Pony Express Envelope

Last week, my Dad e-mailed to let me know about a story he'd seen on a Pony Express envelope that sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars at a recent auction.

A little bit of research led me to the Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries Web site and the information on two envelopes that sold for $550,000 each. The envelopes were in the multi-million dollar collection owned by retired Hawaii business executive, Thurston Twigg-Smith, 88, former publisher of the Honolulu Advertiser newspaper. His favorite item in the collection was also one of the most valuable — one of only two known surviving Pony Express letters that originated from Hawaii, and is described as “one of the most important covers in United States postal history.”  Additionally, another envelope sold for $550,00. That one is one of only six Pony Express covers addressed to foreign addresses. The one in this collection was sent to Switzerland and featured a unique combination of stamps. Overall, the 63 items in the collection sold for almost three and a half million dollars.

Also selling for a high price, was one of only three surviving covers from the first day of the Pony Express service. The envelope, pictured at right, courtesy of Siegel Auction Galleries, sold for $400,000.


The Pony Express envelopes are quite interesting, and you can view each envelope and read all about them on the Web site. Equally interesting is the rest of the site, if you find stamps, postal history, autographs and other ephemera of interest.