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Entire 1843 Sherborne to Baltonsbury with 1d red imperf plate 32 letters RB 4 margin tied by crisp black Maltese Cross, also has a Sherborne CDS dated SE 20 1843 next to but not touching the stamp. Backstamped by Glastonbury CDS double rim dated SE 22 1843. Super quality stamp and super light maltese cross The contents are interesting too - a customer of Mr Whitehead, a cheese dealer, is complaining about the last batch of cheese they took delivery of - "If you have anything finer, I would be glad to receive them." They also instruct him to send his men to collect the cheese, or they will send them to Wells (a market town) for them to collect there -
Free outer 1836 Ravenglass to London. "To Pay 1d Only" unframed in black (type 1A/20 £200). On reverse, Ravenglass Penny Post in red (type 3/26 £60), and rec mark in red dated AU 24 1836 Code G type 1/10. Signed E Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, who was later a 3 time UK A rare and valuable piece of history -
ANZAC New Zealand-Australia joint issue cover, to commemorate the Centenary of ANZAC. Issued 7th April 2015, it has NZ 80c and $2 with Wellington postmark, and Australia 70c and $1.85 with Canberra postmark. A beautiful set of stamps! 2 packs of 10 bought direct from NZ Post, cost NZ$120. Bought well so out they go for $80. Great lot for eBay re-seller -
A fascinating Free front sent from Wincanton to London, dated Aug 24th 1784 Addressed to Carbonell & Son, King Street, London (Carbonell & Son are wine merchants) Markings (Ref JT Whitney 7th Ed) – Noted “Not properly dated – put into Wincanton office”, surcharge “4” applied twice (Ref 2/34 p30? cat £35 each) The cover was originally signed “Westmorland”, but as it was not completed correctly to get free postage, it was turned in to Wincanton. It was subsequently crossed out due to above, then dated properly and signed “Greville” to enable delivery. A fascinating group of markings I have not seen before Westmorland – John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland (1759-1841) 1774-1841 – House of Lords, Earl of Westmorland 1798-1806, 1807-27 – Lord Privy Seal Greville – Charles Francis Greville (1749-1809). 1774-90 – MP for Warwick As a young man, Charles Greville courted Emma Hart, who would later become Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson’s lover. -
Free Front Carlow (Ireland) to W Lane, Sailor, No. 5 Barry St, London. With Single circle crown inside "Apple" style free mark dated JUL 1 1806, and Dublin Free Mark double circle with "DUB" dated JU-27-1806, and centre inverted! Signed John O'Neill, MP for County Antrim. Very rare marks, and with inverted centre added on. Min cat £325, super item for the specialist -
Outer 1857 Edinburgh to Blairgowrie with experimental "roller" cancellation second type without vertical lines between numerals. Backstamped Edinburgh MAR-10-1857 and Blairgowrie MAR-11-1857 in green. Experimental roller cancels on cover are rare - I found a single with this cancel priced on Bill Barrell for £50! -
The Greek Post Office (ELTA) decided to copy what Australia did, and issue an "Instant" digital print stamp for every Olympic medal winner. In fact the design is VERY similar to the Australian issues. Like Australia, at a later date, offset copies were also printed of medal winner stamps. This idea proved a great success in Greece, and the general public were the ones out there buying these issues for patriotic reasons etc. Only a small % of those will ever re-enter the stamp market. The controversial stamp was issued to honor Leonidas Sampanis, the Bronze Medal winner in weightlifting in the 62 kilo weight class. Sampanis won his medal on Monday 16 August and the stamps were on sparing sale in limited offices starting Tuesday August 17. Sampanis later failed his drug test (twice) and on Sunday 22 August the IOC stripped him of his medal. Consequently, on Sunday August 22, ELTA ordered that all remaining stamps be taken off sale nationally and immediately returned to their central office and NONE were to be sold. I bought one of these sheets in 2004 from a local dealer, and paid $500 for it - that seems more than a little above the odds when you look at what they are fetching on sites like Ebay. Comes with copies of the articles in Stamp News from the time for reference -
1769 Entire to London. Addressed to "Mr Franc Barlow at the Crown Office, London". Post paid 2 on front, plus clean and crisp Bishop Mark "24/IY" type 1/4 (£40) plus 2 line MOR/PETH town mark type 3/6 (£60). 250 years old and still fresh as the day it was written! Translation included -
Free Front 1837 London to Dunse but overweight per regulations. "Above 1oz" written top left, and "Above Weight" framed (type 1A/24 £300), also "1/2" Scottish surcharge (type 4/77 £15). As it was over weight, "4½" postage rate added to front. Signed Hugh Hume-Campbell. A great front! -
Outer from the 1673-1713 period, addressed to "for Mr John Spreat at Chipley near Taunton: Frank: Edw (ard) Clarke". Edward Clarke was the MP for Taunton, and John Spreat was his steward. Beautiful Bishop Mark "FE/4" Type 1/2 (£250). Very nice
