Lot
583 
"Culloma, ac (Alta California), Oct 23" (ELD-390), red manuscript postmark and matching "40" rating on gray folded letter to Brushy Prairie, Indiana, letter from a recently-arrived miner is headed "Sacramento City Sept 30th 1849" and speaks of being ill after arriving in California and "…I no longer look for the large fortune I anticipated when I left the states. I find these large fortunes are the result of accident and but few are so fortunate. We think we will do about… 2 or 3 thousand a piece for the time we think of staying. If we had that now we would soon start for home."; minor splitting at the folds, address panel fly specked and toned, Fine and rare, The earliest recorded postmark from Coloma. Estimate $300 - 400.
The discovery of gold at Culloma in 1848 led to the California gold rush. The Culloma Post Office was one of seven offices established by the Postmaster General's second Special Postal Agent in California, R. T. P. Allen, beginning in June of 1849. The early spelling of the town name persisted into the 1850's.
This folded letter is the basis for the October 20, 1849, listing in Williams of the earliest and only known Culloma manuscript postmark. However, the date of the postmark is actually October 23 rather than October 20.
References: Illustrated in Coburn's Letters of Gold on page 36.
Realized: $325