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;) ;) ;) | Mail to St. George's DETAINED AT AMERICAN CONSUL FOR 13 YEARS, Bermuda postal history 1879 cover from P.D. Slocum & Co., Clothiers, New Bedford, Massachusetts to Mr. Holder B. Slocum, 1st Mate Brig V.H. Hill, Capt. Sylvia, Bermuda (showing "Care Am Consul" at lower left) with U.S. 5c blue Zachary Taylor tied New Bedford cork dated MAY 10 with Boston MAY 10 transit and ST. GEORGES MAY 20 1879 oval receiving backstamps (LRD on incoming mail), after 13 years marked in red manuscript "Remained at American Consulate until 23rd April 1892/Not called for" with presumed Consulate Dead Letter Office purple pointing hand "RETURN TO THE WRITER. D.L.O." handstamp and placed in the mail with ST. GEORGES B/AP 23 92 cds (H1, usually applied at a transit or arrival datestamp, Ludington Page 141) with DEAD LETTER OFFICE/S A triangle dated MAY 11-92 on reverse. A fascinating item. Previous history: The whaling schooner Varnum H. Hill of and from Provincetown, was captured by the rebel steamer "Florida" on 27 June 1863 and released on bond of $10,000 on condition that she would take prisoners belonging to the destroyed ships "Southern Cross" (June 6, burnt same day), "Red Gauntlet" (June 14, kept in company as carrying coal and burnt on the 26th), "Benjamin Hoxie" (June 16 carrying silver bars valued at £500,000, sunk June 27) into Bermuda. Some 54 seamen were landed at Hamilton on 4 July and were taken in charge by the American Consul, and on 7 July Captain Doe of the British brig "Henrietta" agreed to take the seamen brought in by the V.H. Hill to New York. (Research shows no further mention of the V.H. Hill allowing no explanation for this incoming letter of 1879, and it being detained at the American Consul for 13 years until released in 1892). The "Florida" was a highly successful commerce raider in the Confederate States Navy capturing 37 prize ships. £525 |
;) ;) ;) ;) | LATE FEE COLLECTED BY INSUFFICIENT POSTAGE/FINE FROM RECIPIENT, New Zealand postal history Extraordinary 1865 cover endorsed "p. Claud Hamilton" and franked Chalon QV 2d pale blue placed in the Post Office late mail box with red manuscript instruction "Late Letter" (without accompanying cash) pmk'd Picton "11" without despatch datestamp (contrary to regulations) addressed H.D. Jackson in Nelson, the 6d late fee charge attended to by addition of INSUFFICIENTLY PAID 6/FINE 6 handstamp with black 1/- to be collected from the recipient, part of the address redacted, reverse NELSON MR 4 1865 arrival. The enclosure, written "In great haste" is on printed Union Bank of Australia paper and headed "Pictou 3 Mch/65" and mentions "enclosing 7/6 in postage stamps". £925 |
;) ;) | "BAR" (BARROUALLIE) and "K" (KINGSTOWN) combination, ST. VINCENT postal history 1876 cover front to James Crook, Sailor on Board the Satellite, Kings Town, St. Vincent with QV 1d black cancelled by black ink smudge showing a unique combination light strikes red ink "BAR" and "K" each dated JU 22 76 and additionally marked "Unclaimed" in pencil. Internally addressed mail from this period extremely rare. The additional scan, from my records, show this cover front to have had certificate number 60,509 (subsequently detached) and previous auction estimate of £1200 with £1800 realisation. £850 |
;) ;) ;) ;) | BRITISH HONDURAS and UNITED STATES combination postal history (Ex Ralph HART) c1868 exceptional and exquisite combination piece with vertical strip of four plus horizontal pair British Honduras 1865 QV 1d pale blue No wmk P.14 (SG.1, Cat.£65) tied "A06", and pair 1861-62 U.S. 3c rose Washington tied partial cds and pmk'd segmented cork cancels at New Orleans where framed "STEAMSHIP" also applied. The U.S. 6c, by adhesives, show the double rate and the manuscript crayon "due 14" completes the 20c rate, the double rate franking with BRH adhesives should have totalled 8d. Some adhesive faults but a unique franking (Ex Ralph HART 1978, Lot 264 as pencilled). Letters from British Honduras 1866 to 1869 could prepay the U.S. internal postage and supplies of the U.S. 3c rose Postal Stationery Envelope were evidently available in Belize for partial pre-payment as witnessed by covers (as per scans) of JA 12 1868 to Natchez, Mississippi (ex Edward S. Knapp, Maurice Burrus), and FE 27 1868 to Shreveport, Louisiana (Ex Ralph Hart). As the normal U.S. internal rate was 10c single rate, it is not understood why partial franking of 3c were the chosen partial prepayments, but this may have been the fee payable to the private contract steamboat carrier that made the trip between New Orleans and Belize City once a month starting in May 1867. £1725 |
;) ;) ;) ;) | QUEENSLAND postal history 1871 foolscap official service cover with Royal Coat-of-Arms printed flap locally to Ipswich with Crowned oval buckled albino embossed PUBLIC LANDS DEPARTMENT cachet manuscript dated "19-4-71" and QV 2d tied QL obliterator, reverse with BRISBANE 4/AU 19 71 and IPSWICH AP 20 1871 and indistinct JU 16 1871 cancels, with ADVERTISED JU 30 1871 on address panel, some soiling. £175 |
;) | The "GALLE PENNY" Surcharge on NEW SOUTH WALES mail routed through Melbourne, VICTORIA 1874 cover marked "via Galle" to Dublin, Ireland with QV 1d, 6d pmk'd Sydney MY 16 74 duplex, no backstamps, part flap missing. Ex Trevor DAVIS (2002), "Emerald" (2003), CHARTELL (2018). When the new contracts came into force in 1874 New South Wales refused to contribute to the P & O service because Melbourne, Victoria was made the mail terminus, and because NSW favoured the route via San Francisco. To use the route via Melbourne and Pt de Galle NSW had to pay a fee to Victoria based on the amount of letters sent by that route. In order to defray that expense, and also to discourage NSW writers from using the route, a 1d surcharge was added to the basic rate (6d via Southampton, and 9d via Brindisi) from 10 FEB 1874 to 27 MAY 1875. This surcharge is commonly called the "Galle Penny". £300 |
;) ;) | 52 used LAUNCESTON, Tasmania with London 20 lines unframed circular CORRECTION HANDSTAMP 1870 cover to Islington, London with QV 6d tied "52" numeral with red LAUNCESTON 12 AU 1870 despatch, on arrival red LONDON PAID dated A/SP 10 70 mistakenly applied and obliterated with unframed circular 20 lines correction handstamp, and correct arrival of A/OC 10 70 applied alongside, re-directed to Stoke Newington some 2.7 miles away with small black crowned circle applied to show no further charge for delivery within London area, envelope with colourless embossed J. WALSH & SONS, HOBART TOWN & LAUNCESTON makers imprint under flap, no backstamps. £240 |
;) | To Captain of Ship "Achilles", NEW SOUTH WALES postal history 1861 cover from Newcastle to Captain Hurt, or present Captain, of Ship "Achilles", Sydney with QV 2d pmk'd "55", reverse Newcastle NO 15 1861 and SYDNEY A O/NO 16 61. £90 |
;) | NEW SOUTH WALES postal history 1858 cover to Captain Kent, 77th Regiment, Major of Brigade, Brigade Office with QV 1d pmk'd barred oval paying the "drop letter" rate, b/stamped SYDNEY MR 4 1858, both adhesive and cover with smaller faults. The 77th (the East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot embarked for New South Wales in June 1857 and then sailed for India in April 1858 to help suppress the Indian Rebellion. £125 |
;) | QUEENSLAND postal history 1878 double rate cover to E.E. Beach, Boro Green, Kent with 2 x QV 6d Chalon pmk'd "QL" with Brisbane I/OC 10 78 cds alongside, on arrival re-directed with SEVENOAKS DE 8 78 duplex, no backstamps. £140 |
;) | GREAT BRITAIN (Elgin, Scotland) to VICTORIA, Australia postal history (Ex von Uexkull) 1872 cover with sender's "North Street Elgin" albino embossed flap to The Reverend William Ross, c/o Solicitors, Queen Street, Melbourne with two GB QV 3d rose Plate 7 pmk'd ELGIN "133" duplex dated E/AP 8 72, on arrival re-directed with VICTORIA QV 2d brown-lilac tied MELBOURNE 8H/MY 31 72 duplex to Mrs. Ross's Lodgings, Campbell Street, Castlemaine, b/stamped London AP 9 72, Melbourne A/MY 31 72 and Castlemaine MY 31 72. Ex Jakob von UEXKULL (1997). Few covers from Great Britain forwarded with VICTORIA QV adhesives locally or to other Australian States exist, and I can only currently record GB 1/- (DE 5 1855) forwarded Melbourne to Castlemaine with 2 x 3d; GB stampless (JA 21 1856) forwarded Melbourne to Tarrengower with 1d, 3d, 1/- REGISTERED stamp; GB 1d x 3d, 6d (AP 10 1860) forwarded to Encounter Bay, S. Australia with 6d; GB 1d, 9d (MR 19 1872) Dublin to Melbourne forwarded Minnebah Reefs, Tasmania with 3d. The only other Victoria QV 2d forwardings known to me are on cover USA 5c (DE 28 1880) Adelaide to Sydney, NSW with 2d (von Uexkull), and USA 6c rose pair (JA 19 1882) forwarded Brisbane to Sydney, NSW with 2d (Edward S. Knapp). £1200 |
;) | RATLAM, India postal history QV ½anna PSE with added QV ½anna strip of four, pair, two singles tied 13/A-20 numerals with framed REGISTERED RATLAM handstamp and RUTLAM 12 JAN and BOMBAY JAN 14 cds, opened for display, edge faults. £60 |
;) ;) ;) | Surbiton Hill, Great Britain destination mail to Fort Murray, BRITISH KAFFRARIA postal history 1859 mourning cover to George Brownlow, Fort Murray, British Kaffraria, Cape of Good Hope from SURBITON HILL (no date slugs backstamp) with GB QV 6d pale lilac tied KINGSTON-ON-THAMES "422" duplex dated D/SP 5 59 showing red crayon 1d credited to the Cape Colony, reverse London S.W., DEVONPORT E/SP 6 59, red CAPE TOWN NO 16 1859 arrival, under flap "Ansd letter to Edward 12 Dec 1859". (Carried by the "Dane" packet boat). The area annexed to the British Cape Colony on 10 May 1835 as Queen Adelaide Province, but on 5 December 1835 the Cape Colony disallowed the annexation and it was renamed Queen Adelaide Land district with Grahamstown as its capital until 1847. On 17 December 1847 it was again annexed to the Cape Colony as British Kaffraria Colony with King William's Town as its capital. On 7 March 1860 British Kaffraria became a separate crown colony. It was finally re-incorporated into the Cape Colony on 17 April 1866. £425 |
;) ;) ;) ;) | Massive 27mm LONG PLATE SCRATCH on QV 12½c black, Nova Scotia postal history 1866 cover with colourless embossed "R.T. MUIR, 125 GRANVILLE ST." envelope manufacturer name under flap to the Inner Temple, London with QV 12½c black/yellowish paper showing massive 27mm long vertical plate scratch at left tied oval grid with red London Paid 12 FE 66 arrival alongside, reverse partial WOLFVILLE N.S. JA 27 1866 and oval H/JA 30 1866/N.S. Halifax transit. British packet mail carried by British Steamer Cunard Line "Asia". £625 |
;) ;) ;) ;) ;) | PD in oval, ST. VINCENT postal history (Ex FORSYTH) Newly discovered FIRST RECORDED USE OF THE "PD" IN OVAL IN BLACK INK USED AS A "KILLER" ON ENTIRE: 1878 wrapper from George Robertson, St. Vincent to Messrs. Charles W. Gray, London with QV 1/- vermilion P.11 to 12½ x 15 (SG.24) tied by black "PD" in oval (PML.83) with matching ink colour ST. VINCENT AU 9 78 despatch plus red London Paid 28 (AU 78) arrival on address panel, adhesive crossed by filing fold and may have been lifted for inspection, recipient's purple notes on address panel include "Trouble with Rose Bank machinery". (Ex FORSYTH lot 562) Similar purple ink recipient notes on this correspondence to Charles Gray show that letters were posted from Kingstown which was using the horiz. "A10" (PML.4) at this time but had changed from red to black ink mid-1878 as per illustrations JU 18 78 and AU 8 78; and this next day use may indicate late mail accepted into the Post Office. £525 |
;) ;) ;) | HOBART to AUCKLAND WHARF, NEW ZEALAND, Tasmania postal history 1854 outer lettersheet wmk'd "SALMON 1853" and marked "Per Lusia" to William Davis, Auckland Wharf, New Zealand with cut-to-shape Van Dieman's Land QV 4d bright red-orange, clear engraving lines (SG.5, Cat.£1,000, x 6 on cover) pmk'd Hobart numeral "63" showing clear AUCKLAND JY 25 1854/A arrival, both adhesive (small scissor-cut top right) and entire stained but an exceptionally rare destination for this issue. £825 |
;) ;) ;) | Wreck of S.S. "Emeu" to Woodford, Kensington, missent Hackney, NEW SOUTH WALES postal history 1857 entire with large part content to a Mrs. Cowell, Belgrave Villa, Woodford, near London with QV 6d slate tied barred oval cancel with fine SYNEY D/SEP 10 1857 displaying upper flap and red LONDON NL/DE 7 57 on address panel, on arrival re-directed Kensington and showing manuscript "Missent to Hackney", some smaller faults. Sent on the S.S. "Emeu" (under charter of the Australian Royal Mail Co.) which left Sydney on September 11 bound for Suez, but stranded on October 22nd in the Red Sea, on the Guttal el Bunna, a coral reef 120 miles from Jeddah. She was refloated the following day and beached for repairs near Duber Dubb finally reaching Suez on the 3rd November, the mails however having been transferred to the P.&.O S.S. "Madras" which reached Suez on the 19th November (16 days after the "Emeu"!). Paid for delivery in Southampton the cover was sent from Alexandria on the P.&.O "Ripon" arriving December 7th. £625 |
;) | INDIA postal history: 1858 mourning cover front and top flap marked via Marseilles to c/o General Ian James Douglas K.C.B. at Clifton, Bristol with QV ½ anna pale blue pair and two singles plus QV 4 anna black/blue paper tied "94" obliterators with red BOMBAY JY 3 1856 transit displaying on flap, cover edge faults. £180 |
;) ;) | CONSIGNEE'S LETTER into DUNEDIN, New Zealand postal history 1868 initially stampless entire (no indication of sender's origin) travelling with goods marked "Consignee's Letter per Margaret" destined for a merchant in Otahuhu, Auckland put into the Post Office at first port of call Dunedin with pair, single QV Chalon 1d dull vermilion added (affixed over writing) pmk'd Dunedin D/NZ/SP 25 68 duplex paying the 3d inter-provincial rate, b/stamped Auckland OC 7 transit and with OTAHUHU OCT 8 68 (13 days journey) on address panel, missing part flap. Extremely rare with Chalon stamps added. The letter, having been put into the Dunedin post office (South Island), would travel by land to the recipient advising details of goods to be expected, and the "Margaret" would continue its sea journey to the most convenient port in North Island for off-loading of same. £1625 |
;) ;) | THE UNIQUE "HALF OPEN BOOTHEEL DUPLEX" CDS COVER, BARBADOS Postal history (See BLOGS section) 1875 local cover to T.P. Goring, above "Rices", St. Philip with last and last recorded use 1872 (1d) blue (SG.52) tied 19mm BARBADOS I/JU 28 75 cds at Bridgetown with alongside previously unseen 21mm BARBADOS JU 28 75 code A cds which has now been shown to be part of the newly introduced cobbled together open bootheel duplex which took up duty 12 days later on JY 10 1875, no backstamps. Ex 'OLIVE BLOSSOM'. £2400 |