RARE-Fresno/San Francisco Bicycle Mail Cover 12L2 Carried On Post-LAST DAY USE!
VERY RARE: An amazing piece of history. RARE FINAL RUN with Illustrated Advertising
Carried On The Post - Northern Trip (Fresno to San Francisco)
Fresno, July 17, 1894. Received San Francisco July 19, 1894 at 10:30am
| #12L2 (Large Margins), Bicycle Mail Route, 25c Green, retouched die with "San Francisco" spelling corrected. Similar attractive Victor Cyclery illustrated corner card cover with the Bicycle stamp, along with a nice 2c Carmine (#220), tied on arrival by a "San Francisco, Cal./Jul. 19, 1894/10:30am" CDS machine cancel. The Bicycle stamp also tied by bars cancel. Faint Overman Wheel Co violet return answer cachet on the front and bicycle handstamp on the reverse dated July 17, 1894 on departure. The addressee, W. Sellschopp, was a 19th century San Francisco stamp dealer & publisher and a known frequent recipient for these covers & services. This item serves as an amazing example of having been carried on probably the last trip ever in addition to being some of the most attractive of the carried covers. Railroad service resumed on January 18th so Bicycle service became unnecessary (thus, this cover started prior to railroad service actually re-starting and was traveling SAME DAY +1 during resumption - amazing simultaneous events and overlap in history . . . obviously, this last route couldn't stop midway without completion!) |
Only 380 TOTAL letters of all types/varieties were carried during the brief period of operation. Provenance via well researched articles written by Richard Frajola, as well as, the key reference book by Lowell B Cooper, "The Fresno and San Francisco Bicycle Mail of 1894" published in 1982.
ONLY THREE SIMILAR PRIOR SALES NOTED FETCHING AN INCREDIBLE $3,750 (2014), $2,900 AND $3,000 (2007) RESPECTIVELY
The Fresno and San Francisco Bicycle Mail was both a legitimate local service to transport the mail during the Pullman strike, which caused a postal failure, in addition to being a philatelic adventure. The Pullman strike started May 11, 1894 and spread to the American Railway Union which declared a boycott of all Pullman cars on June 26. The strike was violent and interrupted much railroad activity, especially the mail West of Chicago. The strike ended July 15, 1894, train service was quickly restored. Bicycles were all the rage at the time, Arthur Banta the initiator of the Bicycle Mail owned the Victor Cyclery store in Fresno and was active with the American Wheelman Co. in San Francisco. He set up a mail service between Fresno and San Francisco consisting of 8 bicycle relays to convey the mail over 210 miles. The service ran from July 7 through July 17. Banta was not a stamp collector but quickly became aware that there was considerable interest in the stamps and covers for the collector market.
These are seldom offered and missing from even the most advanced collections. Don't miss out!
Condition as shown/described. Additional pictures upon request.
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