Top 3 Items of the Month
As can be seen from my census of the 1s green and carmine on cover, there are less than 60 covers known. So while this cover has the most common rate of the 1s green and carmine frankings, and the condition isn’t fantastic, I still expected this cover to easily reach £300. Amazingly I was proven wrong and it fetched a measly £113.04. What a bargain!
The 40 PARAS overprint on the 1/2d vermilion is dogged by controversy due the misappropriation of the handstamp and subsequent use to create mint stamps and philatelic covers. This cover however appears to one of the few genuine usages. Not only that but it was sent registered with the 80pa on 5d paying the registration fee. So although the cover is quite foxed, competitive bidding saw this cover fetch $189.00 (about £120)
This quite scruffy cover fetched £266.50! Sent from Braintree to Shanghai, China, with the manuscript “To be left at the Post Office till called for”. Sent June 19th 1895, a look at the back shows that it remained at the Shanghai post office for nearly 10 months!! Hence the “Dead” manuscript at top left. Very interesting, but worth £266.50?
The 1887 Jubilee Issue 