3070 – ERIVAN X

Wells, Fargo & Co, Pony Express, San Francisco, 10c green, on neatly re-backed cover front to Glasgow, Scotland, adhesive affixed overtop of hand-colored “Overland via Los Angeles” illustrated stagecoach directive, the “via Los Angeles” crossed-out, cancelled with blue grid and tied by neatly struck blue oval “Pony Express / San Francisco / Nov 7” Running Pony, second strike below, endorsed “Pony Express” in manuscript, black oval “The Central Overland California & Pikes Peak Express Company / St. Joseph Mo. / Nov 7” datestamp, entered the mails in Saint Joseph, with November 20 double-circle c.d.s. applied, black “N. York Am. Pkt / Nov 24” c.d.s., likely  carried via the North German Lloyd ship “Bremen”, arriving in Southampton on December 6, treated as unpaid and assessed 1sh due in manuscript, vertical fold, else very fine appearance, an exceptionally rare transatlantic Pony Express usage, one of just five recorded and the only example to Scotland, its scarcity enhanced by it being the only recorded example with an “Overland via Los Angeles” direction, among the most significant and visually striking Pony Express covers extant; with 2023 Philatelic Foundation certificate.  FKW Census #E38.