Lot
4414 
(Wreck Mail) Steamer Winfield Scott, unusually bold strike of red two-line handstamp on 1853 buff cover addressed to Kalamazoo, Mich., bearing 3¢ dull red (11A) vertical pair, top stamp defective, tied by dotted grid cancel for prepaid rate over 3,000 miles, matching "Sonora Cal. Nov 28" origin cds adjacent; minor edge wear, tiny top edge stain, Very Fine, illustrated in color in "Letters of Gold" on page 74., ex-Frank Newton. Milgram No. 1461 Estimate $5,000 - 7,500.
ONE OF THE FINEST OF THE SEVEN KNOWN COVERS RECOVERED FROM THE WRECK OF THE "STEAMER WINFIELD SCOTT" AND THOUGHT TO BE THE UNIQUE EXAMPLE FRANKED WITH STAMPS.
The "Winfield Scott" was a 1,291-ton steamer built in New York City in 1851, which was put into service along the Pacific Coast route in 1852. The "Winfield Scott" was purchased by the Pacific Mail Steam Ship Company from the New York and San Francisco Line in July 1853. One round trip between San Francisco and Panama, but on December 2, 1853, she was stranded off Anacapa Island in the Santa Barbara Channel and lost on her second trip for the company. The five mail bags, passengers, crew and cargo including gold species were saved. Nine examples of this two-line handstamp are recorded, of which two were carried before the "Winfield Scott" was commissioned into the Pacific service.
Below is the PMSSC's advertisement of November 28th 1853 in the San Francisco Sun giving the sailing details of the "Winfield Scott".
Realized: $6,000