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Stampless Stories: A Postal History of America continued...

Manifest Destiny continued...
Lot Sym. Lot Description  
150 c ImageMonterey to Santa Barbara, Alta California, 1828, Mexican 2” Reales Handstamp. Folded letter datelined Monterey 7 Feb. 1828” from David Spence, addressed For Don Gullo. G. Dana, Sta Barbara” -- to William G. Dana at Santa Barbara, who was also known as Don Guillermo Goodwin” -- perfect bold strike of Mexican 2” reales due handstamp for delivery charge, small tear at top

VERY FINE. AN EXTREMELY RARE COVER FROM ALTA CALIFORNIA SHOWING POSTAL USAGE AND REPORTED TO BE THE EARLIEST LETTER IN ENGLISH BETWEEN PIONEER SETTLERS IN THIS REGION.

David Spence was born in Scotland on October 24, 1798. Just two weeks before his 26th birthday, Spence arrived at the port of Monterey on board a ship from Peru. Tired of the sailor’s life, Spence decided to settle in Monterey and work for William Hartnell in the hide and tallow trade. In 1828 he was baptized at the Mission in Santa Cruz, and in the next year he married Adelaide Estrada, the daughter of José Mariano and Isabel Estrada. Spence became alcalde of Monterey, Judge of First Instance, and a member of the state legislature. He later acquired Rancho Encinal y Buena Esperanza on the Salinas plains. He died in Monterey on February 18, 1875.

William Goodwin Dana was born in Boston on May 5, 1797. He came to California in 1826 as a shipbuilder and master of the schooner Waverly. He was baptized into the Catholic church in 1827 and became the first person to be naturalized in California in 1828. That same year, he married Maria Petra Josefa del Carmen, daughter of Carlos Antonio Carillo, with whom he had 21 children (or 22 by some accounts, but who’s counting). The Dana adobe Rancho Nipomo near San Luis Obispo on El Camino Real was a longtime stage stop. In 1847 General Kearney’s military mail express between San Francisco and Los Angeles used Dana’s adobe as the intermediate point of exchange for northbound and southbound mails. Dana died on February 11, 1858.

This letter from Spence to Dana was written between two young unmarried sailors. It reads, in part: I am half thinking to ask a girl here myself [to marry]. What would you advise me to do? Whether is better to turn Christian or seduce her, the latter in my openion is best…" It is reported to be the earliest letter written in English from Alta California, but this claim is difficult to confirm. In any case, it is an extremely early -- and rare -- postal usage. (Image)

Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com

 E. $ 4,000-5,000

SOLD for $6,000.00
Will close during Public Auction
151 c ImageSAN FRANCISCO. Well-struck straightline handstamp with magenta manuscript July 2” and 40" rate on 1849 folded letter to McDonough N.Y., some slight overall wear, Very Fine strike, the first handstamp used at the San Francisco post office, carried on the PMSS Oregon on July 2, then by the USMSS Falcon from Chagres to New York, arriving Aug. 17 (Image)

Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com

 E. $ 500-750

SOLD for $1,200.00
Will close during Public Auction
152 c ImageSan Francisco 80 1 Oct. Red 80-cent integral-rate circular datestamp (Williams SAF-270) on blue folded printed Prices Current prepared for the Daily Alta California dated Oct. 1, 1850 and addressed to Bath Me., ink smudge, Very Fine, late use of the 80” integral-rate circular datestamp, this style is last known used on Oct. 4, 1850 (Image)

Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com

 E. $ 200-300

SOLD for $170.00
Will close during Public Auction
153 c ImagePan. & San. Fran. S.S. Apr. 22 (1850). Unusually clear strike of this rare ocean mail route agent’s circular datestamp in red with manuscript 30” rate on bluish folded letter datelined San Francisco May 31st, 1850” to Hon. John McHenry of New Orleans, care of [the forwarding agents] Mess. Mott, Talbot & Co., Mazatlan, Mexico”, manuscript directions on back Mess. Mott Talbot & Co will oblige me by retaining this letter until called for by Judge McHenry, James Van Ness” (Van Ness was mayor of San Francisco 1855-56), carried privately to Mazatlan where it was held until April 22, 1851, then posted to agent Midgett of the PMSS California on the northbound trip to San Francisco, the forwarder’s address crossed out and directed to San Francisco” where Judge McHenry was presumably residing, Extremely Fine, this marking was used between November 1850 and June 1852 on mail handled by route agents aboard PMSS ships (contract mail was received in locked bags, but letters picked up en route were postmarked by route agents), this is one of the finest of the 25 recorded examples, the usage on northbound mail is also very unusual, ex Risvold (bought from William Bilden in 1974 for $500, a substantial sum at the time) (Image)

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 E. $ 1,000-1,500

SOLD for $2,300.00
Will close during Public Auction
154 c ImageNicaragua Line/In Advance/of the Mail. Perfectly-struck oval handstamp on folded letter datelined New York 18 March 1854” from Davis, Brooks & Co. to Captain Thomas B. Cropper on board Steamer Cortes, San-Juan”, carried on the Vanderbilt Line’s Star of the West, which left New York on March 20, the letter concerns company business and the sale of assets (Davis, Brooks & Co. owned the Cortes), delivered to Captain Cropper outside the mails, neatly reinforced along folds, Extremely Fine, this type of Nicaragua Line” oval handstamp was used at New York on westbound mail and is much scarcer than the similarly-worded markings originating in California, ex Lehman, Haas and Jarrett (Image)

Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com

 E. $ 750-1,000

SOLD for $1,600.00
Will close during Public Auction
155 c ImageOroville Cal. July 12, 1855”. Manuscript postmark with 15c Paid” on Miner’s Coat of Arms” illustrated cover depicting mining equipment arranged on a pole as a coat of arms with a miner and a bear holding the pole, Barber & Baker of Sacramento imprint at left, to Crowland P.O., Niagara District, Canada West, red U.STATES/PAID” handstamp with 9” rate, with illustrated engraved lettersheet of The Miner’s Ten Commandments” depicting eleven vignettes including elephant and miner reading a broadside, Hutchings imprint at bottom, several of the designs with imprints including Anthony & Baker, letter from Archibald McAlpin to his brother Charles, datelined Ophir Sunday July 8th 1855”, interesting contents including I am at work putting a wheel in the River to throw water on the bank 29 feet high to run a sluice-the wheel will be 32 feet in diameter and propelled by the force of the current...I send you on this sheet the miners 10 com. which is very well got up”, lettersheet with minor edgewear, cover with some edgewear and soiling

VERY FINE. A REMARKABLE ILLUSTRATED COVER DEPICTING THE MINER’S COAT OF ARMS, WITH AN ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATED ENCLOSURE DEPICTING ELEVEN DESIGNS AND THE MINER’S TEN COMMANDMENTS AND WITH MINING-RELATED CONTENTS. A REMARKABLE ARTIFACT OF THE GOLD RUSH ERA.

Ken Kutz recorded only a dozen examples of the Miner’s Coat of Arms” illustrated cover, and this is the only one we are aware of to a destination outside of the United States. George Holbrook Baker, of Barber & Baker, was an art student in New York when the gold rush broke out. He dropped his brushes” and went west, trying his hand as a miner before settling on trading and drawing. He was the owner of the short-lived Baker’s Express in 1850. He partnered with Edmond Barber from 1854-56, where they had a wood engraving studio in the Union building in Sacramento.

The lettersheet of the Miner’s Ten Commandments was the first design produced by James Mason Hutchings. According to an informative article in April 1956 Western Expresses, Hutchings came to the United States from England in 1848, after viewing sometime in 1844 George Catlin’s American Indian exhibition then on tour in the Midlands in England. Hutchings, being deeply religious, deplored the desecration of the Christian Sabbath Day by the miners. He joined the campaign then under way to return Sunday to the day of rest and devotion it enjoyed in the long established communities of the various homelands of the miners. As it would not help to moralize with the miners, he wrote a parodied Fourth Commandment as follows: ‘Thou shalt not remember what thy friends do at home on this Sabbath Day lest the remembrance should not compare favorably with what thou doest.’ He was not pleased with this ‘half-told tale’ and continued on to compose The Miner’s Ten Commandments. This he signed with ‘Forty-Nine.’” The design proved immensely popular, with Hutchings claiming to have sold more than 90,000 copies in one year (source: Letters of Gold, p. 267). (Image)

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 E. $ 2,000-3,000

SOLD for $3,000.00
Will close during Public Auction
156 c ImageMazatlan to San Francisco, 1860. Blue folded letter to San Francisco with Consulate U.S.A. Mazatlan” handstamp, neat San Francisco Cal. Jun. 7, 1860” circular datestamp with matching SHIP 6” clamshell handstamp, light file folds, Very Fine strikes (Image)

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 E. $ 300-400

SOLD for $475.00
Will close during Public Auction
157 c ImageSTEAM PANAMA. Oval handstamp on 1866 cover from Callao, Peru, to San Francisco, blue 20” crayon (due marking), neat San Francisco Cal. May 12” double-circle datestamp, interesting docketing on back reads A.J. Liffken, P.S.N. Compy’s Office Callao, John Prain Esq. Panama, Pay postage only to Panama as it is free from there!”, bottom right corner restored, otherwise Fine, Liffken was a Pacific Steam Navigation Co. agent (Image)

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 E. $ 500-750

SOLD for $275.00
Will close during Public Auction
158 c ImagePURSER. Perfect strike of straightline handstamp applied on arrival on cover to San Francisco, equally bold San Francisco Cal. 10 Jul. 9” integral-rate circular datestamp, trivial edgewear, Extremely Fine, the PURSER” handstamp is rare, it is known on incoming ship letters from 1865 to 1867, which were subject to a 10c blanket rate applicable to mail from countries with which the United States had no postal treaty arrangements (Image)

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 E. $ 750-1,000

SOLD for $550.00
Will close during Public Auction
159 c ImageSacramento City Cal. Feb. 26. Clear strike of red circular datestamp with matching 12-1/2” rate handstamp on 1850 folded letter to San Francisco, few file folds, Very Fine example of the 12-1/2c intra-West Coast rate (Image)

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 E. $ 200-300

SOLD for $200.00
Will close during Public Auction
160 c ImageSacramento Cal. 40 15 June. Large integral-rate circular datestamp with Paid” in arc handstamp on 1850 folded letter to Roxbury Mass., endorsed per Columbus” and carried on that PMSS steamship via Panama, then carried by the USMSS Crescent City to New York, minor wear, Very Fine, scarce marking from Sacramento (Image)

Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com

 E. $ 200-300

SOLD for $200.00
Will close during Public Auction

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