Top 5 Items of the Month
We kick of this month with a block of four 1s green, but with a rather washed colour. it isn’t much of a looker. However the Kirkwall cds (which is the capital of the Orkney Islands in Scotland) was the main interest, as the faded colour did not prevent several bids pushing it to a final price of £75.62.
The next item was a cover sent to Australia from Glasgow with two 3d purple on yellow paying the 6d rate. However the cover was redirected to New Zealand and further franked with a Victoria 2d. With some foxing roughly opened at top, this scarce mixed franking still fetched £112.29 plus postage.
This attractive cover has the TPO cancel of the Edinburgh & Newcastle S. T. Day Mail, with the 1/2d vermilion paying a late fee. It sold for £37.78.
This envelope was sent using the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway company to Tunbridge Wells. Franked with the company’s 2d stamp and pair of 1/2d vermilions both tied by a blue crayon cross, the 1/2ds were tied on arrival. The prices these covers fetch is highly dependent on which Railway company stamp it was franked with, and this one sold for £78.00.
This innocuous looking cover was the undoubted star of the month if not the year so far. Bearing an 1887 2 172d purple on blue, it was sent by the future King George V on a Royal Household envelope with a superb seal from Balmoral addressed to the Duchess of York in a hotel in Germany, cancelled by the “Caledonian T.P.O. Night Up” cds. The cover bears the initial “G.” of Prince George and is addressed in his hand. I think this went cheap at £245 and regret not bidding on it.
The 1887 Jubilee Issue 