Need Assistance On This California Cds Location

I have two covers addressed to this lady both show a partial CDS and I decided to ask for assistance rather than drive myself crazy trying to figure it out.

I hope this scan is good enough, if not I can try again.

What would its value be? I do not know anything about California covers.



Thanks
-MV

San Luis Obispo - a big city and college town in California

I can't comment on any value, but it looks to me like the postmark city is San Luis Obispo, CA, a nice little city on the Central Coast, and home of California Polytechnic University (often referred to (these days, at least) as Cal Poly).

Sniped!

You guys are quick!

I doubt it makes much of a difference--the letter is still inside and was written in 1891.

San Luis Obispo is one of California's early post offices being open before 28 Jul 1851. It is also the county seat of The County of San Luis Obispo.
Your postmark is listed in the John H. Williams two volume work California Town Postmarks 1849-1934 with the county prefix as SAL-2020 Earliest Known Use is estimated to be Oct 7 1883 and the Latest Known use was Aug 12 1894 It is rated 2 on a scale of 1-8.

Are there any postal markings on the reverse? They can affect value.

Thanks for the additional information littleriverphil.

I'll add this information to my records.

While I'm asking is there a work/book on Missouri postmarks? I have some covers from there.

-MV

Hopefully there is something newer than Richard W. Helbock's United States Post Offices. Vol 1-8 which lists each office and rates them 1-10. The major fault being not listing each postmark of every town. It will tell when the office open, when it closed (if it did) and give it a rating.
Missouri is in Vol 7, The Lower Mississippi Valley, MO, AR, TN, LA & MS

I use Jim Forte's post office listings:

https://www.postalhistory.com/Post_...es/index.htm

The various rarity rating scales are at best educated guesses and over-generalize any town which was open for an extended period of time or is still open.

Helbock's "guide" is like that, if the office is open it's a Zero.

I would not think this would have substantial commercial value though I am sure some California collectors would be interested. 1891 is not exceptionally early, the cancel is not easily readable, the cover is roughly torn open at the right, it is from a large city so there would have been a great deal of mail going out from it every day and the stamp is not actually tied to the cover so while it looks original in the image on my screen one would need to study it very closely to be sure it was not added on at some later date to replace whatever stamp may have been on it origianlly. On the positive side it does have its letter inside. If the letter is something particularly interesting then that can add a bit of value, but if it is only routine business correspondence or family chit-chat about Aunt Tilly's lumbago acting up again (or such) then that will not add much.

Kimo's post is accurate, According to Alan Patera's California Postmaster Compensation the San Luis Obispo postmaster received $1800 for the year 1891.

There is a receiving postmark on the back though somewhat indistinct.




I didn't read the whole letter but from the brief glance I think it's a run of the mill friendly letter.

From the other covers I have addressed to Stella, she preferred to open her mail by tearing open a side.

-MV

Here is the other San Luis Obispo cover. I know it has faults the partially cut off CDS, upturned corner of the stamp, dirty, etc.

The stamp is at least tied to the cover and the receiving postmark on the back is complete even if a little light.

They're $1 items, sorry. San Luis Obispo is associated with other interesting markings such as WAY markings, Pacific Coast Railway RPOs, Pacific Coast Steamship purple ovals and others, all of which add value, but not in this case.