Lot
894 
(Rough & Ready) Where Is the Best Diggings, cartoon pictorial cover showing three miners with picks & shovels, "Noisy Carrier's, 77 Wharf, San Francisco" imprint on buff cover bearing 10¢ green, type II (14), crude trapezoidal shape, tied by "Rough & Ready Cal Oct 8 1856" cds to Ketchums Corners N.Y.; part of flap restored and mended cover tear, Fine, ex-Needham, Baker, Kutz; with 1978 P.F. certificate. Estimate $1,500 - 2,000.
THE ONLY RECORDED EXAMPLE OF THIS EXTREMELY RARE AND DESIRABLE NOISY CARRIER'S ILLUSTRATED MINERS COVER.
Illustrated in the Wiltsee Book as fig. 18A.
Realized: $6,750
Lot
895
(Rough & Ready) This Is Just The Thing, cartoon pictorial cover showing man looking at baby cradle, "Noisy Carrier's, 77 Wharf, San Francisco" imprint on orange buff cover bearing 3¢ dull red (26), tied by blue "Rough & Ready Cal. Aug 6 1860" cds to Stockton Cal.; top edge restored, Very Fine appearance, ex-Wiltsee, Kutz. Estimate $1,500 - 2,000.
THE ONLY RECORDED EXAMPLE OF THIS NOISY CARRIER'S ILLUSTRATED COVER.
Realized: $6,500
Lot
896
Rough and Ready, Cal. (Nevada), circular postmark (NEV-2010) with manuscript "Nov 3" date and matching "Paid" straightline handstamp with ms. "3" rating to Coloma Cal., blue "Adv 1" straightline handstamp for advertised 1¢ due, Very Fine and scarce advertising use. Estimate $150 - 200.
Realized: $220
Lot
897
Rough & Ready, Cal. (Nevada), two 10¢ green (U41) entires, first with "Rough & Ready Cal. Jan 20" cds and matching "Paid 10" in circle rating handstamp to Woodstown N.J., other with "Rough & Ready Cal. May 20" cds to Muscatine Iowa; small flaws, F.-V.F. and scarce pair. Estimate $200 - 300.
Realized: $160
Lot
898
"Rough and Ready, Cal. Dec 25" (Nevada), manuscript postmark with matching "40" cent rating on blue folded miner letter datelined "Deer Creek Dec 22 1850" to Col. William A. Foster at Stafford Ct., some interesting content reading in part "…I have got so used to living in a log cabin & sleeping on the ground that I should hardly know how to act if I was in the States it is rather of a hard life but not hard to take if a fellow has good diggins but they are getting scarce in this part as the largest part of the Overland Emigration have settled in this vicinity and such another…", goes on to describe the settlers as intruders on one's claim and resulting problems, Very Fine and interesting miner's letter, ex-Haas. Estimate $500 - 750.
THE EARLIEST RECORDED ROUGH & READY USAGE.
Realized: $1,350
Lot
899
"Rough and Ready, Cal. June 28" (Nevada), manuscript postmark with matching "40" cent rating overstruck with blue "40" handstamp on blue 1851 folded letter Owosso Mich.; lengthy letter with some mining content, Very Fine and rare 40¢ rate handstamp. Estimate $500 - 750.
Realized: $550
Lot
900
"Rough & Ready, Cala. Feb 25-" (Nevada), manuscript postmark at left with matching "40" rating on buff cover to Reynoldsburg Oh., enclosed letter datelined "Feby 22d 1851" from miner to his parents with some interesting mining content: "…Men run wild with excitement in this country there are always some large stories afloat some newly discovered & very rich diggings 150 or 200 miles away & men are continually running hither & thither but those rich places are seldom found nowadays very scarce…The country is full of men who are searching all over for the gold which is all over the country but not in quantities sufficient to suit the digger there are undoubtedly many very rich and extensive mines yet to be discovered but there are many men to work them out. I shall be well pleased when it comes my turn to leave my share of this country to hands that are more willing to do the hard work & accept the miners fare…", F.-V.F. and scarce 40¢ usage with interesting mining content. Estimate $500 - 750.
Lot
901
Rough and Ready, Cal., April 18 (Nevada), manuscript postmark with matching "40" rating on 1851 folded letter addressed to Sommerset, Missouri with "By New York" routing endorsement, three-page letter datelined "Gold diggings. Nevada County Cal, April 9th, 1851" with interesting content "..the City of Nevada was found to be on fire and in about 40 minutes 150 houses, together with 300,000 dollars worth of property were destroyed", hard times mining and mentioning of Murderers Bar; cover staining at top, Fine and interesting letter. Estimate $400 - 600.
Realized: $325
Lot
902
Rough and Ready, Cal. (Nevada), circular postmark (NEV-2010) with matching "10" cent rating handstamp on blue Dec. 24th 1852 folded miner's letter to Ashland Co. Ohio, some interesting content "…I tried the mining in Company with James Downey and three or four others, we worked about a month and the claim proved to be not verry good at least for use, so we sold out for $30 a piece althow we had taken out over $200. in the mean time, and as there was little mining here at that time on the account of the scarcity of water. Except in the beds of Creeks or Rivers. I concluded I would leave here untill the rains set in, so I left here about the last of Sept and went to the South fork of the American River, Eldorado Co. which is about one hundred miles from Rough & Ready, here finding that the scarcity of water also impeding the miners interests, except in the River…", a Fine miner's letter with some interesting content. Estimate $400 - 600.
Realized: $325
Lot
903
"Rough and Ready, Cal., 26 Novr 1853" (Nevada), manuscript postmark with manuscript "paid 6" rating (crossed out) on light buff cover to Seatuck, Long Island N.Y., red two-line "Steamer Winfield Scott" handstamp, F.-V.F. Estimate $500 - 750.
ONE OF THE SEVEN KNOWN COVERS RECOVERED FROM THE WRECK OF THE "STEAMER WINFIELD SCOTT".
The Winfield Scott was a 1,291-ton steamer built in New York City in 1851, which was put into service along the Pacific Coast route in 1852. Her first trip as a Pacific Mail Steamship Co. contract vessel was on August 16, 1853. On December 1, 1853, she left San Francisco for Panama, but was stranded off Anacapa Island in the Santa Barbara Channel and lost. The mails, passengers and cargo were saved, and the recovered mail was transferred to the PMSS California, which left San Francisco on December 7 and arrived in Panama on December 24. The USMSC Illinois carried the mail from Aspinwall to New York (depart December 26, arrive January 5, 1854).
Realized: $950