Lot Details

Wells, Fargo & Co, Virginia City Pony Express, $2.00 red, full to very large margins on three sides, touching frameline at top, tied to Wells, Fargo & Co. 3c pink postal stationery cover with printed frank, cancelled by "Wells, Fargo & Co. Virginia Cty. / Mar 2" oval datestamp, from the Crittenden correspondence, to Clara Crittenden at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in San Francisco, written in the hand of her husband, Alexander Parker Crittenden, a rare franking and rermarkably fresh entire, this from the last day of use of the Virginia City Pony; with 1981 Philatelic Foundation certificate.
Alexander Parker Crittenden, a Kentucky native from an influential family, was a prominent West Coast attorney.  He established a legal practice in San Francisco, and served as leader of the southern wing of the California Democratic Party.  In 1863, unwilling to swear "true fealty and allegiance" to the government of the United States following a legislative mandate, he relocated Virginia City.