Top 5 Items of the Month
Sorry for the slow start to the New Year Ladies and Gentleman! Anyway, we kick off with my surprise of the month. This Washington Station parcel label caught my eye just because I’m from the Newcastle area and have slowly started to collect Newcastle and Gateshead postal history. The label bears a 3d purple on yellow with a beautiful “socked on the nose” (excuse my American) cancel of the Washington Station. Final price: £83.74! Obviously a scarce cancel for the Railway enthusiast. Unless there is a big market for all things Washington…
Next item up is this attractive unmounted mint positional block of the 1/2d blue-green, showing the gutter margin and pin dot. Again the price realised was a pleasant surprise: £77.90. But it is an ideal item for an exhibition display to show the features of a sheet without having to display all 240 stamps.
This cover is interesting. It was sent in 1956! Deemed invalid for use, the postal worker placed crayon crosses around the stamp and applied “Contrary to regulations”, “TO PAY” and “5d” tax hs as well as applying a 5d postage due. The last day of use for the Jubilee issue was supposed to be 1st January 1902.
Although this may appear to be a cheap stamp with a great big crease through it, the interesting thing about this item is that it is cancelled by “FIELD POST OFFICE / BRITISH ARMY S. AFRICA” from the Boer War. I’ve seen very few Officials used in the Boer war, so one savvy bidder did well with the only bid of £28.
And finally, this unmounted mint 2 1/2d purple on blue sold for £34. “Crazy money” I hear you scream. Well I was disappointed in myself for missing out on it. This stamp actually has a constant variety showing a dot just about the tail of the large “2”. This is the fourth example of this variety I have seen (all of which have been this year).
The 1887 Jubilee Issue 