Lot
170 
(Monterey) Chualar, Cal., Dec 7, 1877, clear cds (MOT-570) on cover to Canby, Oregon, franked with 3¢ Banknote tied by target handstamp; some cover stains and reduced at left, F.-V.F., the earliest of only two known postmarks from the first period of the Chualar post office. Estimate $150 - 200.
Realized: $130
Lot
171
(Monterey) Chualar, Cal., Jan 20, 1878, clear cds (MOT-570) on cover to Gordola, Switzerland, franked with 5¢ Banknote pair (light perf tone) tied by target handstamps, Very Fine, the only recorded example of Chualar's first postmark. Estimate $150 - 200.
Lot
172
(Monterey) Gabilan, Cal., Dec 12th, 1881, manuscript postmark (MOT-800) on 1874, 3¢ green entire with Salinas City Bank corner card, to Portland, Or.; cover reduced at left, F.-V.F., the only recorded postmark from Gabilan. Estimate $200 - 300.
Realized: $180
Lot
173
(Monterey) Griswold, Cal., 1-23-85, manuscript postmark (MOT-990, R5) on manuscript canceled 1¢ Liberty postal card to Kansas City, Mo., Very Fine, the only recorded postmark from the short-lived Griswold post office. Estimate $200 - 300.
Realized: $180
Lot
174
(Monterey) Imusdale, 2-14-83, manuscript postmark (MOT-1060) on 3¢ green entire with pair of pen canceled 1¢ Banknotes to Mazatlan, Mexico, with original enclosure, Very Fine, ex-Jessup; with 2009 A.P.S. certificate. Scott No. 182+U163 Estimate $150 - 200.
Lot
175
(Monterey) Lonoak, Cal., 1-30-86, neat manuscript postmark (MOT-1410, R5), with pen cancels on 2¢ Banknote, to Hollister with red receiver on reverse; cover slightly reduced ar left, F.-V.F. and rare, the only recorded manuscript and earliest known cover; with 2009 A.P.S. certificate. Estimate $300 - 400.
Realized: $270
Lot
176
(Monterey) Monterey, California, August 18th, 1847, dateline on commercial folded letter to Plymounth, Mass., carried privately by ship and entered the mails the following year with red "New - York, 5 cts, Feb 14" cds, Very Fine, an early usage prior to the formation of the Monterey post office in early 1849. Estimate $200 - 300.
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Realized: $1,700
Lot
177
(Monterey) Monterey, California, Apl 17. 1849, manuscript postmark (MOT-1610) and matching "40" cent rating on orange buff cover to New York N.Y., accompanied by blue enclosed letter datelined "Monterey, California April 13 1849" from a member of the U.S. Military to his sister describing the influence of the discovery of gold to the military way of life, being transferred to San Francisco, mail ships Oregon and California etc. including "…I leave tomorrow on the Brig Malik Adel, and the brig stops 4 or 5 days at Santa Cruz. General Riley has arrived & Colonel Mason has resigned to him the Command, both civil and military…Mrs. General Smith and Mrs. Major Ogden and another lady all of whom came up with me return home with the California because I suppose no servants can be obtained here…Col. Mason also returns with the California…", Very Fine. Estimate $2,000 - 3,000.
THE EARLIEST RECORDED MONTEREY POSTMARKED COVER, SENT DURING THE PRE-STATEHOOD PERIOD.
This is a rare version of the Monterey manuscript postmark with California spelled out, we have not seen another.
Realized: $3,250
Lot
178
(Monterey) Monterey (Cal.), Jan 1, manuscript postmark and "Paid 40" manuscript rate marking on cover to Manchester, New Hampshire "U.S.", Very Fine, an attractive New Year's Day prepaid 40¢ rate use from the first official Post Office in California. Estimate $200 - 300.
The Postal Act of March 3, 1847, authorized the establishment of a Post Office at Astoria on the Pacific Coast (in later Oregon) and set the rate of postage for letters between the United States and the Pacific Coast at 40c. That act also authorized the printing and use of the first postage stamps in the United States. The next year, gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in the Mexican state of Alta California and, nine days later, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed. That treaty ended the Mexican-American War and ceded California to the United States. The Postal Act of August 14, 1848, authorized the establishment of Post Offices at San Diego, Monterey, San Francisco, and "other places on the Pacific Coast" as needed and set the rate of postage for letters sent between places on the Pacific Coast at 12½c.
Monterey was the provisional capital of California under military rule before and after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. A Post Office was applied for and granted and Captain William G. Marcy, Commissary and Quartermaster, was appointed postmaster. The appointment was approved by the Post Office Department on November 21, 1848. The only problem was that the three steamships that might carry the mails on the Pacific Coast via Panama were still en route from New York. In fact, none of the steamers had as yet even rounded Cape Horn.
The first Pacific Mail Steamship Company ship to arrive on the Pacific Coast was the S.S. California. On board was William Van Voorhies who, as the Postmaster General's first Special Postal Agent in California, was charged with the task of setting up postal service on the Pacific Coast. The S.S. California reached Panama in January of 1849, where it picked up an unexpected cargo of Argonauts. The ship reached Monterey the following month. At Monterey, Van Voorhies delivered the first official mails to Captain Marcy along with Marcy's bond as postmaster, which he executed on February 23, 1849. The S.S. California arrived in San Francisco five days later, at which time the crew promptly deserted her for the goldfields.
Realized: $210
Lot
179
(Monterey) Nasimento, Jan 31, 88, manuscript postmark (MOT-1980) on cover to Washington D.C., franked with manuscript canceled 2¢ green, reverse with Pleyto & Bradley transit cds's, Very Fine, the Unique Manuscript Postmark from Nasimento. Estimate $300 - 400.