Wells, Fargo & Co. Pony Express, $4.00 Black (143L5). Position 14, large margins to ample at bottom left, sharp impression on bright paper, tied by blue “Pony Express, San Francisco, Aug. 10” (1861) Running Pony oval datestamp, large blue “Wells, Fargo & Cos. Express, S.Frco. 10 Aug.” double-circle datestamp on 8-1/8 by 3-1/2 inch legal-size cover addressed “To The Hon. Fifth Auditor of The Treasury of the U.S., Washington, D.C.” with return address at upper right “U.S. Consulate, Honolulu H.I.”, red seal on back with embossed “CONSULATE U.S. HONOLULU, OAHU H.I.” and American eagle, faint pencil “$4 Pony” around stamp, two clear strikes of “Forwarded by McRuer & Merrill, San Francisco” double-line oval handstamp on back, green “St. Joseph Mo. Aug. 22” circular datestamp, mailed from St. Joseph to Washington D.C. free of postage (official Treasury Department mail), some stains around letters of address have been lightened, the markings are unaffected

VERY FINE. ONE OF TWO RECORDED $4.00 BLACK PONY EXPRESS COVERS, BOTH ORIGINATING IN HAWAII AND CARRIED ON THE SAME PONY TRIP. ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT COVERS IN UNITED STATES POSTAL HISTORY.

The first Pony Express stamps were issued in April 1861 after Wells Fargo & Co. became involved in operating the express. The Horse & Rider stamps bear the Wells Fargo & Co. name, and they were first issued in $2.00 Red and $4.00 Green denominations to pay the single and double rate per half-ounce. When the $1.00 per half-ounce contract rate took effect on July 1, 1861, a new set of stamps was needed. The July 1861 Horse & Rider issue comprises the $1.00 Red, $2.00 Green and $4.00 Black. The $4.00 stamp paid the quadruple rate for a letter weighing between 1-1/2 and 2 ounces.

This envelope was used in 1861 to send documents from the U.S. consul in Honolulu, Hawaii, to John C. Underwood, the fifth auditor of the United States Treasury in Washington D.C. It has a nearly-identical mate, with the same postal markings applied on the same days, and also bearing a $4.00 Black Pony stamp. The only differences between the two covers are the color of the consulate label--red on this cover and green on the other--and the notation “By Pony--Vouchers by regular mail” on the other cover.

Each of the $4.00 Black Pony covers has the McRuer & Merrill backstamp, which indicates that this private firm was responsible for transmission of both letters from Hawaii to San Francisco. McRuer & Merrill is listed in the 1861 Langley San Francisco city directory (Valentine & Co., publishers) as follows: “McRuer (D.) Co. & Merrill (John C.), auction, shipping, and commission merchants, agents Honolulu packets, 117 and 119 California, dwl 18 Laurel Place.” It is possible that McRuer & Merrill wrote “$4 Pony” in pencil on each cover and paid for the stamps. The presence of the large Wells Fargo & Co. double-circle datestamp on each cover is unusual, suggesting that McRuer & Merrill may have brought them to a Wells Fargo & Co. agent, who then turned them over to someone else responsible for preparing Pony Express mail for the trip.

The $4.00 Black Pony cover offered here reached the market through H. P. Atherton. In a 1932 advertisement, he stated “For Sale--A perfect $4.00 Black W-F Pony Stamp used on a large Envelope bearing a red seal of The U.S. Consulate at Hawaii, on the reverse. Price on application. H. P. Atherton, 1562 Main St., Springfield, Mass.” The “red seal” identifies this cover as the one sold by Atherton, and the Halls’ notation on back identifies him as the source in 1932. When the Hall collection was sold by the Siegel firm in 2000, this cover realized $325,000 hammer (Sale 830, lot 822).

The other cover--with the green seal--was in the Henry Needham collection, which Eugene Costales handled in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. John R. Boker Jr. reported that he acquired all of the Needham material with the exception of the $4.00 Black Pony cover that Costales promised to Alfred F. Lichtenstein. That cover was sold in the May 2004 H. R. Harmer sale of the Dale-Lichtenstein Pony Express collection, realizing $525,000 hammer.

With Philatelic Foundation certificate number 350,000, issued to the Estate of John H. Hall, Jr., on August 15, 2000, stating “it is a genuine usage.” FKW Census E141. Trip ET-125. Ex Atherton and Hall.

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