Wells Fargo & Company Pony Express, $1.00 Blue, Garter (143L6). Positions 1/6/11/16, vertical strip of four from the first vertical column in the sheet of 20, large to huge margins all around showing the corner guide marks on each stamp, used with four 10¢ Dark Green, Ty. I (62B), corresponding quadruple $1.00 Pony Express rate and 10¢ per half-ounce postage, 10¢ stamps cancelled with blue manuscript and all stamps tied on large blue linen-lined cover originating in Boston on October 11, 1861, addressed "Agent of Pony Express, St. Joseph, Mo, For Mr. Louis McLane or William A. White, Care of Messrs Wells Fargo & Co, San Francisco, California", with original letter and several legal documents from Reuben A. Richards related to the assignment of a debt owed by Joseph B. Hamblen, carried on the westbound Pony trip departing on Thursday, October 17, 1861, which arrived in San Francisco on October 29--one of the last mails to actually be carried by Pony riders before the service was closed on October 24--cover has minor small tears and nicks around edges, certificate notes slight creases in top three $1.00 stamps and a crease in one 10¢ stamp

VERY FINE. THE ONLY RECORDED MULTIPLE OF ANY PONY EXPRESS STAMP ON COVER AND ONE OF FOUR EXTANT COVERS WITH THE $1.00 "GARTER" STAMP. ONE OF THE MOST OUTSTANDING OF ALL CLASSIC UNITED STATES COVERS.

The Horse & Rider Second Issue, the "Garter" Issue and Type II franked envelope were issued to prepay the $1.00 Pony Express rate under the government contract that went into effect on July 1, 1861. The franked entire and Garter adhesive were needed by Wells Fargo & Co.'s eastern offices, since the Horse & Rider stamps were never sent to them. On August 12, 1861, Wells Fargo announced in the New York papers that "Pony Express Envelopes" were "Now ready and for sale at our office." Although this announcement refers only to "envelopes," in fact both the franked entires and adhesive stamps were put on sale in August 1861.

The 1861 10c "Pumpkin" entire with the Type II printed frank was ordered from George F. Nesbitt & Co. (New York) after approval was sought from the Postmaster General's office (see lot 28). Nesbitt was specifically asked to produce envelopes on a thinner, tougher paper than that used for regular stamped envelopes, to reduce weight for the Pony riders. Nesbitt also printed the Garter stamps in sheets of 20 with his imprint below the center stamp in the bottom row. There are four recorded covers with the $1.00 Garter stamp (see list), but only one multiple is known on cover--the strip of four offered here. In fact, this is the only cover with a multiple of any Pony Express stamp.

The cover and letter are addressed to Louis McClane or William A. White, in care of the Wells Fargo office in San Francisco. McLane was Wells Fargo's general agent and later became president of the firm. The letter is datelined "Boston Mass. Octo. 11, 1861", and with the enclosures weighed between 1.5 and 2 ounces, thus requiring four times the express fee and postage. The 40¢ postage was paid with the new 10¢ 1861 First Design (Type I) stamps, and the $4.00 Pony Express fee was paid with the Garter strip. The stamps were cancelled with blue manuscript ink, and it appears that the cover was carried outside the mails all the way to the Wells Fargo office. It should have reached St. Joseph in time for the October 17, 1861, westbound Pony trip, which arrived on October 29. Newspaper notices of letters arriving by Pony during this period list McLane and Wells Fargo as recipients.

The cover was discovered by George M. Hackett in 1902 and was loaned by him to Wells Fargo for a display at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition (see photo opposite). Hackett died in 1959, and his heirs sold the collection in a 1983 Butterfield's auction, where George Kramer bought the Garter cover.

FKW Census W64. Illustrated in 1930 Julius Loeb article in The American Philatelist (reprinted in Western Express, April 1984), described in detail in Ashbrook's Special Service (pages 599-603), and illustrated in Frajola-Kramer-Walske, The Pony Express: A Postal History (page 63). With 1983 P.F. certificate.

View enclosures at https://siegelauctions.com/2019/1207/pdf/29_enclosures.pdf

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