3c Orange Brown, Type II (10A). Horizontal strip of four, full margins to just in at a couple of places, left stamp small scrape in top margin, tied by large 9-bar oval grid cancels with "San Francisco Cal. 18 Apr." (1852) circular datestamp on docketed dark buff cover to Circleville O., original letter enclosure datelined at San Francisco "April 1852"

VERY FINE. A RARE USE OF A STRIP OF FOUR OF THE 1851 3-CENT ORANGE BROWN ON A COVER FROM CALIFORNIA, PAYING DOUBLE THE 6-CENT RATE.

The McDaniel census published in the 1851 Sesquicentennial book contains only two covers bearing multiples of No. 10 or 10A. This cover and lot 158 do not appear in the census. According to the exhibit notes, this was carried from San Francisco on the Isthmus, arriving in Panama on May 11, 1852. After carriage across the Isthmus it was carried to New York on the Crescent, arriving May 24. The large "double-wide” oval grid was designed to cancel pairs of 3c stamps used to pay the 6c rate with one strike

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