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The Larry Lyons Collection: All Roads Lead to San Francisco continued...

1860-61 Transcontinental Pony Express
Lot Sym. Lot Description  
1558 c Image"Per Pony Express from San Francisco, May 11th, 1860." Manuscript sender's endorsement on cover addressed to Rev. Thomas B. Fox, Office of the Christian Examiner, Boston, Mass., 3c Dull Red, Ty. III (26) tied by "New-York May 25, 1860" circular datestamp, with one page of original enclosure datelined "By Pony Express, San Francisco, Friday morning, May 11, 1860" with pithy comments about life in California, including this reference to the pony express: "I send you a word of greeting through the Rocky Mountains. Is not the pony express a right down California institution -- snorting through the passes of the Rocky Mountains at a rate that beats the steamer eight days clean in getting letters through to New York & Boston. Prices are moderate -- $5 a letter: Cheap for the luxury of writing to you..."; also mentions "Walker's filibustering generals" and remarks that San Francisco has burned down four times, stamp has trivial corner crease and faint stain

VERY FINE. A RARE EXAMPLE OF AN "INTERIOR" PONY EXPRESS COVER, CARRIED IN A FRANKED ENTIRE TO NEW YORK CITY AND MAILED FROM THERE WITH A 3-CENT 1857 STAMP. THIS COVER CROSSED NEVADA AS LOCAL MILITIA UNDER THE COMMAND OF MAJOR WILLIAM ORSMBY WERE WIPED OUT BY PAIUTE INDIANS IN THE FIRST BATTLE OF PYRAMID LAKE ON MAY 12, 1860.

This cover was carried on the eastbound Pony Express trip that departed San Francisco on Friday, May 11, 1860. This express passed through Carson City in Nevada on May 12, the same day that Major William Ormsby's army was annihilated at the First Battle of Pyramid Lake. The San Francisco Bulletin (June 13, 1860) published the following report from St. Louis, dated May 24, confirming the arrival of the May 11 express ten days later on May 21: "The Pony Express which left San Francisco May 11th, arrived on the 21st. A rider was killed by the Indians on the California end. Mail and dispatches saved."

The cover offered here is the only one recorded for this May 11 trip (FKW Census E4A). It has the sender’s directive to go by the May 11 Pony Express from San Francisco, but no express markings. It was carried inside another envelope, reached St. Joseph on May 21, and after it was carried to New York City, this interior envelope was mailed and postmarked on May 25.

Information about the addressee, Reverend Thomas B. Fox, may be found at http://www.frsuu.org/serm45.htm

FKW Census E4A. Ex Pearce, Jessup and Piller. With 1990 P.F. certificate. (Image)

Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com

 E. $ 7,500-10,000

SOLD for $13,500.00
Will close during Public Auction
1559 c ImagePony Express, San Francisco, Nov. 3 (1860). Two clear strikes of blue Running Pony oval datestamp, manuscript 1/4” (quarter ounce, $2.50 rate) on 10c Pale Green on Buff Nesbitt entire (U16a) to Henry I. Beers at a New York City post office box, sender’s directive Per Pony Express”, after a 12-day trip the The Central Overland California & Pikes Peak Express Company, St. Joseph, Mo. Nov. 15” oval datestamp was applied on the day of arrival, Saint Joseph Mo. Nov. 16” double-circle datestamp and grid cancel, half of backflap intact, small repaired opening nick at top edge well clear of markings

VERY FINE APPEARANCE. AN ATTRACTIVE PONY EXPRESS COVER WITH TWO CLEAR STRIKES OF THE SAN FRANCISCO RUNNING PONY HANDSTAMP. SENT FROM CALIFORNIA ON THE EVE OF LINCOLN’S ELECTION.

This cover was carried on the Saturday, November 3, 1860, trip from San Francisco, which passed Fort Kearney on November 13. The news it carried was immediately telegraphed to the East. It arrived at St. Joseph on November 15 and was put into the mails the next day.

The addressee, Henry I. Beers, was a prominent California businessman who returned to New York in 1859 and made his fortune in oil and real estate in Western Pennsylvania.

FKW Census E36. Trip ET-45. Ex Lichtenstein, Knapp, Barkhausen and "Alyeska". With 2013 P.F. certificate (Image)

Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com

 E. $ 10,000-15,000

SOLD for $14,000.00
Will close during Public Auction
1560 c ImagePony Express, The Central Overland California & Pikes Peak Express Company, St. Joseph Mo. May 19 (1860). Large oval within circle datestamp fully struck on 3c Red on Buff Star Die entire (U27) to John A. McGlynn in San Francisco, endorsed "Per Pony Express", no indication of origin or rate, backflap removed and small stain spot at top right

VERY FINE. ONE OF ONLY SEVEN WESTBOUND PONY EXPRESS COVERS CARRIED DURING THE SHORT-LIVED THIRD RATE PERIOD. THE USE OF THE 3-CENT STAR DIE ENTIRE IS ALSO RELATIVELY RARE AMONG PONY EXPRESS COVERS.

According to The Pony Express, only seven Westbound covers are known during the Third Rate Period from April to June 30, 1861. The cover offered here is identified in the census as W42. Although no express rate is present, it was rated $2.00 per half-ounce, the rate in effect during the brief three-month period before the new government contract rate of $1.00 per half-ounce took effect on July 1, 1861. The application of the 3c U.S. rate to Pony Express mail relates to a loophole in the rate structure and is explained in The Pony Express (p. 28): "Therefore, a letter sent under separate cover in the government mails from the [COCPP] office in New York City to Saint Joseph could be prepaid in bulk with the proper postage at 3 cents per half ounce. At St. Joseph the packet of letters would be delivered from the post office to the Pony Express agent. When the individual letters from the packet were placed into the Pony Express mails at Saint Joseph, they were subject only to the 3 cents postage for the distance between Saint Joseph and California."

FKW Census W42. Ex West and Polland. With 1967 P.F. certificate. (Image)

Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com

 E. $ 7,500-10,000

SOLD for $6,250.00
Will close during Public Auction
1561 c ImageWells, Fargo & Co. Pony Express, $2.00 Red (143L1). Large margins to just touched including part of adjoining stamps at top and right, tied by well-struck blue "Pony Express San Francisco Jun. 5" (1861) Running Pony handstamp on 10c Green on Buff Star Die entire (U33) to New York, the entire cancelled by blue segmented cork and indistinct St. Joseph Mo. circular datestamp, top flap with small part missing and small part sensibly repaired, the stamp with expert repair at top right, the cover gently cleaned

VERY FINE APPEARANCE. A BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLE OF THE $2.00 PONY EXPRESS STAMP TIED BY THE BLUE SAN FRANCISCO RUNNING PONY OVAL.

This cover was carried on the Wednesday, June 5, 1861, trip from San Francisco, which arrived at St. Joseph on June 17. When Phase II (Interim Phase) started on April 1, 1861, the rate for a Pony Express letter was substantially reduced to $2 per half-ounce, down from the $5 per half-ounce or $2.50 per quarter-ounce rates in effect during the previous year. At the same time, the new agents--Wells, Fargo & Company--had special stamps and envelopes printed for use on Pony Express letters. The $2 rate was in effect for a brief period, from April 1 to June 30, 1861. The FKW census records 37 $2.00 Red covers.

The $2 and $4 were printed in sheets of 20 (5 wide by 4 high). Rather than build up the printing stone from intermediate transfer groups or from a primary matrix containing the denomination, the printers used a blank matrix to enter each subject on the stone for each value. This required a total of 40 transfers (20 for each value). The denomination (shaded numerals "2" and "4") then had to be individually transferred to each subject on both stones, thus requiring another 40 separate transfers. It seems incredible that experienced lithographers such as Britton & Rey did not simplify the process by using intermediate transfers. Based on the fact that the $2 and $4 of the July 1861 issue (in Green and Black) were printed from the same stones as the April 1861 issue, it is certain that the printers had retained the two original stones. Lithographic stones were usually re-used by erasing the image and repolishing the surface, but in the case of the Pony Express stones, they were evidently preserved for future printings.

FKW Census E93. With 1992 P.F. certificate (Image)

Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com

 E. $ 15,000-20,000

SOLD for $17,500.00
Will close during Public Auction
1562 c ImageWells, Fargo & Co. Pony Express, $1.00 Red (143L3). Margins slightly in and repaired top right corner, tied by blue "Pony Express San Francisco Sep. 11" Running Pony oval datestamp on 10c Green on Buff Star Die entire (U33) with Wells, Fargo & Co. red printed frank, "Atchison Kan. Sep. 23" (1861) double-circle datestamp, addressed to Baltimore Md., reduced at left and small edge tear

FINE-APPEARING PONY EXPRESS STAMP ON AN ATTRACTIVE COVER. A RARE USE VIA THE ATCHISON POST OFFICE.

Commencing July 1, 1861, the Pony Express was authorized by Congress to carry mail at the rate of $1.00 per half ounce. An additional fee was charged by Wells, Fargo & Co. to carry mail from San Francisco to the western terminus at Placerville, which is represented by their printed frank on this entire. The contract also stipulated the mandatory U.S. postage charge of 10c per half ounce. This cover nicely combines all three postage elements and was carried on the Sep. 11, 1861 eastbound Pony Express trip after the new rates and stamps were introduced. By September 1861 the transcontinental railroad reached Atchison, Kansas, which became the post-office entry point for Pony Express mail.

Although the Scott Catalogue lists the July 1861 issue Pony Express stamps (143L3-143L6) with other private post issues, we wish to emphasize that these stamps were issued under the terms of a government mail contract; therefore, they have semi-official status.

FKW Census E156. Ex Luff, Knapp and Barkhausen. (Image)

Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com

 E. $ 10,000-15,000

SOLD for $11,500.00
Will close during Public Auction

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