Summer 2025 | July 18-20, 2025

Office of the Chief Engineer, Southern Pacific Railroad, Pacific Division" letterhead, written to E.A. Phelps, Assistant Engineer in Los Angeles. The letter addresses shipments of railroad materials from San Francisco to Wilmington, referencing dates and quantities in pounds, with a request for clarification and accounting of these shipments. It specifically mentions a shipment from Sacramento dated August 10 and asks for confirmation of received goods and any needed reconciliation.

Dated Jan 14th, 1899 addressed to Mrs. Minnie Shuck, North Yam Hill, Oregon.

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.