This evening Richard Colberg, Lebanon Stamp Collectors Club President, Philatelic Society of Lancaster County member and friend speaks on the “Mexican Express Company Envelopes.”
During the last quarter of 19th century, there were a few postal express companies operating in Mexico, three of which used pre-printed envelopes. These are Wells Fargo Express, Hidalgo Express, and Mexican National Express and are featured in this presentation. The three companies serviced specific areas of Mexico, all overlapping in the Mexico City area. Wells Fargo was the largest (having already been established in California), easily eclipsing Hidalgo and Mexican National. (For Wells Fargo, there are companion envelopes with U.S. postage indicia.)
All three companies were privately owned and government sanctioned. They each printed their own envelopes, with their company indicia, and then sent them to the Mexican government for the printing of the design of the then-current single letter rate postage stamp. As the express rate was weight-based, this information was part of the company-printed information. Sometimes the rate info was supplied in total; sometimes blanks were left to be filled in when used, by handstamp. This, of course, leaves open the possibility for missing handstamps, and overprints necessitated by rate changes. All collectible!
The Hidalgo Express Company envelopes are the most interesting to collect because they were printed on several different colors of paper. They make a nice display. This presentation shows the evolution of each company’s envelopes including rate, color, and design changes.