7. 1860 Stolen Pony Cover
This stamp offers a peek into the American mythos of “cowboys and Indians.” Established in 1860, the Pony Express was a private mail service using a network of young riders and stations wherein mail could travel from across the country in approximately 10 days (the alternative was stagecoach or ship). Its parent company, Central Overland California and Pike’s Peak Express Company, is stamped on this cover. One Express rider, traveling east through Nevada in 1860, disappeared. Two covers from his mailbag, which was recovered two years later, survive to this day and bear the handwritten words: “Recovered from a mail stolen by the Indians in 1860.”
For all the Pony Express’s legends (both Buffalo Bill Cody and Wild Bill Hickok claimed to be riders; there’s no evidence either was), the outfit lasted only 19 months and was, in fact, somewhat of a publicity stunt by three businessmen attempting to win a government mail contract.
