See "BUY THE BEST" for records of postmarks, scans of covers with text, provenance, maintained over 45 years. BUY YOUR OWN DIGITAL PDF FILE ................... Knowledge puts you ahead in the game
| Country: All Subject: QV covers (early) Clear | Sort: Newest listed first |
;) ;) | BAHAMAS postal history 1866 cover (with two conflicting dated cancels) to Charleston, South Carolina b/stamped BAHAMAS MR 9 1866/A dbl-arc with QV 4d Chalon pmk'd "A05" rated red "4" and landed N. YORK BR. PKT 5/MAR 17 with boxed "ADV/MAR 30/1865" and "UNCLAIMED" between horiz. bars with CHARLESTON N.C. APR 30 cds on reverse, surface hole in frontal paper stock adjacent to adhesive. (On April 2 1865 the victory of Grant over Lee concluded the American Civil War). £280 |
;) | MAURITIUS postal history 1868 cover with blue GALDEMAR FRERES, PORT LOUIS sender's cachet marked "per Mozambique" to G. Lafaye & Cie, Bordeaux, France with QV 4d rose, QV 1/- orange pmk'd "B53" with fine clear Mauritius A/MR 18 68 despatch cds alongside arrivals which can fully display. £185 |
;) | CANADA postal history 1864 cover from John Dougall & Co., Commission Merchants to John Broadbent in the very small community of Buxton, Ontario with handstruck REGISTERED and 5c Beaver (for postage, reg. fee paid in cash) pmk'd Montreal NO 16 64, reverse Hamilton NO 17 and Chatham NO 18 transits. South Buxton is south of Chatham U.C. and has a current population of 78, there being three roads and a church. £125 |
;) | ANTIGUA postal history 1869 cover to Mrs Mary Mackintosh, South Kensington, London with 2 x QV 6d green (SG.8) lightly tied "A02" with light red London Paid AP 26 69 arrival, reverse clear A/ANTIGUA/AP 10 69 despatch cds. Some faults including larger opening tear at top. £225 |
;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) | BRITISH KAFFRARIA WRAPPER from a SURVIVOR OF THE H.M.S. BIRKENHEAD TROOPSHIP DISASTER In response for requests for testimonies from survivors the only surviving letter from the Cape: 1858 wrapper docketted "Andrews 20 Nov 1858" (the content removed but published) to David Seton, Portabello, near Edinburgh marked "Registered at King W Town 25.11.58" and "K.W.T. C.G. Hope" at lower left with two damaged copies 4d blue tied triangular handstamp with CAPE PACKET DEVONPORT JA 26 1859, red Crown/REGISTERED and red oval REGISTERED/LONDON 27 JA 59 alongside address panel, reverse red CAPETOWN DE 2 1858 transit, black Edinburgh and blue PORTABELLO JA 28 1859 arrivals. Younger brother (Major) David Seton was quite determined from an early stage to gather as many facts as possible. He met many of the survivors personally and continued with his determination that the heroism displayed by his elder brother Alex should always be associated with the ‘Birkenhead’. Personal interviews, and correspondence with testimonies from survivors, continue as late as 1858-59 and he printed a little book on the Wreck of the ‘Birkenhead’ in Edinburgh in 1861, and again in 1873 and 1890 which was initially intended for private use and not for publication or sale. The Andrews testimony is published on pages 134/5 in "A Deathless Story" by A.C. Addison being a 318 page account of the Birkenhead. £7250 |
;) | EARLIEST EXAMPLE OF 1d RETAINED ON HALF OUNCE POST, Jamaica postal history 1860 GB QV 6d cover to Thomas Hendrick, Attorney, Kingston, Jamaica pmk'd LIVERPOOL "466" duplex dated 31 JY 60 showing both KINGSTON AU 20 1860 dbl-arc arrival and manuscript "1" for the allowed 1d on the half ounce, overall damp toning. An Act of JU 14 1860 authorised the Colony to retain 1d on the half ounce mail. On AU 1 1860 Jamaica took control of her own Post Office. £95 |
;) | VICTORIA postal history (ex Groom) 1856 entire headed "Melbourne 26 July 1856" to London marked p. "Formosa" to Pt de Galle" with 6d Woodblock pmk'd Melbourne "1" on JY 29 1856 showing handstruck red "1d" accountancy and OC 18 1856 arrival. Ex GROOM. £80 |
;) | THIS COVER STOLEN FROM MY STAND AT THE BANGKOK INTERNATIONAL 27/11/2023 - DO NOT ORDER PONDICHERRY, FRENCH INDIAN SETTLEMENTS to MAURITIUS 1867 REYNAUD SOUPRAYA & Co, PONDICHERY sender cachet entire with strip of four QV 2a orange pmk'd PONDICHERRY "111" duplex dated FE 11 67 to Piper Adam & Co, Mauritius backstamped Madras transit and 2/MR 2 67 arrival, address panel with handstruck "6d TO PAY" in black. Exhibition item. £1250 |
;) | BARBADOS postal history 1862 refolded horizontally along top (to reduce/improve) wrapper front and back to London with 6d (SG.29) pmk'd Bridgetown "1" with BARBADOES NO 7 1862 despatch dbl-arc showing red London NO 29 62 arrival, discoloured at left. £85 |
;) ;) | TASMANIA postal history 1859 cover to London with QV 6d dull lilac pmk'd "59" with Launceston FE 12 despatch showing London AP 11 59 arrival. £225 |
;) ;) | NEW ZEALAND to FRANCE postal history Ex WOOLFE, HACKMEY 1873 registered cover with "FORWARDED BY/CRUICKSHANK & Co/AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND" sender cachet on reverse to Libourne, France with Chalon 2d orange, 3d, lilac, 2 x 6d pale blue tied "1" numeral obliterators with REGISTERED, AUCKLAND FE 15 7318 despatch, routed via ALEXANDRIE (7/4) showing full transit and arrival marks on reverse plus boxed French rate mark, reverse flaps opened for display. Exhibition item ex WOOLFE, HACKMEY (2006 RPS Certificate). £4500 |
;) ;) | POLIGNAC COVER DENIED DESTINATION DUE SIEGE OF PARIS, St. Vincent postal history This Duke de Polignac wrapper arrived at Calais NO 29 1870 on the same day that the “Jacquard”, the 34th ballon monté, crashed into the Irish Sea off the Scilly Isles killing the pilot Alexandre Prince; some bags of mail were later recovered. Paris, at this time, was surrounded and besieged by the Prussian army period SP 17 1870 until the FE 28 1871 Armistice. No mail could get in, hence the re-routing to the small hamlet of St. Jean du Cardinay, Maromme in Normandy. French aeronauts suggested to the postal authorities in Paris that balloons be used to maintain communications with the provisional government in Tours, and beyond. In total 67 well documented outgoing flights were made carrying over 2 million pieces of mail to places around the world with rare survivors having reached Mauritius, Hong Kong, and Japan. This unique NO 9 1870 cover bears the earliest recorded use of the QV 1/- brown in combination with printer’s guide-line positional strip of three, and single QV 1d rose-red, the former invoiced AU 13 1869 but held back for 14 months as seemingly not a suitable oil-lamp match for the latter. All further uses of the 1/- brown pay the single rate to England, and a replacement QV 1d in black was hastily ordered on JA 6 1871. £6000 |
;) | GREAT BRITAIN USED TWO DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, Malta postal history 1861 mourning cover to Lt. Colonel Duncan Munro Bethune (1816-1870), 1st Battalion. 9th Regiment, Vernon House, Farnham, Surrey with GB 6d pmk'd "A25" duplex dated A/MALTA/JA 23 61, backstamped Farnham JA 23 61 arrival and forwarded to London with GB QV 1d red pmk'd "292" numeral on JA 25 61 with London transits. Such GB combination covers are seldom found and extremely rare, and do not exist for most countries and agencies that were supplied with GB stamps. £1200 |
;) | PRIVATE SHIP LETTER RATE TO ITALY, MALTA postal history 1874 wrapper by private ship "Picarche" to Marsiglia (Province of Genoa, Italy) with GB QV 4d pmk'd "A25" duplex dated OC 19 74 showing red MARSEILLE 23 OCT 74 transit, no backstamps. £225 |
;) ;) | Rarely seen 2d RATE TO USA, GIBRALTAR postal history Ex METLISS, OSBORN, STIRRUPS 1874 printed headed entire by private ship "Pleiades" to New York with GB QV 2d blue pmk'd light "A25" duplex dated A/OC 9 74 landed with NEW YORK SHIP LETTER cds dated OCT 26 showing 4c to be collected. Ex METLISS, OSBORN, STIRRUPS. 'Direct' ship letters to New York were quicker and cheaper than mails via Liverpool. £350 |
;) ;) ;) | BARBADOS postal history Fabricated 1865 entire to John Jeffrey & Co, Edinburgh with cleverly added (1d) blue tying in with original portion bootheel cancel with BARBADOS I/FE 9 65 cds alongside. The entire only given away by addition of wrongly rated red crayon "6". £125 |
;) ;) | GIBRALTAR destination postal history 1871 wrapper with sender's cachet to Gibraltar with Great Britain QV 6d (postage) and QV 1d (late fee) twice pmk'd London IX/21 AP 71 "9" duplex. £85 |
;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) | HERO of the H.M.S. "BIRKENHEAD" SHIPWRECK DISASTER, Sierra Leone postal history 1852 letter from Lt-Colonel Alexander Seton written at Sierra Leone 29th January posted in GB QV 1d pink PSE to Edinburgh with MR 15 and MR 15 transit and arrival backstamps. This is the only letter he wrote from Sierra Leone and the penultimate letter before the tragic disaster in Simon's Bay in the early hours of 26th February 1852 which took about 445 lives. A 4 page account of the disaster accompanies as prepared for the December 2018 British West Indies Study Circle journal. £1200 |
;) ;) | PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND postal history (Ex, CARR, WILKINSON) 1865 cover with QV 2d rose-carmine (SG.2) cancelled manuscript Souris "S" to Capt. Angus McInnis, Charlottetown with matching ink colour PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND JY 26 1865 backstamp and handstruck str. line "NOT CALLED FOR.". (Vincent Greene 2010 cert). Ex CARR, WILKINSON A unique cover as such £325 |
;) | The "1d GALLE SURCHARGE", New South Wales postal history 1874 cover "Ellora via Galle and Brindisi" to Lower Norwood, Surrey, England with NINEPENCE on QV 10d, QV 1d pmk'd Sydney D/MY 15 74, reverse London JY 10 74 arrival. Edge tear at top, soiling. When the new P&O contracts came into force in 1874 NSW refused to contribute to the P&O service because Melbourne 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 number 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 9d rate via Brindisi from February 10th 1874 to May 27th 1875. £325 |