AND SPECTACULAR COVER, CARRIED BY THE PACIFIC EXPRESS COMPANY WITHIN CALIFORNIA, THEN BY THE VANDERBILT LINE (OUTSIDE THE MAILS) TO NEW YORK CITY, WHERE IT ENTERED THE REGULAR MAILS FOR FINAL DELIVERY TO VERMONT. TRANSCONTINENTAL COVERS ACTUALLY CARRIED BY EXPRESS ARE EXCEEDINGLY RARE.

The Pacific Express Company was formed on March 2, 1855, by former employees of Adams & Company, the huge express and banking concern that went bankrupt in February 1855. Pacific Express operated until sometime in 1857, carrying mail between points in California and also through connections to the East Coast.

This cover was received by the Pacific Express office in Auburn on Jan. 4, 1856. It was carried by express about 35 miles south to the office at Sacramento, where it was datestamped again on Jan. 19. The New York Feb. 13 postmark date coincides with the Feb. 13, 1856, arrival date of the Northern Light, which departed San Juan del Norte on Feb. 5 (source: Wierenga, U.S. Incoming Steamship Mail 1845-1875). The trip from San Francisco to San Juan del Sur (SJS) was probably on the Sierra Nevada, but no specific departure and arrival dates are listed in the Wierenga tables. Both ships carried mail via the Nicaragua route. Allowing for the typical 12-day transit between San Francisco and SJS, as well as the crossing to SJN, the San Francisco departure of the Sierra Nevada was probably on or about Jan. 20, which fits with the Pacific Express Co. Sacramento Jan. 19 date.

We wish to emphasize the difference between an express cover to the East Coast that entered the regular mails in California (usually carried by a contract steamer via Panama) and one that was actually carried outside the mails thru an express company. They are entirely different from a postal history perspective, and covers carried outside the mails are far rarer.

This cover was carried across Nicaragua during the period in which William Walker was engaged in taking control of the country. The completion of the Panama Railway, the rate wars between competing lines and the country's political instability eventually led to the decline of the Nicaragua route.

Ex Chase, Knapp, Barkhausen and Hackmey. With 2005 P.F. certificate. (Image)

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