red datestamp with black "Ship 6" in shell handstamp on incoming folded letter datelined "Sydney, 31st March, 1851", endorsed "Robert Bowne" which according to newspaper records traveled via Honolulu and arrived August 17, very fine, one of two recorded covers with a red datestamp and black "Ship 6", ex-Salzer

This cover was described and illustrated in a Western Express article by Dr. W. Scott Polland in July of 1968 (the cover was owned by Oscar Salzer at the time). Polland had previously written a more detailed article in the same publication about this fancy "Ship 6" cancellation (January 1968), which at the time was known as the "Clipper Ship cancellation". It was struck in red from about June 1850 to July 1851, after which point it is recorded in black until the last known use in July 1860.