December 2016 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year. Had some time to monitor eBay this month but still managed to miss some items I would have loved to have added to my collection.

First up is this impressive franking of the 2½d in a block of 8 sent from a Field Post Office during the Boer War. Used on a large OHMS envelope to a Captain in Pretoria and redirected to Kroonstad, I’m presuming it’s a philatelic franking as I think it should be something like 1d per oz for Military mail. Still it sounds a good buy at £45.10.

Next up is this very attractive parcel label with a pair of 4½d and ½d paying 7½d rate plus 2d registration fee. An unusual combination and another good buy at only £35.25.

I had a query this month about the largest known used multiples of the Jubilee issue. So it seemed appropriate to show this block of 8 of the 6d which sold for £52.10. It’s something I aim to publish in the future as I have always kept a track of large used multiples I’ve found in dealer’s stocks and online.

This block is definitely one I would like to have bought. It’s a bit unknown as it isn’t mentioned in the Stanley Gibbons Queen Victoria Specialised Catalogue, but this example shows the sheet watermark letter “B” in the right hand margin (at the far right located between the first and second rows, and only showing the left half of “B”). These watermarks are very scarce. Several different letters are known and listed by Wiseman in his essential book “The De La Rue Years 1878-1910“. This block sold for £20.88 but is worth much more to the specialist.

And I’ll finish with another Boer War item. This cover has the “MAIL SERVICE SUSPENDED” handstamp that was applied to incoming mail to areas in the hands of the Boers, as this was sent less than a month after it started. It sold for £56.