Lot
1196 
Post Office Literary Depot/Gardiner & Kirk/Third St. Sacramento. Perfect strike of red double-lined oval handstamp on the back of cover to Buckland, Massachusetts, franked with 1851 10¢ green type III (clear to large margins, just shaving at left) tied by "Sacramento City, Cal./14 Jul" balloon cds, Very Fine and attractive, the only example we have ever handled. Scott No. 15 Estimate $750 - 1,000.
Advertisements for Gardiner & Kirk appeared frequently in the Sacramento Daily Union newspaper in the 1850's. The advertisements indicate that Gardiner & Kirk were "Newsmen, Booksellers and Stationers." On sailing days, they had a "mail bag open till half past 3 o'clock for Letters, Newspapers, etc. [to be sent] via Nicaragua" "for the accommodation of their patrons and friends. This arrangement gives an hour and a half difference in time between the closing of the regular mail and that by the Nicaragua line." This cover may have missed the cutoff time since it was mailed locally. Gardiner & Kirk also sold "Postage Stamps, Envelopes, etc." and published illustrated letter sheets.
Realized: $2,400