May 6, 2017 · 4:15 pm

March & April 2017 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items

Been a busy couple of months for me so playing catch up as usual. I’m kicking of this one with one of the most unusual Jubilee items I’ve seen. This 6d Jubilee was used in 1944 in conjunction with a 4d Manchester & Altrincham South Junction Railway parcel label, both tied by an Altrincham machine cancel. There was only one bidder at the asking price of £55. Certainly a conversation piece in a collection.

This 1890 Penny Postage Jubilee 1d postal stationery envelope was sent on the first day of South Kensington Museum Exhibition with the special datestamp, over-franked with a 2 1/2d and sent locally. It sold for £110. I may be wrong but I’m always surprised at how much these sell for as they’re not particularly scarce (although they are attractive). But as someone pointed out to me recently, they can “tick the box” of many different collectors (e.g. Jubilee issue, Exhibitions, postal stationery, horse thematics and history of stamps thematics to name the most obvious).

This fresh mint never hinged marginal block of four of the 1s green sold for a solid £741.

This attractive used marginal strip of three of the British Levant 4pi on 10d sold for £104. I have seen very few multiples of this stamp…

Finally, this cover was sent to a Irish Prisoner of War during the Boer War. Sent “Care of the Postmaster General” in Pretoria, it was then passed on the the US Consulate in Pretoria and struck with their cachet. The Consulate acted as the intermediary between the Boers and the British in the exchange of prisoner of war mail. It sold for £117.

Leave a comment

Filed under Ebay Reports

Tagged as , , , ,

May 3, 2017 · 7:03 pm

Army Telegraphs sold in London Auctions

In Grosvenor and Spink this April, the following Army Telegraphs overprinted Jubilees turned up within a week of one another. The first to come up was this impressive used block of 16 still on piece. Unfortunately it was part of a larger lot (lot 2099) with other Army Telegraph issues, so my top bid was a bit far off lot the final hammer price of £2’200. It’s the largest multiple I’ve seen by far! (The second being a block of four that sold on ebay in February).Next up was lot 2106, an unused telegram form franked with various Army Telegraph issues including two overprinted 1/2d vermilion Jubilees, which dates from when the Army was doing manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain. I was a bit closer this time with my bidding but was still beaten to the final hammer price of £380. This was the first complete and franked telegram form I have seen but I’ve heard they exist.

And finally Grosvenor had this mint 1/2d vermilion “O” control strip of 3, lot 137 estimated £100-150. This was one I really wanted and even used an agent for the first time to bid in the auction room on my behalf. Disappointment turned to despair as my top bid was surpassed by a measly £50 and it sold for £1’250. This is only the second I have seen (which was corroborated by a dealer I know).

 

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Auction News

Tagged as , ,

March 8, 2017 · 8:42 pm

February 2017 Ebay Report

We start this ebay report with what is I think the most valuable Jubilee item I’ve seen sell at auction on ebay. I would have been gutted to have missed it but I would never have thought of paying as much as $2’850 for the cover below. Sent to the Portuguese colony of Macao with a 5d Jubilee, it was then re-directed to Japan with a Macao 40r. It’s an extraordinary mixed country franking and Macao collectors have the hunger and the cash for such unusual items.

This is a rare used block of four of the Army Telegraphs overprint on the ½d vermilion. I’ve seen very few used examples (less than a dozen of the vermilion and I don’t think any of the ½d blue-green). So I might regret not trying to beat the final realisation of £129.25.

129-25-army-telegraphs-used-block

This unmounted mint example of the 1 ½d with inverted watermark variety sold for £460, which is just a little under half the Stanley Gibbons catalogue price of £950.

This slightly ugly cover is an unusual usage of the 4 ½d. It is paying the 2d registration rate and 2 ½d to send the cover from York to Plymouth. It is only the third single franking of the 4 ½d I’ve seen on an internal letter.

And finally quite an attractive uprated postal stationery cover to Belgium from Jersey. These types of covers from Jersey always sell well; this one realising £135.10.

135-10-postal-stationery-from-jersey

Leave a comment

Filed under Ebay Reports

Tagged as , , , , ,

February 27, 2017 · 9:16 pm

January 2017 Ebay Report

I knew better than to make a New Year’s resolution to spend more time developing this site because I knew it wouldn’t take long to get behind on my updates…

queen-victorias-funeral-commemorative-postcard-30-80First up is an item I should have bought. It’s the type of item that I think would add very nicely to an exhibition collection as I think it would go well as the final item to complete the story. It’s a picture postcard mourning the death of Queen Victoria, with a message along side saying “Her Funeral Procession passes through London to day”, with a 1/2d blue-green on the other side dated February 2nd. It sold for £30.80. By the way, I’m also desperately looking for a Jubilee stamp used on something commemorating her Jubilee in 1887 but have yet to find it!

30-10Next up is an item of destination mail (one of my favourite topics). I’ve only come across three covers with Jubilee frankings to Cyprus so far, and this is a nice (albeit slightly toned) example with a 4 1/2d paying the UPU rate plus registration.

338-50Imprimaturs rarely come up on eBay for auction (there not uncommon in dealer’s stocks). So I was interested to see this example described as unmounted mint fetch £338.50.

112-25-columba-steamer-cdsThis picture postcard was posted on board the RMS Columba, a paddle steamer which operated on the first leg of the “The Royal Route” from Glasgow to Ardrishaig. With the 1/2d blue-green tied by the “COLUMBA STEAMER / GREENOCK” cds. There was only one bidder but the vendor started bidding at £110. That despite the fact that it’s not in perfect condition.

destination-mail-sao-tome-e-principe-and-madeira-34-88Speaking of not being in perfect condition, neither is this cover. But I’m still absolutely gutted I missed it. Originally sent to the Eastern Telegraph Company in Sierra Leone, it was redirected to São Tomé(!), San Vincent in Cabo Verde (!!) and back to Sierra Leone stopping off at Madeira on the way! An truly fascinating item of postal history and an absolute snip at £34.88 :(

Leave a comment

Filed under Ebay Reports

Tagged as , , ,

January 6, 2017 · 5:39 pm

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.

45-10First 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.

35-25

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.

52-10I 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.

wmk-b-20-88This 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.

56-00And 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.

1 Comment

Filed under Ebay Reports

Tagged as , ,

December 9, 2016 · 12:03 pm

September – November 2016 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the last 3 months…

I’m a bit behind on my blogging so I’ve decided to cheat and do three months in one. Hopefully I can find some items for the December report otherwise I’ll cheat again and edit this report to make it for the last four months…

355-25

The first item this month is a pane of the 4d green & brown. This is actually the scarcest of the settings for the 4d which shows the thin coloured lines at the right (as opposed to the filed-in bars). The retail price for Stanley Gibbons is £2’500 for such a pane, so the new owner of this item may well have got a bargain at £355.25, but since it wasn’t sold by a regular vendor of stamps I fear that it might not have been perfect. The colour of the green looks slightly faded in the image and no mention was made of the gum so that put me off bidding. But I should really have sent a question to the vendor…

446-00Next up is an impressive printing error on the ½d vermilion, caused by the corner of the sheet being folded over before printing resulting in a portion of the stamp being printed on the gummed side. They are not massively uncommon, and I always feel dealers ask too much for such items. So it was surprising to me that this sold for £446.

100-00This attractive franking also surprised me by fetching £100. These high franking combinations of stamped-to-order postal stationery uprated with Jubilees always seem to sell well.

4-32

My best ebay purchase of the Autumn season is a 2d that shows the variety “bottom right corner of tablet raised” (SG K30f), which catalogues £90 unmounted in my old 14th edition SG Specialised catalogue, and for which I paid the princely sum of £4.32. There are unnoticed catalogued varieties on stamps to be found on ebay, but it is a laborious task!

16-95

And we finish with this unusual combination of a late usage of a line engraved 1d red and a ½d vermilion which sold for £16.95.

Leave a comment

Filed under Ebay Reports

Tagged as

September 11, 2016 · 10:57 am

August 2016 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month

It was a bit of a struggle to find some interesting items this month, as it is every August as even philatelists stop thinking about stamps to enjoy the sunshine!

81.00mmThe first item is a scarcer control setting of the 1/2d vermilion with the letter B without marginal rule. For those that are interested, I have published the Stanley Gibbons catalogue listing for the 1/2d controls on my site, and I haven’t been told off for doing so yet… But at some point I will do my own more specialised listing and pricing as strips of three and blocks of six with controls command a premium.

50-63This piece with a 2 1/2d Jubilee was priced at £49.99 and found one bidder. It has a Union Steamship Co. perfin and is tied by a Santa Cruz, Tenerife cds. As you can guess from the perfin, this would have been posted on board a ship and cancelled in port at Tenerife which was permitted by UPU rules.

67.99This block of six 3d Jubilees realised £67.99 in spite of a few minor faults because it is cancelled by a Continental Night Mail cds of the Travelling Post Office. More information on this is another “To Do” for the “Related Info” section.

165.70And this duo of 10d Jubilees is tied to a small piece by a complete Royal Niger Company Akassa ds and fetched a solid £165.70.

15-90And bargain of the month goes to this Portuguese postal stationery card sent from Funchal on the island of Madeira and redirected from the UK to France with a 1/2d vermilion. Probably because it was hosted only on ebay.com and not ebay.co.uk, it sold for only $15.90.

Leave a comment

Filed under Ebay Reports

Tagged as , , , ,

August 29, 2016 · 8:36 am

Lack of interest in the Jubilee issue?

Just reading through the latest issue of the GB Philatelic Society’s newsletter and I came across a slightly disheartening comment from from the Surface Printed consultant in his annual report, which said:

As reported in previous years, there has been no interest in the colourful Jubilee issues despite very interesting and collectable pieces and usages still being available at reasonable prices

I’m pleased to say that I have had a few people contact me over the past year. Some asking for help and some happy to offer it! So a big thank you to those that have contributed. I try my best to answer any questions I receive, but I haven’t always done so in the past so apologies to anyone who never received an answer.

So please feel free to contact me with anything relating to the Jubilee issue, and if you’re a member of the GB Philatelic Society (which you should be!) then don’t forget  you can contact them with any questions you may have as well.

2 Comments

Filed under Press Articles

July 31, 2016 · 3:51 pm

July 2016 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month

68.00I’ve had more free time of late so I’ve been able to spend more of it looking through the eBay listings under Great Britain Victoria, Great Britain Covers and Great Britain Postal History in order to find some items for my collection.

The first is a stamp (for a change!) that I would have liked to add to my collection. As the 4 1/2d value was printed in 1892, it’s much more difficult to find with a SPECIMEN overprint than the stamps issued in 1887 (which are typically worth £15-40 each with the same type 9 overprint). Dealers tend to charge two to three times the realisation of £68.

18.85iSo back to postal history. Although having said that I’m sure that this postcard is of more interest to postcard collectors, which depicts the Snowdon Summit Hotel. I know little about the scarcity of postcards, but I imagine to the right person they would be willing to pay at least double the 18.85 it sold for.

138.95 colombian consul jerseyThe scarcity of postal stationery is something I probably know even less about. So I was a little shocked to see that this had sold for £138.95. The 1 1/2d die has been uprated with a 3d Jubilee to pay the 4 1/2d registered rate to Germany and was sent from the Colombian Consulate in Jersey. Although this sounds exotic, there seems to plenty of mail to have survived from this consulate and in fact I have the same franking on a cover sent to Fiji which I know I paid too much money for but it was so attractive.

21.95This cover was one I was annoyed to have missed because it’s a very uncommon usage of a single 4d: Sent to New Zealand at double the Empire rate of 1d and with 2d registration fee. I would have paid at least double the final price of £21.95

67.75And finally another stamp to finish of this month. This Mafeking 1s on 6d sold for £67.75. Decent value in my opinion, probably helped by the poor photograph taken by the vendor.

Leave a comment

Filed under Ebay Reports

Tagged as , , ,

June 30, 2016 · 9:04 pm

June 2016 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month

Thornton Pickard parcel label postal stationery uprated with 2d JubileeJune brought us some attractive and high value items (compared to the usual eBay offerings at least). First up was this advertising parcel post label from the Thorton-Pickard manufacturing company. Unusually it has a 6d stamped-to-order die and is also uprated with a 2d Jubilee. Although a little creased, it sold for a healthy £155.

1892 4 1-2d Used Block of Four 217.47The surprise result of the week was this 4 1/2d marginal block of four with a crisp central Darlington cds (which was against the regulations as each stamp should have been cancelled individually). The green is slightly washed, but that didn’t stop this multiple fetching £217.47!

Mafeking 1s on 6d SG.15 216.00The item of the month that I missed bidding on was this scarce Mafeking 1s on 6d (with serif overprint) tied to small piece. With a RPS certificate and a catalogue value of £850 in Stanley Gibbons, it only sold for £217. Doh!

122.70And to finish with we have a couple of incoming Boer War covers. The first with a 4d green & brown with “GONE – NO ADDRESS” handstamp struck on arrival in South Africa. It was then returned to the UK and a large “Officially Sealed” label of the Returned Letter Office was stuck on the reverse. It sold for £122.70.

Boer War Incoming Prisoner of War Cover 164.00And this cover was sent at the triple rate to a Prisoner of War in Pretoria. The cover was censored at the neutral United States Consul in Pretoria. Although the franking is a little tired, incoming mail to prisoners of war are very scarce, and this cover realised £164.

Leave a comment

Filed under Ebay Reports

Tagged as , , ,