This outstanding engraved and colored Coated Stock Clipper Ship Card measures approx. 6 3/8”by 4 1/8” and features an image of a Western Cowboy riding a horse that is sprinting at a full gallop in the lower right hand corner. At the left hand corner there is a Coal Oil Tanker Wagon pulled by a white horse with a driver who appears to be tying to urge the horse pulling the wagon forward. The Cowboy appears to be attempting to lasso the driver of the wagon or perhaps the wagon itself!! Commenting on the illustrations, Bruce Roberts calls it "Truly an iconic image – sail (represented by the steed and its rider) easily outclassing steam (represented by the coal wagon)."

    This Clipper Ship Card advertises the Newcastle, Maine built, Extreme Clipper Ship Wild Rover and her voyage from New York’s Pier 14 to San Francisco. The card is printed in multi colored inks with gold gilt border and lettering and advertises a voyage leaving New York on April 9th, 1859 and traveling to San Francisco and the California Gold Fields.

    The Clipper Ship Wild Rover was operated by the “Shippers’ Line of San Francisco Packets. Text on the Clipper Ship Card states that she was under the command of Captain Benajah Crowell of Chatham, Massachusetts. The Wild Rover is touted on the Card as a “Superior Sharp A-1 Clipper Ship” and that the Ship is “Is now rapidly receiving her loading at Pier 14, East River...”. Shippers are instructed to apply for freight forwarding to John I. Earle & Co / 100 Wall Street”.

    The Card is signed by the printer – Nesbit & Co. of New York City – one of the premier printer of high quality, coated stock Clipper Ship cards of the period. The fact that this wonderful Clipper Ship Card was issued to promote a single dated voyage of the Wild Rover (the voyage leaving New York on April 9th, 1859) attests to the fact that is was used for a VERY short period of time and certainly print in VERY limited quantities!

    The Wild Rover was a mid-19th-century American extreme clipper ship famous for running trade routes and packet lines from East Coast ports like Boston and New York to San Francisco and global destinations. The Wild Rover was owned by Boston merchant Alpheus Hardy and commanded by a number of different captains including Benajah Crowell. Built for the global cargo trade, it is most famously remembered for smuggling the young Japanese samurai Niijima Jo (Joseph Hardy Neesima) out of Shanghai to Boston in 1864.

    This Clipper Ship Card is among the MOST sought after such cards by collectors – we could find only 2 examples of this Card that have sold over the past 16 years – on was sold at auction in 2017 for $1875 and the other sold at auction in 2010 for $4687.50. The Card is designated by collectors as Siegel 293.

    Clipper Ship trade cards are Advertising Cards that were issued by dispatch lines to advertise specific voyages of clipper ships from one port (usually New York or Boston) to another (usually San Francisco). They were distributed primarily during the 1850s and early 1860s. During the pre-Gold Rush era, clipper ship sailings were advertised primarily by brief, unadorned announcements in newspapers. Once gold fever struck, posters and broadsides were the printed media most often used. While George Nesbitt & Co. of New York was printing at least a few Clipper Ship Cards as early as 1849, the 1850’s were the heyday of the Clipper Ship Card.

    This very rare, original, 1859 Clipper Ship Card is in very good condition - the colors are bright and vibrant and the Card is generally clean and crisp and exceptionally attractive. There is some light soiling along the right hand edge and a tiny chip at the upper right hand corner. Otherwise there is some minor rounding to the corners but no other physical damage and no repairs of any kind. The back of the Card has some spots of thinning to the surface. The Card is tipped to an archival backing and matted for display (see the scans below). Overall the Card is well preserved and displays beautifully.

    A very rare and highly sought after California Gold Rush period, American Extreme Clipper Ship Wild Rover, Coated Stock Clipper Ship Card with a wonderful, Western Americana motif illustration and a fantastic addition to any Collection!!!

    Please note this is an original, 1859 American Extreme Clipper Ship Coated Stock Card - printed in 1859 and distributed to solicit cargo to be carried aboard the “Wild Rover” from New York City to San Francisco. It is not a copy, reprint, reissue or reproduction - it is an original 1850's Clipper Ship card!!