Hamton CA Gold Rush Town?

My thought is that you can take what Richard says to the bank. The cover has few clues and a lot of questions; unless someone can produce some hard evidence we can speculate endlessly with little productivity. I suggest moving on unless something new is uncovered.
Don

I like to think that EVERY question has an answer (even if it's Irrational, such as a theoretic number).
There has to be an Answer for this one. A Carrier would answer the Question; but the cover has no hallmarks of anything like that, and thus would be Unique among Carried mail in California (and for Free no less). Is that more of a stretch than a rogue postmark?

kinda the Reason I'm like a Dog with a Bone on this: I had found a *new* 1739 Higley Colonial, a Unique Mule. Everyone and their brother (namely, Heritage, PCGS, NGC, etc) deemed the coin Counterfeit, even as I tried to explain to them that it would be IMPOSSIBLE for the coin to be counterfeit, no one listened. The Big Cheese Coin Guy at H demanded that I send them $35.00 before they would return it to me... Stack's sold it uncertified for 69K in one of their sales. So much for being counterfeit...

I think Frajola used the word "carried" as in "transported" and was not referring to a carrier service. In other words, it was deposited at a post office and carried in the mails to San Francisco and then east via Panama.

then... who is "Hamton"?
and it being "Hamton Cal"... ?
here we go again

I mean, if anyone looked at it innocuously, they'd say "That's a Town Postmark", because that's what it looks like

I've owned many covers where you just can't tell what postal rate was being paid. This, in spite of having access to the postal regulations and so on ... sometimes you just have no way of knowing. Sometimes new evidence avails itself over time, and after years, with another discovery, it all makes sense. Sometimes not.

My point being that none of us was there when that cover was mailed, so we can only make educated guesses as to what happened with it. At some point, we run out of guesses. Next step is find another similar one.

well, does anyone have a Salley? He mentions a William Hampton, Postmaster & Ferryman on the Fresno River. If his Time in action parallels the Time of the cover, then maybe a correlation can be drawn.

And we will stop there; OK, Don?

Apparently no one has a copy. Missing from my shelves, too.
Can't say as we established where the cover originated from other than Cal, but all in all, a good thread. A good lesson for newbies, talk about your items. kidrootbeer here is up to 50 Posts now.

51!
Thanks, guys! Don, too, for indulging me. I have an even "better one" to share (got called names over it, so I suspect it's worth sharing)

From Caj at PSE:

"We did research on Hamton – it is either Hamton Court or Hamton Valley and it is real."
and apparently will be certified that way

Please share the "proof" with us as I see no listing of post offices that have ever operated under either of those names in California.

The only "Proof" I have, is what PSE just eMailed me

And do you believe this conclusion?

the Thing is, I believe that California was a wide-open State, with a bustling metropolis or two by then, along with isolated outposts. I don't think it's a stretch that someone(s) would work a Postal site without waiting for word from D.C. that it was sanctioned. California was like no other State waaaay out West at this time.

ergo: who is going to stop it? and, the Use of the Stamp is somewhat weird... MS-ed across its face, which on the face of it is unusual. Also the Use of the Stamp is unusual, as most tiny Post Offices were happy to MS or Handstamp the " 'DUE' (X)" or "PAID", whichever the case may be. I am sure that this cover is a One And Done, and here is the one.

Here is the link to the Williams "County Finder", an alphabetical listing of every post office that operated in California form 1849 to 1935. There are 9 towns that begin Ham. There are also a lot of towns that had offices but no postmarks are recorded from them. This could be one of those unreported towns.

http://www.pbbooks.com/caindex.htm

An example: I collect two California counties in depth.
Humboldt had 129 Offices (some were renamed) with 495 postmarks and 17 offices that have no reported postmarks.
Mendocino had 116 offices (some renamed) with 428 postmarks and 18 offices that have no reported postmarks. These missing postmarks are from almost every decade.
A total of 35 missing towns that the USPOD says had post offices from just these two counties.

As of today, 10/11/2017, the cover in question has not been seen by PSE. No expert, including PSE, would offer an opinion on a cover without the cover being in hand. In consideration of everyone's time, this thread is now locked. If the original poster contacts us with a certification the thread will be reopened and the cert posted.
Don