Wells, Fargo & Co. Pony Express, $1.00 Red (143L3). Ample margins to slightly in at bottom corners, tied by slightly blurry strike of blue "Wells, Fargo & Co. Gold Hill N.T. Sep. 24" (ca. 1863) oval datestamp on sealed 3c Pink on Buff entire (U35) with Wells, Fargo & Co. black printed frank, paste-up use without address (see below for explanation), most of the brown adhesive on back remains (confirming paste-up use), part of flap missing due to removal from the larger envelope to which it was pasted

VERY FINE. THIS IS THE ONLY RECORDED USE OF A WELLS, FARGO & CO. 1861 $1.00 TRANSCONTINENTAL PONY EXPRESS STAMP ON A VIRGINIA CITY PONY EXPRESS COVER. A FASCINATING POSTAL HISTORY RARITY.

Following the termination of the transcontinental Pony Express in October 1861, Wells, Fargo & Co., in August 1862, established a supplemental service to their normal express business between San Francisco and Virginia City, Nevada Territory (in the Washoe mining area). The Virginia City Pony Express used horses to carry mail from Virginia City to Placerville, where it was put on a train to Sacramento and then on a steamboat to San Francisco. The service significantly cut the time for carriage of letters by this route. Wells, Fargo & Co. issued adhesive stamps for the service, which at first cost 10c per letter and then 25c beginning in February 1863 (Scott Nos. 143L7-143L9). The stamps were of the same Horse & Rider design as the dollar-value stamps used for the earlier transcontinental Pony Express service.

When the cover offered here was sent, the single rate via Virginia City Pony Express was 25c. Gold Hill was on the Virginia City route and that office's datestamp was used to cancel the $1.00 stamp. The most logical explanation is that this 3c entire was pasted to a larger plain envelope with heavy contents. The blurred Gold Hill oval datestamp is consistent with being struck on something softer than a single letter. The larger cover would have had the address and an additional 9c in U.S. postage for the quadruple rate. In order to pay the quadruple Virginia City Pony Express rate, the sender (or agent at Gold Hill) affixed a leftover 1861 $1.00 Pony Express stamp, rather than four Virginia City 25c stamps. In theory, remainders in the hands of Wells, Fargo & Co. agents could have been used for multiple rates on the Virginia City route. Theory has become reality with the emergence of this Virginia City cover. It is the only known cover franked with the 1861 $1.00 Pony Express stamp paying the 1862-65 Virginia City express rate. It is also the only cover recorded with a dollar-value Pony Express stamp that was not used on the transcontinental Pony Express route. We are grateful to Richard Frajola for his assistance in interpreting this cover.

With 2018 P.F. certificate

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