POSTAL HISTORY OF SCOTLAND AND WALES 

This is a new Section devoted to the Postal History of Scotland and Wales from pre-stamp to the end of Victoria’s reign.  The selection of items is a partial representation of our current stock so your Wants List is welcomed.

 Scottish Items  

New Items

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

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  

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 2^nd 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  

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

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

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  

S1.  Entire Edinburgh to Alnwick, dated inside December 5 1839 with very fine/fine handstruck 4 of Edinburgh and Edinburgh cds for December 6 1839 – SECOND DAY of the Uniform Fourpenny Post.   Scarce.    Price:  £225.00  Image S1

S2.  Entire, Edinburgh to Nairn, December 30 1840.  Two 1d blacks, plate 4 ‘CK’ and ‘CB’, former with large to clear margins, orange Maltese crosses and boxed ‘Paid 1d Extra’.  This late fee probably paid by the second 1d black for posting between 6 and 7 pm.  Rare to find this combination of late fee strike and multiple 1d black franking.  Inside the letter reads in part: ‘If you establish a steamer perhaps you might be able to give the Post Office the use of it once a week for crossing the Mail between Long Isle and Glasgow or Ardrossan whence there is a Railway communication with Glasgow – such a Packet once a week would be infinitely preferable to the present nominally more frequent one’.  Superb item already mounted and written up for display. Price:  £695.00   Image 1  Image 2  Image 3

S3.  Clean and uncreased wrapper to Aberdeen , superb 1d black plate 4 tied by orange cross leaving clear profile.  No date markings but with a single line ‘HUNTLY’ in black on the reverse.  Superb item.   Price:  £495.00    Image 1 Image 2

S4.  Wrapper, Kilmarnock to Edinburgh, April 13 1844, 1d red plate 39 with margins all round except just touched at NW corner.  Tied by a fair, but distinguishable, rare Kilmarnock characteristic cross, SG Spec B1tj and catalogued at £5000 in 2008.  An opportunity to add an example of this rare cross on cover to your collection at a very reasonable price. No trade discount is available on this item.   Price:  £480.00  Image 1 Image 2  Image 3 

S5.  Entire Glasgow to Birmingham , September 28 1850.  A scarce 6d rate paid by a 4-margined strip of Plate 3 2d blues ‘SB-SD’, with ‘SD’ having the double letter variety, SG Spec ES11h.  Very scarce item with a full-margined multiple of  this 2d value.  Price:  £335.00    Image 1  Image 2  

S6.  Entire, Glasgow to Bordeaux , August 26 1870 with SG 47 2d plate 13 and a two 1d SG43 from the scarcer plate 142 one of which is a superb and scarce cds example.  Attractive item.  Price: £68.00  Image 1  Image 2 

S7.  Letter of credit from Edinburgh to Kingston , Canada West, October 1 1863 with 1/- SG71 - the scarcer deep green shade.  Superb and neatly tied leaving at least 90% of the Queen’s head and profile clear.  Very high catalogue value allowing the SG premium for such a light cancellation.   Price:  £320.00   Image 1  Image 2 

Experimental Duplex cancellations on the contemporary 1d values.  Wants List welcomed.

S8.   Superb strike Aberdeen type 1 for January 12 1856 on envelope to Kilwinning.  The earliest known date for this is January 7 1856 hence a very early usage.   Price:  £67.00   Image SOLD

S9.  Glasgow type 2 – ‘Madeleine Smith’ – February 7 1856 on wrapper to Rothbury. One day after the earliest known date of usage and the earliest recorded multiple franking.   £95.00  Image 1  Image 2

S10  Glasgow type 2 – this cancellation is known struck in green ink during a 10 day period only between May 5 and May 15 1856.  This superb example, on a clean wrapper to Wick, is for May 9 1856 and arguably the finest surviving example on full cover.  The green ink is in a bright green shade and the scan does not do it justice.  The 1d is SG Spec C6.  Green Wick receiver on reverse. The last time we were able to offer this cancellation on full cover was some 20 years ago.  An exceptional item of outstanding quality and rarity.     Price:  £875.00  Image 1  Image 2 SOLD

S11.  Glasgow type 1 – an exceptional strike of a rare cancellation usually found unclear and smudged.  On wrapper to Manchester , January 15 1856 with 1d SG29 and a Manchester receiver on reverse for the next day.  Code H is usually found to the right side of the date with less than 10 examples, including pieces, recorded with it to the left of the date.  Code H in this example is in the left rare position.   Exceptional.   Price:  £580.00  Image 1  Image 2 SOLD

S12.  Greenock type 1 – superb strike of this rare cancellation on wrapper, no side flaps removed for display, to Dunoon July 12 1856 code E.  Exceptional strike.  Price:  £225.00  Image SOLD

S13.  Kilmarnock – very fine/superb strikes of this rarest type of the 18 varieties recorded for the experimental duplexes of Scotland .  Struck in dull green, as noted in its early days of usage, and this at January 19 1856 is only 10 days after the earliest known date of usage.  Very few examples are known to exist and in more than 30 years specialising in such cancellations, this is the only multiple usage that we have been able to offer or indeed seen. Edinburgh receiver on the reverse for January 21 1856 (January 20 was a Sunday).  A considerable rarity.   Price:  £630.00  Image 1  Image 2 SOLD

S14.  Leith type 1 – a fine strike of this very rare type in use for barely 3 months..  This first type had the year and month only in its make up. This example is for October 1855 with on the reverse of the wrapper a superb Edinburgh cds for October 22 1855 which confirms this to be the latest recorded usage of this type of experimental Leith duplex.  Of the 18 types, only Kilmarnock and Inverness type 1 are rarer than Leith type 1.  Price:  £220.00  Image SOLD

S15.  Leith type 3 – fine/very fine strike on wrapper to Pennycuick.  The strike is for May 19 1856 and is the EARLIEST known date of usage.  Edinburgh cds on reverse for May 19 1856.  Price:  £215.00   Image 1  Image 2  SOLD

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Brunswick Stars.  Wants List welcomed.

S16.  Arnot type 6a – fine/very fine strike on a wrapper to Perth , August 2 1869, and tying a 2d, SG45 from the scarce plate 12.  Staining on the reverse of the wrapper but a scarce cancel on this plate.   Price:  £80.00    Image 

S17.  Arnot type 6a – very fine strike for January 8 1870 on a clean 1d pink stationery envelope.  Arundel notes in his ‘Brunswick Star Cancels’ publication that 1870 dates are very scarce with only three examples recorded.  Although this cancellation is known used on several surface printed stamps as well as widely on the 1d plates, it is previously unrecorded used on any stationery envelope.   Price: £78.00   Image 

S18.  Arnot type 7 – very rare cancel in use less than three weeks before sent for recutting. Issued on 20 November 1863 and in use from 22 November until December 11 1863.  This superb example for December 8 1863 is tying a 2d SG45 plate 9 to a small piece and is recorded by Arundel on this stamp only and not on piece or cover.  Exceptional item.  Price:  £300.00   Image 

Dotted Circles. References in the descriptions are to Arundel’s publication ‘Dotted Circle Cancels’. Wants List is welcomed

S19.  Edinburgh type A12  - an exceptional strike of this rare type for February 10 1878.  Arundel records only about 12 known examples including only three examples after October 1875 with two of these in 1878.  This 1878 cancel is on a superbly clean and uncreased halfpenny brown postcard and is unrecorded previously by Arundel on any stationery card.  On the reverse is a list of various stamps being requested by a collector. This item is made even rarer by February 10 1878 representing the only SUNDAY usage of any dotted circle cancellation that we have seen!  Exceptional condition and features.  Price:  £275.00   Image 1  Image 2 

S20.  Edinburgh type A12 – a superb strike for June 28 1879 Arundel records only about 12 known examples including only three examples after October 1875 with two of these in 1878 and one in 1879.  This 1879 cancel is on an uncreased halfpenny brown postcard and is unrecorded previously by Arundel on any stationery card.   It has both an unrecorded stampers code 4 and an unrecorded time or duty code T.  Price:  £190.00   Image 

NB: This item would make a remarkable and unique pairing with item S19 not least with this rare cancel on two unrecorded different postal stationery items.

S21.  Edinburgh type C1 – an exceptional strike of this very scarce cancel for March 8 1878 on a superbly clean and uncreased halfpenny purple post card used locally in Edinburgh.  Exceptional quality and with the cancellation showing an unusual circle in the upper bars of the numeral section of the duplex which we have not seen previously on any dotted circle.  Price:  £110.00   Image 1  Image 2 

S22.  Edinburgh type C7 – a very rare type little used.  This is a superb strike for September 14 1880 on a clean and uncreased 1d pink stationery envelope.  This cancellation is usually found on the 1d Venetian red SG166 and Arundel notes one recorded usage on the 1d pink envelope and this is that example.  The EARLIEST recorded usage of this rare cancellation  is September 14 1880 and this is that usage.  A remarkable and almost certainly unique combination of usages.  Price:  £365.00   Image 

Welsh Items

W1.  Clean and uncreased wrapper with superb strike of the Uniform Penny Post  distinctive ‘Paid 1d’ in red of Aberystwith and a cds of Aberystwith for January 26 1848 also on the front of the wrapper.   Attractive and scarce so fine.   Price:  £125.00  Image SOLD

W2.  Front and top flap from Newtown to London with 1d black plate 4? Tied by two strikes of a black cross.  On the front are two strikes in black of a Newtown d/arc for February 21 1841 and a London receiver for the following day which displays well when the flap is raised.   This represents a scarce SUNDAY usage and with the official introduction of black ink replacing red from February 10 1841, this date is the earliest we have seen for black ink being used from a Welsh location. In fact it is only the second Sunday after the introduction of black ink.   Price:  £98.00  Image  

W3.  Clean wrapper from Merthyr Tidfil to Cardiff with 1d red plate 34 – full margins but just shaved bottom of SE letter square – with the catalogued constant variety, SG Spec BS23c, illustrated on page 121 of SG Volume 1, in the SW letter square.  The 1d red tied by the ‘523’ of Merthyr Tidfil  with on the reverse date stamps of  Merthyr Tidfil for May 4 1844 and a Cardiff receiver for Sunday May 5 1844.   The ‘523’ numeral is rated very rare by Parmenter and being used only a few days after the MX was replaced by numerals on May 1 1844, is by far the earliest recorded.  Very few May 1844 Welsh numerals have been recorded in use and only the common Newport, Mons is known with an earlier usage than this example of May 4 1844.  Rare item.  Price:  £195.00  Image 1  Image 2

W4.  Entire from Abergavenny to Usk, October 6 1856, with a 1d imperf, plate 162 tied by a superb number ‘1’ of Abergavenny and the RED receiver of Usk.  The 1d red has  4-margined except just touched at the corner of the SW letter square. On the reverse is a cds of Abergavenny for October 6 1856 in black and a red Usk receiver for the following day.  A rare late usage of the 1d red imperf from a Welsh location – the latest from any Welsh location that we have seen.  Price:  £225.00  Image 1   Image 2  Image 3 

W5.  Clean entire from Lampeter to Aberystwith December 13 1853. A pair of 1d red imperfs, plate 168, ‘BA-BB’, in a rich shade with ‘BB’ having full margins and ‘BA’ with 3-plus margins.  Contrary to regulations they are cancelled by a very fine SINGLE ‘434’ of Lampeter.  Attractive and very scarce.    Price:  £210.00          Image 1  Image 2  Image 3  

W6. Small envelope from Abergavenny to Prussia, January 28 1854.  The 6d ship letter rate to Prussia has been paid by three imperf plate four 2d blues in a single and a pair with consequetive letterings. Stamp ‘AJ’ has 4-margins and shows plate corrosion marks in both ‘Postage’ and ‘Twopence’ areas. The 1d imperf, plate 172, is almost 4-margined and was probably added as a late fee. Aus England Per Aachen in orange on the front.  Stamps tied by the numeral ‘1’ in oval of bars for Abergavenny.  On the reverse are overlapping date and transit markings including one for Abergavenny,  January 28 1854.  A rare overseas Welsh item and the first with the imperf 1d or 2d outside of Cardiff with such usage we have been able to offer.   Price:  £395.00  Image 1  Image 2  Image 3

W7.  Two commercial entires, written in French by the same hand and to the same addressee, from Cardiff to Paris.  Each has a 3-margined 1d imperf, lettered ‘AC’ and ‘AD’ which were originally a pair, and both tied by the ‘162’ of Cardiff.  The first was sent on February 8 1854 and the second the following day.  A remarkable and rare pair of items to an overseas destination from a Welsh location.  Offered as a pair at £485.00  Image 1  Image 2

W8.  Trio of 1d red imperfs and 1d plate number each in a pair and cancelled contrary to regulations by a SINGLE ‘852’ of Welshpool, Mont.  First imperf pair ‘ED-EE’, second ‘pair’ is two single imperfs ‘IH’ and ‘HI’ on piece ( much scarcer than a joined pair with a single cancellation), and the third a pair of 1d plate134 on piece.  Not all are full margined and ‘HI’ is creased but a remarkable trio in different shades.  Price:  £55.00   Image

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