Wells Fargo & Company Pony Express, $4.00 Green (143L2). Position 15, large margins to clear at left, used with $2.00 Red (143L1), Position 3, clear to ample margins except in at top, tied by clear strike of "Pony Express, San Francisco, Jun. 26" (1861) Running Pony oval datestamp on 10¢ Green on Buff Star Die entire (U33) addressed to Eugene Kelly & Co., 164 Fulton Street, New York City, embossed Donohoe, Ralston & Company corner card beneath stamps, sender's directive "Pony Express June 26th" and carried on the Pony trip that departed San Francisco on Wednesday, June 26, 1861, and arrived in St. Joseph on July 8, entered the mails with bold green "St. Joseph Mo. Jul. 8" circular datestamp, no obvious evidence of missing stamps, but it is presumed that two 10¢ stamps were affixed overlapping the embossed stamp and were removed from the cover, since the triple $2.00 per half-ounce express fee would require corresponding triple 10¢ rate postage, Pony Express stamps have creases and sealed tears, and have been lifted and reaffixed

VERY FINE APPEARANCE. THIS IS THE ONLY RECORDED COVER WITH THE $4.00 GREEN AND ONE OF TWO WITH A COMBINATION OF HORSE & RIDER STAMPS. WIDELY REGARDED AS ONE OF THE GREATEST PONY EXPRESS COVERS AND AN IMPORTANT ARTIFACT OF WESTERN AMERICAN POSTAL HISTORY.

The Wednesday, June 26, 1861, Pony mail from San Francisco was carried on the penultimate eastbound trip during the Phase II (Interim) operational period and Rate Period 3. From April 1, through June 30, 1861, the rate for a Pony Express letter was $2.00 per half-ounce. The $2.00 Red and $4.00 Green Horse & Rider stamps were issued in April 1861 by Wells Fargo & Company for use on mail from the West. On July 1, the new government mail contract for overland mail on the Central Route and the Pony Express took effect, and the rate was reduced to $1.00 per half-ounce. A new $1.00 Red stamp was issued, and the colors of the $2.00 and $4.00 were changed to Green and Black, respectively.

The FKW census records 37 covers with the First Issue $2.00 Red (143L1) and $4.00 Green (143L2) stamps, including 36 with a single $2.00 and this unique cover with a $4.00 (and $2.00). The only other Horse & Rider combination cover is offered as lot 24--it is stamped with the July 1861 $1.00 Red and $2.00 Green.

The $2.00 and $4.00 were printed by lithography in sheets of 20 (5 wide by 4 high). Rather than build up the printing stone from intermediate transfer groups or from a primary matrix containing the denomination, the printers used a blank matrix to enter each subject on the stone for each value. This required a total of 40 transfers (20 for each value). The denomination (shaded numerals "2" and "4") then had to be individually transferred to each subject on both stones, thus requiring another 40 separate transfers. It seems incredible that experienced lithographers such as Britton & Rey did not simplify the process by using intermediate transfers. The $2.00 Green and $4.00 Black July 1861 issue were printed from the same stones used to print the April 1861 issue.

This cover originated in San Francisco and was carried by steamer to Sacramento, which was the original western terminus for the actual Pony relay, but starting with the July 7, 1860, trip, the terminus was moved to Folsom, located at the eastern end of the Sacramento Valley Railroad line. On July 1, 1861, the terminus was moved farther east to Placerville. The addressee, Eugene Kelly & Company, was a prominent banking firm. In June 1860 the banking firm of Donohoe, Ralston & Company was opened in San Francisco. The principals were Joseph Donohoe, William Ralston, Eugene Kelly and Ralph Fretz. Eugene Kelly & Company in New York served as the East Coast representative. William Ralston, the renowned California financier, lost all of his wealth in the aftermath of the Panic of 1873. He drowned while swimming in San Francisco Bay, which was attributed to a stroke, but thought by many to have been suicide.

FKW Census E105. Illustrated in Ashbrook's Special Service (pages 225-226, photo 304), Coburn, Letters of Gold (page 259), Frajola-Kramer-Walske, The Pony Express: A Postal History (page 48) and Walske-Frajola, Mails of the Westward Expansion, 1803 to 1861 (page 227). Ex C. E. Chapman (faint "CEC" handstamp at lower left), Alfred H. Caspary, Raymond H. Weill Co., Siegel 1967 and 1970 Rarities of the World sales (Sale 313, lot 165, and Sale 371, lot 216), and Dr. Leonard Kapiloff (acquired privately by George Kramer). With 1957 and 2019 Philatelic Foundation certificates.

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