Lot
299 
Whiting & Co.'s Feather River Express. Printed frank in black (Haller FW12, Ty. 1) on 1861 3¢ Pink entire to San Francisco, struck with blue oval "Holland & Morley & Co. Express/La Porte" handstamp & blue oval handstamp with illustrated label "Wells, Fargo & Co. Express from Marysville" in black on orange affixed over part of Whiting frank, some gum staing from label, entire with small tear at left, Very Fine, a stunning triple express usage. Estimate $750 - 1,000.
Realized: $575
Lot
300
Whiting & Co.'s Feather River Express/Paid. Black oval handstamp on 1864 3¢ pink entire with "Containing $40-" and "Paid" manuscript notations, Samuel Hill correspondence to San Francisco, exchanged with "Wells Fargo & Co./Marysville May 24" blue double oval handstamp (Leutzinger type 11-5) on Wells Fargo & Co.'s Express From black on orange label on the back, "1865" docket on the back, Very Fine, an uncommon money letter usage. Estimate $400 - 600.
Realized: $400
Lot
301
G. H. Wines & Co.'s California Express Eagle and Shield. Printed frank on 1853-55 3¢ Nesbitt entire, origin unknown but evidently a conjunctive use with "Rhodes & Whitney's Express/Weaverville" blue double-lined oval handstamp, to Shasta with "Please deliver immediately" endorsement, Very Fine, ex-Polland. Estimate $1,500 - 2,000.
Cover illustrated in Coburn's Letters of Gold (page 78 and 213). A spectacular frank and one of truly stunning Express Covers.
A number of G. H. Wines & Co. covers with Rhodes & Whitney handstamps are known. The relationship between the companies is not discussed in the literature but emerges from the record of an 1862 California Supreme Court case regarding the 1855 theft of $1360.25 in coin from and relating to a consignment of gold dust to the Branch Mint in San Francisco. Wines & Co. was based in San Francisco and operated between Sacramento and San Francisco and beyond California. Rhodes & Whitney were based in Weaverville and operated from Sacramento to Weaverville and elsewhere in the northern mines. Wines & Co. and Rhodes & Whitney connected with one another in Sacramento, but the association was more than geographical. G. H. Wines and Jesse Rhodes (starting in 1855) each had a Shasta businessman named Cornelius S. Whitney as their partner in their companies. The companies were co-owned.
Realized: $2,900
Lot
302
Wood & Co.'s Express. Fancy printed frank showing Gold Miner at center on 3¢ entire to New York, endorsed via Overland at bottom left, exchanged with Wells, Fargo & Co. with blue "Wells, Fargo & Co./Oroville" handstamp and then postmarked "Union Pacific R.R." cds where it entered the mails, Very Fine and choice, this is the rarest of the Wood & Co. franks, about five known used and another four unused, Cover illustrated in Coburn's Letters of Gold (page 228). Estimate $750 - 1,000.
Realized: $2,600