Wells, Fargo & Co. Pony Express, $2.00 Red (143L1). Large margins to clear, light pre-use diagonal creasing and tiny tear, tied by blue "Pony Express San Francisco May 11" (1861) Running Pony oval handstamp on 10c Green on Buff Star Die entire (U33) to Dr. M.J. Pimentel in Boston Mass., blue "PAID" in oval handstamp, green "St. Joseph Mo. May 24" circular datestamp also ties stamp, missing backflap

VERY FINE APPEARANCE. A BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLE OF THE $2.00 PONY EXPRESS STAMP TIED BY THE BLUE SAN FRANCISCO RUNNING PONY OVAL ON AN EASTBOUND COVER.

This cover was carried on the Saturday, May 11, 1861, trip from San Francisco, which arrived at St. Joseph on May 23. When Phase II (Interim Phase) started on April 1, 1861, the rate for a Pony Express letter was substantially reduced to $2 per half-ounce, down from the $5 per half-ounce or $2.50 per quarter-ounce rates in effect during the previous year. At the same time, the new agents--Wells, Fargo & Company--had special stamps and envelopes printed for use on Pony Express letters. The $2 rate was in effect for a brief period, from April 1 to June 30, 1861. The FKW census records 37 $2.00 Red covers.

The $2 and $4 were printed 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. Based on the fact that the $2 and $4 of the July 1861 issue (in Green and Black) were printed from the same stones as the April 1861 issue, it is certain that the printers had retained the two original stones. Lithographic stones were usually re-used by erasing the image and repolishing the surface, but in the case of the Pony Express stones, they were evidently preserved for future printings.

FKW Census E74. Ex Walske. With 1980 P.F. certificate

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