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(Mexican Period) Monterey to San Diego, Alta California, June 1834. Folded cover from California governor José Figueroa in Monterey to Ferdinand Deppe in San Diego, interior docketing "Genl. José Figueroa, Monterey y 7 Junio 1834", bold strike of "Comandancia General/de la alta California" with eagle in oval handstamp, mostly readable strike of "FRANCO ALTA/CALIFORNIA" two-line postal handstamp, intact red wax seal VERY FINE. A HIGHLY IMPORTANT ARTIFACT OF CALIFORNIA POSTAL HISTORY—THE "FRANCO ALTA/CALIFORNIA" MARKING IS THE EARLIEST RECORDED HANDSTAMPED POSTAL MARKING KNOWN APPLIED IN PRESENT DAY CALIFORNIA. THIS IS THE ONLY KNOWN EXAMPLE OF THIS MARKING IN PRIVATE HANDS, AND THIS COVER HAS BEEN A HIGHLIGHT OF SEVERAL MAJOR COLLECTIONS, INCLUDING THE RISVOLD AND WALSKE COLLECTIONS. José Maria Figueroa was appointed governor of Alta California in 1832, and arrived for duty in January 1833. Due to political turbulence, Alta California had two rival acting governors at that time. Agustín V. Zamorano held office in Monterey in the north, while José María de Echeandía ruled Southern California from Los Angeles and San Diego. Both men deferred to Figueroa, and the government of Alta California was united. Figueroa oversaw the initial secularization of the missions of Alta California, which included the expulsion of the Spanish Franciscan mission officials. His government issued many Mexican land grants for former mission lands, although these had originally been intended to be held in trust for Mission Indians. He also had to deal with the Híjar-Padrés Colony in Los Angeles, which briefly rebelled against his rule. Figueroa died in 1835. (Source: Wikipedia). Sometime between 1832 and 1835, the German naturalist, explorer, trader, and self-taught traveler-artist Ferdinand Deppe produced two almost identical paintings documenting his visit to Alta California. The paintings feature the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, founded by the Spanish Franciscans in 1771 on Tongva land. The Franciscans were one of several mendicant orders who established missions in the Americas from the 16th through the early 19th centuries to spread Christianity to Indigenous peoples and to acquire land for the Spanish Crown. (Source: https://smarthistory.org/ferdinand-deppe-san-gabriel-mission/) Illustrated in Coburn Letters of Gold (p. 9) and Walske-Frajola Mails of the Westward Expansion (p. 50). Pencil notations on back indicate this was handled by the Mexican expert Celestine Ruiz Pérez in 1955 and acquired by Floyd Risvold for $20,000 (decades ago). Ex Risvold, Walske and Schaefer

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