Very early blank check for what would become the Adams Express Company!  This check is from the days when it was Adams & Company Express -- before the firm reorganized in 1854 as Adams Express!  It was intended for issue from the San Francisco office.

 

Wonderful blue paper in minty condition...with an outstanding engraving of a period clipper ship in the upper left of the check.  Original stub is still attached and shown in the third picture below.  Collectors are really starting to snap up a lot of this paper ephemera from the earlier days of our country's history.  Adams was an integral part of the nation's commerce and played a vital role in connecting the wild west with the rest of the country!