SCHOONER 'VAQUERO'. Partial strike of the first type with single quotation marks on folded letter datelined "Papete 13 Marz 1855", addressed to Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, docketing on back "forwarded San Francisco May 22 by E. Bottcher pr Vaquero", contents in French, carried on the clipper ship John Land to San Francisco, neat strike of "FORWARDED BY G. B. POST & CO. SAN FRANCISCO" octagonal handstamp, carried on the schooner Vaquero which sailed for Honolulu on May 23 and arrived on June 5, receipt docketing on back, faint vertical file folds

VERY FINE EXAMPLE OF THE SCHOONER VAQUERO MARKING. ONLY THREE EXAMPLES OF THIS STYLE OF MARKING ARE KNOWN. THE EXAMPLE OFFERED HERE, ORIGINATING IN TAHITI, IS UNIQUE.

The Gregory book notes three examples of this marking with single quotation marks and two with double marks, all addressed to Honolulu. The other two with single marks were used on the Jan. 16, 1855 sailing from San Francisco. According to The National Watercraft Collection, the Vaquero was built in 1853 at the height of the clipper-ship boom and was as large as many ships and barks of the time. She gained a reputation as the fastest vessel out of San Francisco, and was the first vessel to carry passengers from San Francisco to Melbourne and plied that route with stops at Hawaii. The Vaquero was lost at sea in 1859 after only five years in service.

Ex Peters. Illustrated in the Gregory book (Vol. 2, p. 412).

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