1857 - A Gold Miner's hand-sewn leather poke no doubt used to mail gold dust or nuggets from California to Philadelphia plus an antique vial containing small gold nuggets and flakes by Sent to Thos. Anderson - 1857
by Sent to Thos. Anderson
1857 - A Gold Miner's hand-sewn leather poke no doubt used to mail gold dust or nuggets from California to Philadelphia plus an antique vial containing small gold nuggets and flakes
by Sent to Thos. Anderson
- Used
- very good
Franked with seven single 10-cent green Washington stamps, enough to mail 3.5 ounces of gold
This hand-sewn leather pouch measures 4" x 3.75". The original stitching remains intact on two edges; it has been removed along the other two edges, no doubt to empty its contents. The pouch is franked on one side with seven single 10-cent green Washington stamps, Types II and III (Scott #14-15) arranged in two rows and canceled with four strikes of a circular San Francisco postmark dated 20 December. An address label affixed to the opposite side contains a partial San Francisco circular postmark also dated 20 December, a Philadelphia delivery address, and two different Philadelphia Dead Letter Office handstamps. One of the Dead Letter handstamps is circular and dated Jun 30; the other is oval with a manuscript date of "Aug 4 57" inside. The edges of the address label are worn and chipped.
The postal rate of 70 cents indicates that the pouch would have carried almost 3.5 ounces of gold.
As a historical curiosity, we've included a vial containing 1.4 grams of nuggets and flakes that came from the Gold Rush although it was not mailed in this poke. It has been passed down to us from a distant relative who tried his luck in the California mines, and his luck wasn't very good if this is all he had to show for his travel and labor. The gold's melt value is negligible, probably no more than $100. The gold and vial are in nice shape; the original cork stopper is missing and was replaced by rolled paper many,, many years ago.
One cannot help but wonder if the gold in the pouch ever made it to the addressee or was removed before or while the pouch sat unclaimed in the Philadelphia Dead Letter Office.
Exceptionally rare, this is likely the only extant gold rush poke that was mailed through the U.S. back home to the east. At the time of listing, there is nothing similar for sale in the trade; Rare Book Hub and the Stamp Auction Network show no other similar items have come up for auction, and OCLC shows no similar items in any institutional collection.
This hand-sewn leather pouch measures 4" x 3.75". The original stitching remains intact on two edges; it has been removed along the other two edges, no doubt to empty its contents. The pouch is franked on one side with seven single 10-cent green Washington stamps, Types II and III (Scott #14-15) arranged in two rows and canceled with four strikes of a circular San Francisco postmark dated 20 December. An address label affixed to the opposite side contains a partial San Francisco circular postmark also dated 20 December, a Philadelphia delivery address, and two different Philadelphia Dead Letter Office handstamps. One of the Dead Letter handstamps is circular and dated Jun 30; the other is oval with a manuscript date of "Aug 4 57" inside. The edges of the address label are worn and chipped.
The postal rate of 70 cents indicates that the pouch would have carried almost 3.5 ounces of gold.
As a historical curiosity, we've included a vial containing 1.4 grams of nuggets and flakes that came from the Gold Rush although it was not mailed in this poke. It has been passed down to us from a distant relative who tried his luck in the California mines, and his luck wasn't very good if this is all he had to show for his travel and labor. The gold's melt value is negligible, probably no more than $100. The gold and vial are in nice shape; the original cork stopper is missing and was replaced by rolled paper many,, many years ago.
One cannot help but wonder if the gold in the pouch ever made it to the addressee or was removed before or while the pouch sat unclaimed in the Philadelphia Dead Letter Office.
Exceptionally rare, this is likely the only extant gold rush poke that was mailed through the U.S. back home to the east. At the time of listing, there is nothing similar for sale in the trade; Rare Book Hub and the Stamp Auction Network show no other similar items have come up for auction, and OCLC shows no similar items in any institutional collection.
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Seller
Kurt A. Sanftleben, LLC
(US)
- Format/Binding Leather
- Book Condition Used - Very good
- Quantity Available 1
- Place of Publication San Francisco, California to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Date Published 1857