Lot 1425

✉ ESTADOS UNIDOS. 1851. COLN (Prussia, Germany) to SAN FRANCISCO. Entire letter sent via Royal Mail Steam Packet West Indies, via Southampton, St. Thomas and Chagres (Panama). Delivered to the gold mines by Reynolds & Co. with 1$ express delivery fee (manuscript in front Collect 1,00). On reverse oval mark REYNOLDS AND CO. EXPRESS / SAN FRANCISCO / STOCKTON AND SONORA and NOT / PAID in blue. Some cover faults, but the markings are clear. EXTREMELY RARE cover from Germany to San Francisco, then by Reynolds and Co. to the gold mines. NOTE: Reynolds was a pioneering expressman in the southern mines. Beginning in January 1850 he connected with Todd and Bryan in Stockton and through them to San Francisco and with Adams and Co. to other parts of the U.S. and to Europe.Reynolds and Co. was dissolved in the fall of 1851, not long after this cover was delivered.