NEW STOCK ITEMS 

PRE-STAMP

1200.  Wakefield, Yorkshire Hand Struck ‘4’: exceptional strike on clean entire, December 24 1839 with PEGB 2000 Certificate.  The Fletcher Collection in the British Library has one example of Wakefield’s  Uniform 4d Post hand strike for the following day.  A Yorkshire rarity.  Price:  £1,285.00  IMAGE 1   IMAGE  2

ROWLAND HILL ITEMS

1201.  Letter from Rowland Hill, written by him, regarding Returns to Parliament of Money Orders and dated February 5th 1841 from Downing Street.  Addressed to a C. Court apparently In the Accountant General’s Office of the Post Office.  A rare early Hill letter in superb condition and with a clear dated signature.  Exhibition item.  Price:  £2,980.00  IMAGE 1   IMAGE  2

MULREADIES

1202.  1d Mulready letter sheet, OHMS from the Congleton Stamp Office to the Chester Stamp Office, Stereo A37 from the scarce Forme 4, August 27 1840.  Hand written inside – see scan – referring to the sale of postage stamps.  Very fine condition and another similarly addressed letter from this same Stamp Office to the Stamp Office in Chester, June 15 1840, sold in the Spinks GB sale, Lot 122, in April 2009 for an inclusive figure of £2,900. A rare item referring to the sale of postage stamps just a few months after the issue of the 1d and 2d values.  Price:  £1,895.00   IMAGE 1   IMAGE 2   IMAGE 3   IMAGE 4

1203.  1d Mulready Envelope, stereo A164, Forme 4 from Langport to Castle Cary (Somerset).  Some light creasing but superbly hand-coloured.  The black cross applied on top of the colouring.  No date markings but with a very fine strike of the Langport mileage 140 mark. Neither Langport nor Castle Cary had a date stamp at this period.  It is possible that the Maltese cross was applied at Wincanton – only a few miles from Castle Cary. We cannot recall previously seeing a mileage mark used on a Mulready.   This is by far the finest hand colouring of a used Mulready that we have seen.  A superb and  attractive item of considerable rarity.  Price:  £6,750.00   IMAGE 1   IMAGE 2   IMAGE 3

1204.  1d Mulready letter sheet, stereo obscured by wax seal, uprated by an almost 4-margined 1d red imperf.  From Salisbury to Pontefract, three strikes of the black Salisbury cross – two on the 1d red.  Salisbury date stamp for November 11th 1842 and a receiving Pontefract cds for SUNDAY November 13th 1842.  Rockoff and Jackson in ‘The Maltese Cross Cancellations of GB and Ireland’, record only one other Salisbury cross on a Mulready and this has not been uprated.  We can not recall seeing another Mulready with date stamps of the place of origin and destination on the front.  Some creasing but an attractive example and catalogued in 2008 at £12,000.  Price: £1,290.00   IMAGE 1   IMAGE 2   IMAGE 3

MAY 1840

1205.  2d blue plate 1 ‘GC’:  4-margined example, just shaved corner of NW letter square, tied by a double strike in red of the characteristic Worcester cross to an entire to Stourbridge.  Letter dated May 18 1840 and on reverse is a partially struck Worcester date stamp for this same date.  This rare May 1840 letter is recorded in ‘May Dates’ by Jackson.   In The Maltese Cross Cancellations of Great Britain and Ireland  Volume 2, no example of this cross is listed on other than the 1d black and 1d red and this example at May 18 1840 is the earliest recorded usage.  Offered with a 1d black plate 1a on matching dated piece for May 18 1840. This May 1840 date for the 2d blue is catalogued by SG in QV Volume 1, 2008 Edition, at £12,000.  Price: £3,285.00   IMAGE 1   IMAGE 2   IMAGE 3

1841 2d BLUE

1206.  2d blue plate 3, SG14, block of 4, ‘BC-CD’:  fine 4-margined block of 4 with close to large margins tied by light ‘466’ numerals of Liverpool. On reverse is a Liverpool cds for December 12 1846 and a very fine boxed date stamp of Glasgow for Sunday December 13 1846.  Also on reverse is a complete red wax seal with the imprint of a Paddle Steamer with full sails – see scan.  Full-margined blocks on cover of this 2d blue are very scarce. A block of 4 catalogued in Volume 1 2008 at £1200 on stamps alone and hence an estimated catalogue value on cover is in excess of £3,600.  Price:  £495.00   IMAGE 1   IMAGE 2   IMAGE 3

1d STARS MULTIPLE

1207.  1d SG40/41 Plate 37:  A remarkable used block of TWENTY, ‘HA-IL’, 10X2.  ‘IA’ with fault but the stamps are cancelled by indistinct strikes of the numeral ‘76’ in bars – three above and one below – illustrated by Parmenter in ‘The Barred Numerals of England and Wales’ in the Gloucester Section.  As seen in the scan, there is one clear impression of this ‘76’ type which Parmenter notes is recorded in the proof books for Campden.  However, he further notes that this cancellation may never have been issued!  A rare multiple and proving the usage of this unusual cancellation.  Price:  £490.00   IMAGE 1   IMAGE 2

  SURFACE PRINTED

1208.  1/- SG72, 6d SG 70 and 4d SG66 on a clean wrapper to Naples from London: the first three monetary values of the surface printed era used together, and in sequence of monetary order of issue.  All are in fine condition with the 1/- overlapping the wing margined 6d. This example is the best with this combination of stamps we have been able to offer and is certainly equal to the best of the small number of covers that have survived with these three denominations. Price:  £535.00   IMAGE 1    IMAGE 2   IMAGE 3

1209.  1/-SG72 pair and 4d SG66 pair: tied to entire to Canada by Edinburgh duplexes, April 13th 1859 with an additional strike clear of the stamps.  The right hand stamp of the 4d pair has a small fault at the right side but the 1/- pair is very fine with one stamp having the Edinburgh cds.   The 1/- pair have INVERTED WATERMARK and this is the first example we have been able to offer of this 1/- with a cds and watermark inverted even on a stamp alone.  An attractive and rare Scottish entire.  Price:  £695.00   IMAGE 1   IMAGE 2

1210.  6d plate 12, SG125, ‘RG’: very fine example on neat, clean wrapper to Palermo from London, 24th February 1874. The stamp is just tied by part of the London no 12 duplex and then cancelled by a complete RED PD in circle with another strike of the same PD in circle a little way below the 6d.  Attractive and rare example on cover of this usage of the PD to cancel a stamp. Price:  £475.00  IMAGE 1   IMAGE 2

1211.  5/- plate 4, SG130 on blued paper: a fine used example, very small expertisation mark on the back bottom left and a very small corner wrinkle but cancelled by a fine strike of the VR London Scroll for July 13 1883. This has Code A which is associated with Royal Household Mail, Code A being much scarcer than Codes B and C.  We have seen only one other VR Scroll Code A used on this stamp.  A rarity with the basic stamp catalogued at £4,000 and at £7,000 allowing for having a dated cancellation.  Price:  £950.00   IMAGE 1   IMAGE 2 

SURFACE PRINTED ABNORMAL

1212.  6d plate 12 SG124a, PALE CHESTNUT:  a fine/very fine example of this ABNORMAL on clean entire to Messina from London, January 9th 1873, with clear 1977 RPS certificate.  Used in conjunction with a 1d plate 154(fault) and is offered with an example on cover to Genoa of the 6d plate 12, SG124, in the issued pale buff shade.  A considerable surface printed rarity with only a few examples known on full cover.  Price:  £4,375.00  IMAGE 1   IMAGE 2

 

1100.  ROWLAND HILL:  Last portion of a letter to a Knight ending with ‘ Yours very  truly  Rowland Hill’.   Mounted on a card and an excellent example of his signature ready for incorporation in to a collection or display.  Price:  £135.00 IMAGE

PRE-STAMP LETTER

SS1.  1707 Nov 20:  Letter written in the year of Unification when the Act of Union united the Parliaments of Scotland and England .  Addressed to Coupar and in very fine condition.  Very scarce.  Price:  £80.00 IMAGE

SS2. 1739 January 23:  Fine two page letter to Edinburgh from Dundee .  Postal charge of ‘2’ on front for a letter carried up to 50 miles.  On the reverse a very fine strike of ‘ DUNDEE ’ Aukland AN82. Aukland records the earliest known date for this first type of Dundee name strike as July 23 1839 so this example pre-dates by 6 months.  Scarce entire.     Price:  £110.00 IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2  IMAGE 3

MAY 1840

1101.  1840 May 7:  Very fine entire Bradford to Leeds dated inside May 7 1840 and on flap with  Bradford Yorks CDS for this same date and with a superb Bradford U1d Post  Paid One Penny with REVERSED ‘N’s variety.  A rare usage of this scarce type on the second day after the issue of the 1d black.  No 1d black usage has been found for Bradford Yorks between May 6-10 1840.  Price:  £90.00  IMAGE

SS3. 1840 May 10: Family letter Kilmarnock to Stranraer dated inside May 10 1840 with red boxed Kilmarnock date for this same date, May 10 1840 and unusually a double strike of the Kilmarnock handstruck ‘1’ in red.  Rare FIRST SUNDAY date after the issue of the 1d black.  Quite possible that the 1d blacks were not yet available in Kilmarnock by that date.  Price:  £125.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

MULREADIES

1102.  1841 February 27:  1d Mulready envelope, stereo A175 from Forme 4, from London to Pembroke.  Small peripheral fault at top corner but overall in very fine condition. The black cross applied well to the right of Britannia – contrary to Post Office regulations. Rare item to a Welsh destination. Price: £320.00 IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

MULREADY CARICATURES

1103.  1840 Fores Military Envelope Number 9 in the series: only one used example of this envelope has been recorded and is in The Royal Collection.  The one offered here is a very fine mint superbly hand coloured example.  Some mount remains on the reverse but a rarity. Price:  £590.00 IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

1104.  1880/90’s:  Punch’s Anti-Graham Mulready Caricature:  superb hand coloured example, a few hinge remains on reverse, Deraedmaeker reprint.  An attractive and rare item in such fine condition.  Price:  £325.00 IMAGE

1d BLACKS

SS4. 1840 1d black plate 2:  ‘TA-TB’, very fine 4-margined pair, very small scissor cut at top between them but  clear of design, tied to entire from Jedbergh to Selkirk by BLACK crosses. Jedbergh boxed date stamp on reverse for October 7 1842 and similar of Selkirk on the front for the following day.  Plate 2 is very scarce on cover with a black cross, Spec AS15m – catalogued at £550 on stamp alone.  The stamps ‘TA’ and ‘TB’ are both in the 2nd State: First Repair, Spec AS17.  Only eight stamps identified in this State: SD, TA, TB, TC, TE, TF, TG and TH.  Hence for this pair of ‘TA-TB’ to be two of these eight and on cover with black crosses is remarkable and a very rare if not a unique usage.  A considerable Scottish rarity! Price:  £1,385.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

1105.  1840 1d black plate 3:  ‘AD’, superb 4-margined example tied to small piece by a superb double strike of an unusual red/scarlet cross.  Attractive and rare. Price:  £350.00  IMAGE

1106.  1841 1d black plate 8: very fine large square margined example, ‘AJ’, tied to an entire from Leamington to Rugeley by a very fine Leamington characteristic cross, April 20 1841.   Un-priced as yet by Gibbons but as Perth and Leamington crosses on the 1d red imperf have similar catalogue values and the Perth cross is catalogued at £7,000 on a 1d black on cover,  Leamington can reasonably be expected to have a similar catalogue value to this. Rare item. Price:  £975.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

1107.  1840 1d black plate 9: very fine 4-margined, ‘GD’, printed in an un-catalogued intense shade and on thin paper variety , spec AS56f.  Very scarce/rare combination of features.  Price:  £230.00 IMAGE

1108.  1841 1d black plate 10:  a fine 4-margined example, ‘PG’, tied to wrapper, Warminster to Bristol , April 2 1841 by black cross. Cancellation leaves the re-entry marks clearly visible.  ‘PG’ is one of only 4 re-entries on this plate, Spec AS66b and is illustrated in SG Volume 1 15th Edition page 92.  Catalogued on cover without the re-entry at £3,000.   A rare item. Price:  £795.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

1840 2d BLUES

1109.  1840 2d blue plate 1:  Exceptionally attractive pair, ‘SC-SD’, with very large to clear  margins, tied to a small piece by lightly applied red/orange crosses.  Cat from £1700. Superb and very scarce. Price:  £1100.00 IMAGE

1110. 1840 2d plate 2, deep full blue: ‘DF’, superb example with good to huge margins and black crosses.  Margin at left with large portion of stamp ‘DE’ which has the catalogued variety ‘double letter ‘E’ ‘.  It has been printed on UNCATALOGUED THIN PAPER and shows plate corrosion in and around ’POSTAGE’.  A remarkable stamp and catalogued at a minimum of £1000. Price: £725.00  IMAGE

1841 1d REDS

1111.  1841 August 17:  Exceptional 1d red imperf black plate  X1 tied to a clean wrapper, Chesterfield to Sheffield ,  by a black cross which leaves virtually the whole of QV’s Head clear. Rare so fine and of Exhibition quality. Price:  £245.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

1112.  1842 March 10: 1d imperfs plate 12, two superb 4-margined singles, ‘TE and TB’ both with clear profiles  on clean entire from East Grinstead to Wellington , Somerset .  ‘TB’ with basal shift and faint letter ‘B’.  Exceptional item from a Gold Medal Winning Collection. Price: £285.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

1113.  1843 May 15:  Superb 4-margined 1d red imperf plate 33 tied to a clean wrapper from Dublin to London by a superb characteristic Dublin Cross type 1, spec B1tf.  Exhibition quality. Price:  £240.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

REGISTERED

SS5. 1850 March 20:  Fine 4-margined 1d red imperf tied to REGISTERED wrapper from Glasgow to Dunbarton by the ‘159’ of Glasgow .  Superb strike of the rare circular ‘Registered at Glasgow ’, McKay Fig 1151, with handwritten ‘181’ inside and a m/s ‘6’ in red for the 6d registration fee.  The registration marks are positioned superbly on the front of the wrapper and the rear flap when raised displays the date markings well as seen in the scans.  Very rare item. Price:  £285.00  IMAGE SOLD

BLUE TOWN CANCELLATION

1114.  1851 March 28 1d imperf :  very fine example, ‘AI’, 4-margined with close but clear to large margins, on envelope to Derby – part of rear flap missing and opened roughly at the top with a brown card inserted but the damage could be made much less apparent by a better choice of colour for the insert.  However, the 1d imperf is  tied by a superb Nottingham Town circular date stamp  in BLUE for March 28 1851.  A further similar cds strike applied top left with the same orientation and showing the blue ink of the cancellation to advantage.  There is also a red ‘1’ in m/s applied centrally.   Derby receiver on reverse in green for March 29 1851.  In the Spinks GB Sale, December 2005, Lot 812 was a 1d red imperf, small to large margins, tied to an envelope by a partial blue cds of Truro , applied upside down.  It realised an inclusive figure of £2,875.   The example offered here is arguably as rare and a more attractive item which displays better.  Unrecorded as a blue cds by Danzig , a blue Town cds, Spec BIbv, was catalogued in the Gibbons 2008 QV Specialised Catalogue Volume 1 at £5,000. A considerable line-engraved rarity. Price:  £2,325.00 IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

CONTRARY TO REGULATIONS

SS6.  1851 June 18:  Entire from Leith to Edinburgh with a VERTICAL PAIR of 1d red imperfs from the RARE PLATE 107, ‘LJ-MJ’. MJ is large margined and LJ has 3 plus margins.  Superb colour and this rare item is made even rarer by the stamps cancelled contrary to regulations by a superb SINGLE strike of the ‘221’ of Leith .  An attractive and exceptional item of Exhibition Quality. Price:  £735.00 IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

LATE USAGE OF MALTESE CROSS

1115.  1852 April 7:  1d red imperf – not full margined – but tied by a very fine black cross of South Shields to an entire to Leeds .  Danzig in ‘The Cancellations of the 1841 Penny Red’, page 91, illustrates another late usage of the South Shields cross for April 3 1852.   This April 7 1852 late usage of a Maltese cross is one of the LATEST USAGES recorded on the 1d red imperf from any location in the UK .  As seen in the scans the date markings from South Shields and Leeds display well.  A significant rarity. Price:  £695.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

FORWARDING AGENT

1116.  1853 July 8:  Entire to London from Liverpool, almost 4-margined 1d red imperf cancelled ‘466’ of Liverpool and on the bottom left front a very fine upright strike of the very attractive Forwarding Agent cachet of Edward, Sandford and Co incorporating an image of a transatlantic paddle steamer.  This exact cachet is illustrated by Rowe in ‘The Postal History of The Forwarding Agents’, page 115.   The letter mentions cargoes on the Cunard Line’s ‘Europa’ and ‘ Asia ’ and the Collins Line’s ‘Artic’.  An attractive and rare item. Price:  £275.00 IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2  IMAGE 3

LATE USAGE OF 1d RED

1117.  1860 March 26 1d imperf plate 166 ‘ AL ’:  a very fine, very large to good, 4-margined example, on mourning envelope – rear flap missing – to Gainsboro, Lincs,  and tied by a very fine Leeds duplex for March 26 1860.  A late usage of the 1d imperf and unrecorded by Danzig by Leeds .  Sheffield and Gainsboro transit CDS's on reverse.  Price:  £285.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

1841 2d BLUES

1118.  1841 2d blue plate 3 SG 14:  fine/very fine 4-margined example with RED and BLACK crosses and with a clear 1995 GBPE Certificate.   Very few examples with this coloured cross combination are known – perhaps only two others – and is un-catalogued by Gibbons in the 2008 Specialised Volume 1.   One of the last examples to appear on the market was in the Harmers ‘GL’ sale of 1981.  A far rarer combination than on the 1840 2d blue.  A red cross only on the 2d blue plate 3 was last catalogued by SG in 2006 at £16,000.  An exceptional  rarity. Price:  £3,850.00 IMAGE

SS7.   1841 2d blue plate 3 SG14: exceptional strip of three, ‘TA-TC’, cancelled by Aberdeen numerals.  Huge to very large margins and printed on un-catalogued thin paper.  Thin paper is catalogued for 2d plate 4 but not as yet on plate 3.   Exhibition quality and rare item so fine. Price:  £235.00  IMAGE

1119.  1852 September 6 2d blue plate 4, SG14: pair, ‘MH-MI’, tied to an unfolded envelope to Loughborough by BLUE ‘448’ numerals of Leek, Staffs.  ‘MH’ has large to huge margins and ‘MI’ is almost full margined with a minor rub in the SE corner.  Leek cds on reverse for September 6 1852 in the same blue ink as the ‘448’.  Spec E11wb, and catalogued as a single 2d with blue numeral on cover at £2200 in 2008.  Rare multiple usage of a blue numeral. Price:  £1,285.00 IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2  IMAGE 3  IMAGE 4

ARCHER PERFORATION  BLUE CANCELLATION

1120.  1850 December 22:  1d ARCHER perforated from plate 100, very fine example tied to an entire from Ashburton to Ranscombe near Kingsbridge by a superb ‘29’ of Ashburton in BLUE ink.  This colour matches the blue Ashburton cds on the reverse for December 22 1850.  This was a SUNDAY and hence this is a rare – probably unique – Sunday usage of an Archer perforated 1d on cover with a blue cancellation.  Superb and very rare item with only some 3 or 4 examples known with an Archer perforated 1d with a blue cancellation.  Clear RPS Certificate.   Supplied with this item are two further entries from Ashburton each with a 1d red imperf one cancelled with a black numeral ‘29’ for February 17 1850 and the second creased but with a BLUE numeral ‘29’ for December 29 1850. Price for the trio:  £2,975.00 IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2  IMAGE 3  IMAGE 4  SOLD

SPECTACLES VARIETY IRISH SPOON CANCELLATION

1139.  1855 July 17 SG19 plate 4 ‘BH’:  fine example tied to entire from Belfast to Ballymoney by fine Belfast spoon English type b without code.  Placed upside down as frequently seen – possibly as a protest re British rule at that time.  Stamp ‘BH’ shows the ‘Spectacles variety’, spec F1q, catalogued on stamp alone at £500 in SG Volume 1 2008 Edition.  On reverse is a Ballymoney receiver for SUNDAY July 18 1855. The first example of this stamp with this popular variety on cover we have been able to offer.  A rarity especially with an Irish spoon cancellation – this combination very likely to be a unique usage.  Price: £495.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2  IMAGE 3

HAND DRAWN and EMBOSSED ENVELOPES

1121.  1874 February 14:  Superb embroidered embossed Valentine envelope used locally within London with a 1d plate 147 tied by a Paddington duplex.  Exceptional condition and of a neat size. Most attractive and rare so fine. Price:  £135.00 IMAGE

1122.  1892:  two superb hand drawn fronts with 1d lilacs, to the same addressee in Deal, one with an Alice in Wonderland character and the other with a Jack in the Box and toy soldier.  Beautifully drawn and attractive and unusual themes. Price:  £245.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

EMBOSSED ISSUES

1123.  1853 embossed 1/- with 1d and 2d imperf: an almost 4-margined pair of 1/- in combination with 2d blue plate 4 – huge margins with parts of five other stamps - and a 1d imperf tied to clean entire to Mexico by superb ‘504’ numerals of Mansfield.   On reverse top flap which raises superbly for display is a Mansfield cds for January 2 1853 – which is a rare SUNDAY USAGE.  Attractive and rare combination of features with a very high catalogue value. Price:  £795.00 IMAGE

SURFACE PRINTED

1124.  1857 4d Large Garter, SG 66a, rose shade: superb used block of 6 with ‘620’ numerals of Plymouth .  The block has a large part of original gum and four stamps have a clear Queen’s profile.  A rare multiple in this condition with a clear RPS Certificate. Price:  £635.00  IMAGE

1125.  1880 2 1/2d SG141 plate 17:  a fine example from this very scarce plate on un-creased envelope, London to New York , April  10 1880.  Cancellation leaves plate number clear at right. Price: £175.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

1126.  1881 Foreign Bill 1d: a rare postally used fine example on locally used envelope in Alderley Edge, September 15 1881.  Some hinge marks on envelope but could be improved.   Price:  £145.00  IMAGE

1127.  1882 3d plate 21, SG 158 and 2d SG168: both very fine on clean entire to Paris , tied by superb Liverpool squared circles for October 18 1882.  A rare combination of stamps – an exceptional and attractive entire. Price:  £195.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

1128.  1883 August 6: 1d lilac SG172 and 1/2d deep green SG164: fine examples tied to a long envelope to a foundry in Sheffield .  Envelope with overall toning and age marks, but the stamps tied by superb strikes of the scarce London VR SCROLL code B used on mail associated with the Royal Households.  Attractive and very scarce multiple usage on cover of this scroll variety. Price:  £145.00  IMAGE 1   IMAGE 2

HIGH VALUES

1129.  1867 5/- plate 1 SG126:  a remarkable and unique ‘matched pairing’ of two fine used examples.  Each has the same lettering ‘HJ’; each has the same off-centre printing and each is cancelled by the rare Liverpool ‘466’ roller canceller with this cancellation applied virtually in the same position on the stamp.   This unique pair would make a memorable Exhibition item. Price: £680.00  IMAGE

1130.  1884 April 3 5/- rose plate 4 SG130, ‘GE’ with Registered oval date stamp and slight wrinkling:  the famous and unique example with a large portion of the design missing caused by under-inking of the plate on three sides of the design.  This remarkable ‘Dry Plate’ variety was first published in ‘British Postage Stamp Varieties illustrated’ by Alcock and Meredith in 1949 and illustrated on page 14.  It has been featured in various publications down the years a notable one being with an illustration in an article by H W Fisher in the Great Britain Philatelic Society’s ‘GB Journal’ in May 1965 - a photocopy is provided with this item.  One of the great and unique surface printed rarities, rarer and with more visual impact than any of the surface printed abnormals.  Price: £10,000.00  IMAGE

1131.  1899 August 4 2/6 SG178:  envelope from London to Chicago postage paid by a very rare SINGLE usage of this high value indicating a letter weight of more than 5.5 oz or 156g.  At a period when many postal administrations were members of the UPU, high value stamps were only needed in exceptional circumstances.  The stamp is fine and tied by a London cds for August 4 1899. Brauers in ‘Scarce Victorian Postage Stamps of Great Britain on Cover’, records only one other commercial single usage of this 2/6 value and that is on a printed Registered Envelope but the stamp is damaged.   The reverse side of the envelope is toned on half of the rear but the front is clean with only the one vertical filing fold.   A rarity which displays well. Price:  £1,775.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

1887 ‘JUBILEE’ ISSUE

1132.  1887 ‘Jubilee’ 1 1/2d, SG198 deformed leaf variety:  superb block of 4 in virtually Post Office fresh condition, three stamps un-mounted and the fourth stamp – with the variety – has the smallest trace of being hinged.  A superb example of this well known redrawn/retouched leaf variety, Duty plate 4, row 19 stamp 1, spec K29e. The other left hand leaves of the variety stamp and those on the stamp below, ie row 20/1, also show possible retouching and strengthening.  Superb and rare item. Price:  £575.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

1133.   1887 ‘Jubilee’ 5d Die 1 SG207: Fine used example with top margin attached showing the plain margins from Die 1.  Die 2 had ‘jubilee’ lines.  The only used marginal example from Die 1 we have seen despite specialising in the ‘Jubilee’ issue for more than 30 years! Price: £185.00 IMAGE

FIRST DAY COVER

1134.   1900 ‘Jubilee’ 1/2d green SG213:  envelope, Registered from London to Budapest.  Registration fee of 2d and the ordinary postage of 2 1/2d paid by a superb block of nine 1/2d green and tied by Charing Cross Registered Ovals for APRIL 17 1900 – the DAY OF ISSUE of SG213. On the reverse is another Charing Cross Registered April 17 1900 date stamp and a Budapest arrival cds for April 20 1900.  This is the largest used multiple of this stamp on Day of Issue that we  have seen.  The largest previously is a marginal pair which we sold in 1986 and a block of 4 that we saw in an Exhibit in 1995. A truly remarkable item with almost certainly the largest such block extant used on its day of issue. Price:  £3,275.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2  IMAGE 3

1135.  1900 ‘Jubilee’ 1/2d SG213: a very fine block of 16 on piece each stamp cancelled by a Dublin cds for April 27 1901.  Each stamp is perfinned by the official Dublin City 3 Castles inside an outer shield.  This perfin is illustrated in ‘The Handbook of British Perfins’ by Nelson, fig 70, page 24 – see scan.   The bottom row of 8 stamps has the perfin INVERTED – presumably caused by the sheet of stamps being folded over before the perfin was applied.  A very scarce Dublin perfin occasionally seen on a single loose stamp.  This block is the largest used block, with or without a perfin, of SG213 we have seen but with the Dublin perfin is more than likely likely to be a unique item. Price:  £295.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

ONLY KNOWN VARIETY

1136.  1900 ‘Jubilee’ 1/- green and carmine SG214:  fine/very fine used cds example, with the only known catalogued variety on this stamp – frame broken at left, Spec K41b – row 19 stamp 1.  Mint examples are very scarce but this is not only the first used example we have been able to offer but the ONLY USED example we have ever seen.  The cds leaves the variety fully clear.  A rare item and grossly under-catalogued by SG at £450 including fine used premium. Price:  £390.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

1137.  1900 July and August Shakespeare monument at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford on Avon: Postcard sent from Stratford to Chicago, August 18 1900, with a Shakespeare 1/- label in brown-red.  These labels were to raise monies for the Church restoration and were to be used with ‘official’ stamps to pay the postage.  They were purchased inside the Church itself.   The same 1/- example on a piece of a postcard – see scan – was used  correctly  in conjunction with a 1/2d SG213 but the card to the USA got through the postal system without the additional postage being added and is rare as such.  The message on the back is interesting in itself – see scan.  This scheme for raising monies for the Church restoration ran for several years from 1899 and the colour of the 1/- label being changed in some years.  The 1/- ochre was used in later years, possibly as late as 1911.  A rare and attractive grouping. Price:  £265.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2  IMAGE 3                                                                                                                                                                            

PRINTED POSTCARDS

1138.  1891 3d British Empire Card:  fine example of this rarely used card to Australia from Windsor February 4 1891 sent to Adelaide with Adelaide receiving date stamp on front for March 10 1891.  Interesting address and message as detailed in the scans.  Superb and very rare item as the writer correctly identified even in 1891!  Researching the identity of the addressee would probably pay dividends. Rarely found used correctly to Australasia. Price:  £450.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

WATERMARK VARIETIES    1840 - 1900

WM 1.  1d black plate 1b ‘OH’: large margins on three sides but touching at places along the bottom margin.  Cancelled by lightly struck red cross and with INVERTED watermark.  Cat £2,000.   An opportunity to obtain an attractive example of this variety at a small percentage of catalogue. Price:  £435.00  IMAGE

WM 2.  1841 1d red plate 41:  ‘EK’, fine 4-margined, almost complete upright black cross, with INVERTED watermark.  Rare variety with MX on this plate. Price:  £235.00  IMAGE 

WM 3.  4d rose SG66:  a fresh lightly mounted mint example with superb colour. Horizontal crease but with INVERTED watermark.  Un-priced for mint with this watermark variety but an estimated catalogue value is more than £3,000. Price:   £380.00  IMAGE

WM 4. 6d SG70:  superb used example with INVERTED watermark, cat £275 without premium. Price: £65.00  IMAGE

WM 5.   6d SG70: lightly used example, ‘114’ of Dundee, some wrinkling near the top but with the rare variety REVERSED watermark.  Un-priced by Gibbons in latest QV Volume 1.  Price:  £85.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

WM 6.  4d SG82:  fine used with Brunswick Star cancel and INVERTED watermark. A rare combination and the first we have seen.  Price:  £58.00  IMAGE

WM 7.   2/- SG120a:  very fine used example in the rare COBALT shade with clear Certificate signed by Robson Lowe.  Small paper adherence and hinge remnant on the reverse and the light cancel leaves both the Queen’s profile and most of the Head clear thus allowing this distinctive shade to be seen to advantage.  Rare stamp so fine but made exceedingly rare by having an INVERTED watermark.   A catalogue value allowing for the inverted watermark and the premium for lightly used is well in excess of £10,000.   First we have seen with inverted watermark.  Price:  £2,475.00  IMAGE

WM 8.  21/2d SG141 plate 17 ‘LE’: very fine used example with a blunt/pulled perf at right.  Cancel leaves the head largely clear on this very scarce plate.  Has the variety INVERTED watermark and is the first such example we have been able to offer.  Catalogued at £1,100 with premium for so lightly cancelled. Price:  £175.00  IMAGE  SOLD

WM 9.  1/- SG151 plate 13 ‘DI’:  wing margin example extremely lightly used, small part of a bluish dumb? Cancellation leaves most of QV’s head clear.  INVERTED watermark with an extremely light diagonal crease mostly in the wing margin and hard to detect even under a glass.  A rare stamp with watermark inverted and catalogued, with lightly used premium at £2,600. Price:  £295.00  IMAGE 1  IMAGE 2

WM 10.  4d SG153 plate 16 ‘DI’: very fine used with large part cds, INVERTED watermark, catalogued at £500.   Very scarce stamp so fine with this variety. Price:  £190.00  IMAGE

WM 11.  1d SG166 ‘TG’:  very fine used, Manchester squared circle, March 15 1881 with INVERTED watermark.  Very scarce stamp especially in this condition and under-catalogued at £275. Price:  £195.00  IMAGE

WM 12.  1d lilac SG172:  very fine un-mounted mint top marginal strip of three with INVERTED watermark.  Top margin also has the watermark letters ‘P O S’ INVERTED. The P O S T A G E watermark can only be inverted from stamps from the top and bottom margins of each sheet of 240 which applies therefore to only 12 stamps per sheet.  An attractive rare positional piece. Price:  £85.00  IMAGE

WM 13.  1/2d ‘Jubilee’ SG197: fine used with a Cardiff squared circle for May 3 1900 and with INVERTED watermark.  A very scarce stamp especially in this condition and hopelessly undervalued by Gibbons.  Try and ask them for an example at their catalogue price! Price:  £85.00  IMAGE

   

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K & C Philatelics

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