Sale 1188 — United States Stamp Treasures: The William H. Gross Collection
Sale Date — Wednesday, 3 October, 2018
Category — 1847 Cover from California to New York
The famous and unique 1847 Issue cover from California to New York with the 40¢ rate paid by a 10¢ strip of four--this is the only known 10¢ 1847 Issue cover from California, and it ranks among the most important covers in United States postal historyDESCRIPTION
10¢ Black (2), Positions 83-86L, horizontal strip of four, large margins on three sides, large to just barely in at bottom, tied by several strikes of orange-red “PAID” cancel, additionally cancelled by criss-crossing pen strokes, orange-red “San Francisco 1 Jan.” (1851) circular datestamp struck very clearly at left on blue part-printed signed notice to the firm of Howland & Aspinwall in New York City, matching “40” rate and “PAID” handstamps struck on cover, sender’s directive “per Carolina”--the Pacific Mail Steamship Company vessel that carried this from San Francisco to the Isthmus of Panama
PROVENANCE
All sales private until 1992 Kapiloff auction
* Rep. Ernest R. Ackerman (bought and sold privately)
* Henry C. Gibson, Sr.
* Edgar B. Jessup (inherited by Pearce)
* Basil C. Pearce (Jessup’s son-in-law; inherited and sold privately)
* Marc Haas (bought privately from Pearce, August 1972)
* Duane B. Garrett (collection sold privately to Dr. Kapiloff)
* Dr. Leonard Kapiloff, Siegel Auction Galleries, 6/9/1992, Sale 743, lot 147
* Siegel Auction Galleries, 2005 Rarities of the World, 6/3/2005, Sale 895, lot 64, to Hackmey
* Joseph Hackmey (collection sold privately to William H. Gross, 2010)
CENSUS, LITERATURE AND EXHIBITION REFERENCES
* USPCS census no. 225
* https://www.uspcs.org/resource-center/censuses/1847-cover-census/
* Lester G. Brookman, The 1847 Issue of United States Stamps, 1942, fig. 17, p. 19
* --United States Postage Stamps of the 19th Century, Vol. I, fig. 18, p. 22
* Jesse L. Coburn, Letters of Gold, p. 42
* William T. Crowe, Opinions I, pp. 28-29
* Gordon Eubanks, Jr., “The William H. Gross United States Collection,” Chronicle 258, May 2018, front cover illustration
* Duane B. Garrett, “Domestic Postal Rates for the 1847 Period, Part II,” Chronicle 109, February 1981
CERTIFICATION
* The Philatelic Foundation (1981 and 2005)
CONDITION NOTES
* Very Fine strip and cover with light horizontal file fold clear of stamps
VIEW PDF OF HISTORY AND COMMENTARY at https://siegelauctions.com/2018/1188/25.pdf
