Summer 2025 | July 18-20, 2025

Violet "EXPRESS WELLS FARGO/MEXICO/22 JULIO 92" oval handstamp at left, with "EXPRESS WELLS FARGO/GUANAJUATO/23 JULIO 92" arrival handstamp.

W13 on U82

Fresh unused 3c Pink entires with Wood & Co.’s Express printed frank (Haller FW16-Type 3), former with indicia slightly oxidized, the paper on the entires is exceptionally fresh and Extremely Fine

Stamps tied by one of three strikes of a “Michigan Bluff, Cal., Jun 3”datestamp, addressed to Newburyport, Mass. The cover with stains and soiling.

"Evans Mills, N.Y. APR 11, 1861 postmark on an Illustration Cover of Watertown, NY. The Stamp with a diagonal crease at bottom left and top right corner missing, the cover with a tear at right.

"New York Aug 11" double circle datestamp addressed to the U.S. Coast Survey in San Francisco. This cover pays the 10c transcontinental rate (for mail traveling over 3,000 miles) plus the 1c carrier fee for collection service in New York City.
Only 17 such covers are recorded combining 10c general issue with a 1c carrier stamp to pay the full 11c rate; this is one of just 9 known examples bearing the 1861 1c Blue. Scarce and desirable usage illustrating the intersection of carrier service and long-distance domestic mail. Partial backflap.
Included as #12 in Clifford Alexander's Census
Included in Donald L. Evans' Exhibit and Book, page 323, "The United States 1c Franklin 1861 -1867 and An Introduction to the Postal History of the Period," (Linn's Stamp News 1997)

"DEC 12 1864" San Francisco Cal" Double Circle with manuscript "pr Overland Mail".

Only 11 other examples recorded in Thomas.
"JAN 12 ST. JOSEPH" company datestamp, addressed to a Mr. Richard Waller in Denver City, Kansas Territory. Originating in Platte City, MO with "JAN 8" datestamp. Manuscript "C.O.C & PP Express St, Joseph Mo." The entire repaired at right and at bottom, with the indica torn horizontally with a bit of the design colored, and the cover soiled.

"COAST/OVERLAND MAIL COMPANY./SANDERSON, PARKER & CO./PROPRIETERS/FRANK CLUGAGE,/SUPERINTENDANT" , addressed to "Div. Agt on the Road." The cover with a tear at right and a small piece missing at top right corner.

"Per Overland Mail via Los Angeles" in an arc above the stagecoach design on cover with blue Vacaville, Cal. Apr. 2 datestamp with matching boxed "PAID" handstamp and large black "DUE 7" rating to Lansing, Michigan. The cover roughly opened and reduced at right.

Included in Stanley Ashbrook Archives, Black Binder 2, Page 107
Cover carried along the Chorpenning Route, addressed to Weaverville. The cover has been cosmetically refolded to an exceptional and very fine appearance.

The cover originating in Leavenworth City, Kansas Territory with "Denver City APR 12 1860" circular company handstamp, addressed to Saint Louis, Missouri. The left stamp with a piece missing in left margin.

After Russell, Majors & Waddell (RMW) assumed control of the Leavenworth & Pike’s Peak Express on October 28, 1859, operations continued under the name Jones & Russell’s Pike’s Peak Express Co. until its absorption by the Central Overland California & Pike’s Peak Express Company (COC&PP) in February 1860.

Despite the transition, Denver continued using Jones & Russell markings into June of 1860, making this April 12, 1860 usage a scarce and desirable example from the short-lived RMW period, just days before the COC&PP began the transcontinental Pony Express in April 1860.

Listed in the Western Covers Society, September 2016 Census.
Design Type D-1, with black "Sacramento City, CA Oct 4 1859" circular datestamp, addressed to Henry Willens in New York, NY. The horizontal pair covering the directive "BY THE OVERLAND MAIL STAGE VIA PLACERVILLE! HURRAH!" The pair with choice centering and rich color, but the right stamp with perf erosion at right and the cover with a repaired tear at top center.

By the Overland Mail Stage via Los Angeles! Hurrah! But we must have the (pointing hand) train, illustrated overland railroad propaganda design cover to Middleburg Ohio. Indistinct cds at top right with "PAID 10". The stamps with manuscript cancels because the Santa Clara handstamp was so light.

Santa Clara SCL-3350 postmark (33mm)
This postmark was from 4 Aug 1856 - 8 Dec 1865.

Figure 8 in Transcontinental Covers with A 10c Green Stamp and A General Issue Stamp paying Carrier Collection Fee By Clifford J. Alexander

Both tied by New York duplex cancel on buff cover dated January 21, 1861, addressed to Alvarado, California. The 1c stamp prepaid the carrier fee in New York City. Cover was missent and forwarded to Alameda with manuscript “Missent” and received there on February 23.

According to Clifford J. Alexander (Penny Post, Oct. 2021), only two recorded covers carried overland to California during this period were addressed to cities other than San Francisco. This is one of them.

Included in Stanley Ashbrook Archives, Black Binder 7, Page 100
Cover originating in San Francisco, addressed to Mrs. David Saville in Lexington, Mass. The cover signed by Ashbrook.

Illustrated as Figure 6 of The Western Express Research Journal of Early Western Mails, Vol. 72 No. 4
The 10c green with manuscript cancel. Cover addressed to Middlefield Centre, NY. The stamp with creases and the cover stained, damaged, and creased.

With red “40” cents rate marking for transcontinental carriage in effect from July 1, 1847 through June 30, 1851. The Reynold's company handstamp indicating express company carriage to Stockton. The cover with age discoloration.

An early California usage connecting to Hodgkins’ formative years as a Gold Rush expressman, when he began working for Reynolds’ Express in 1851, delivering mail and gold dust throughout the Southern Mines.

In May 1876, Henry Wells encouraged Pilsbury "Chips" Hodgkins to host a reception to commemorate his 25 years as an expressman. In response, Chips had invitations specially printed featuring four illustrations, each depicting a different mode of transportation he used throughout his career.
This cover is one of the envelopes, carried outside of the mails, that once carried an invitation While the image of a miner on a mule was commonly associated with Gold Rush-era mining scenes, in this context, it symbolized Chips himself on his early routes, delivering mail through rugged terrain on his white mule. Enclosure not included.

Postmarked “Mason N.H. Sept 5, 1859” with manuscript routing “Overland via Los Angeles” and addressed to the iconic Wells, Fargo & Co. expressman, "Chips" (Pilsbury Hodgkins) in Stockton, California. Manuscript cancel on indicia; cover shows some staining but otherwise an attractive cover.

Pilsbury “Chips” Hodgkins was a Maine-born ship carpenter turned Gold Rush expressman. Arriving in San Francisco in 1849, he mined in Tuolumne County.
Chips worked for several express companies, including Reynolds’ Express, before becoming a longtime Wells Fargo & Co expressman. From 1857 to 1869 served as Wells, Fargo’s messenger on the Stockton–San Francisco route. Over his career, Chips reportedly carried millions in gold.

Manuscript “Free R.B.B.” at upper left, signed by R. B. Bradford, who served as the Jones & Russell agent in Denver. Addressed to William Bradford Waddell, one of the three founders of the Pony Express, at Lexington, Missouri. Mailed on an uncanceled 3c Red Nesbitt entire (U10), with the indicia cut out and replaced.

An attractive usage of the Wells, Fargo & Co. 1/2 OUNCE PAID FROM St. JOSEPH TO PLACERVILLE PER PONY EXPRESS, Type I, printed frank. The Type I printed frank was used to prepay the $2.00 per half ounce express fee for only two months, approximately April to June 1861.
The design differs from the more common Type II design (WFE-098) by having a comma at the end of the word "Placerville." Thomas notes that besides being printed on U40 envelopes, these printed franks were printed on white non-government envelopes, like this example.

The addressee, N.H. Stockwell, was on the Board of Directors for Wells Fargo from 1858-1867.

The manuscript "1/4 oz free" indicates that this was carried free as company use to an official, making this the only known free usage of the Type I design. There are only three other used examples of this design.