Category Archives: Ebay Reports

January 8, 2014 · 9:06 pm

December 2013 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month

83.74iSorry 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…

77.90Next 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.

8.10

 

 

 

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.

28.95Although 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.

 

 

34.00And 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).

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December 6, 2013 · 12:47 pm

November 2013 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month

42.00This month was a bit of a slow month for Jubilee items coming to the market. The most attractive item was this parcel label with an unusually high franking of 1s 4 1/2d which sold for £42.

86.33This piece bearing five 5d purple & blue is cancelled by the boxed ds of the Niger Company in Akassa. All the Niger Company cancels are listed by Stanley Gibbons and priced for each stamp. In this case the catalogue value is £100 for a single stamp. It sold for £86.33.

41.80This attractive maritime cover only received one bidder at £40…me! Featuring a block of four 1/2d vermilion and a single, they are cancelled by Glasgow cds, but also by a dotted lozenge with anchor. I’ve read something about these covers before being the work of a Captain with a philatelic eye. When I find the article I’ll be sure to post it here.

50.74This advertising cover is from Alfred Smith, a stamp dealer in Bath and profuse publisher of advertising envelopes. This is the first time I have seen this type (the most common ones being with the “New Address” overprint. There was only one bidder at £49.99 (not me this time).

41.75And finally this slightly soiled cover sold for £41.75 due to it’s scarce destination: Singapore!

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November 3, 2013 · 10:15 pm

October 2013 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month

69.60Just covers for you this month. And we kick off with my biggest miss of the month. Not only is it a scarce cover sent by the Continental Night Mail service, but it is also the only example of a Jubilee cover going to Corsica that I ever seen!! It sold for a poultry £69.60. Doh!

8.95Although completely philatelic, since I hadn’t seen one before I thought it was of note to point out this item. The envelope is franked with a 1 1/2d and 2 1/2d Jubilee tied by the Guildhall Jubilee cancel, which isn’t too unusual. However this cancel is actually from the B.P.S Exhibition held at the Guildhall London 1966! Obviously didn’t go through the post but an interesting curio nevertheless. It sold for £8.95.

10.56Next up is this highly attractive printed cover sent by the Sun Fire Office as a reminder to the recipient to pay their premium. I expected it to fetch more than £10.56.

 

 

49.22This cover is a very attractive example of an Express cover with a pair of 1 1/2d Jubilees. More info about the Express post can be found in this article. It fetched £49.22.

83.86And finally a cover sent during the Boer war. More unusual however is that it was sent without stamps due to their unavailability. Most mail from the Boer war was addressed to England, but this item was actually intended for Switzerland and hence franked by the Post Office in London for the onward journey by three 1900 1/2d greens and a 1881 1d lilac. Obviously more uncommon than I realised as it sold for £83.86.

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October 6, 2013 · 3:24 pm

September 2013 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month

77.75We start this month off with a curious item. The postcard was sent to Sir Chih-Chen Lofengluh, Envoy and Minister Plenipotentiary to London. The card, which depicts an image of the man was duly signed and returned in the post according to the message on the back. The sender was the infamous Reginald Bray, tester of the post office’s regulations and autograph hunter extraordinaire. Reginald Bray sent thousands of these to celebrities and politicians of the time, and the items are highly collectable. The vendor of the item didn’t know of it’s provenance, but the distinct style is obvious to those who know. Still, the item managed to fetch £77.50 despite not being described.

341.00Another month and another inverted watermark. This time a lightly used example of the 9d dull purple and blue which sold for £341.00. It is catalogued by SG at £2’500.

 

 

36.91This cover is actually my favourite item of the month (and now part of my collection!). Not only is it an unusual franking in having two stamped-to-order postal stationery dies and three Jubilee values, but it is a scarce destination as it was sent to Java in the Dutch Indies (an island in Indonesia). I think it was cheap at £36.91.

9.38Superb used examples with a central cds don’t come along too often, and I always try to snatch them up. This 1s green and carmine is one of the best I’ve seen on eBay, but only sold for £9.38 (also now part of my collection!). This must have been due to the small image supplied by the vendor and the ever so slightly faded green (which is barely noticeable in the flesh).

29.10And finally we have the 1/2d vermilion paying the late fee on a cover with a nice boxed “LATE FEE / PAID” handstamp. There are many different types of Late Fee handstamp to be found. This on one cover sold for £29.10.

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August 27, 2013 · 9:27 pm

August 2013 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month
1 1/2d Reply Paid EssayThe star item of the month was this imperforate block of four essay for the Reply Paid stamp. A single of this essay is currently on eBay at a “Buy It Now” price of £295. So the vendor may well be disappointed that this item only fetched £320.50. More so as he stated in the description that he bought it as an investment for £500…

 

2d Colour TrialThe second most valuable item of the month was this 2d colour trial in purple and blue. A few short perfs at the top and a corner crease saw this fetch one bid at the opening price of £99.99. Quality is everything. Normal retail is £600-700 for top quality.

 

 

33.90Destination of the month was this mourning cover to Cyprus, sent to a Captain in the Connaught Rangers (an Irish regiment in the British Army). The reverse with some minor backflap faults and a Politiko bs, it sold for £33.90, and is the first Jubilee cover I have recorded going to Cyprus.

81.65This slightly creased cover with an uncommon franking to a common destination sold for an impressive £81.65. What got people so excited? The Dublin & Belfast Railway Post Office cds.

10.64And finally a little novelty item to finish on; a silver ingot of the 1s green & carmine. The Royal Mail produced a series of these about 5 years ago which retailed at £25 each. Again not a very sound investment as it sold for only £10.64 (which has knocked off £15 from the value of my collection. Doh!). But not as bad a loss as the poor seller of the Reply Paid essay block…

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August 4, 2013 · 8:56 pm

July 2013 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month
75.62We 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.
112.29+p

 

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.

37.78This 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.

 

 

78.00This 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.

245.00This 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.

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July 8, 2013 · 9:44 pm

June 2013 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month
33.60Merry Christmas everyone! At least that was the message that this scarce Xmas cancel was spreading. Very collectible on cover, these cancels only came in during the King Edward reign, and this is the first example I have seen on a Jubilee, albeit that it’s a piece. It sold for £33.60.

100.99 This attractive cover to Mauritius blew away my expectations and fetched an impressive £100.99. A scarce but certainly not rare destination, it is one of the nicest frankings to Mauritius I have seen, and perfect for the destination mail collector.

89.99Another cover which sold for more than I would have paid for it was this one from Jersey to Argentina. As I’ve said before on this blog, the Channel Islands are very collectible, and it shows in the price: £89.99!

51.14This parcel tag is an item I would have liked to have in my collection. Rarely have I seen a colourful parcel label with an advert. And of course the franking makes this extra special, with a combination of 1/2d, 1 1/2d, 2 1/2d and 4 1/2d!! Although they all have perfins, they match up with the company on the parcel label which I think makes it more interesting. It sold for £51.14.

18.16And finally I have another scarce cancel to show you. This is the Baltasound mail bag seal which which has given it a negative impression. As far as I know, no covers exist, so it is likely that stamps like this were created by favour, or by some unscrupulous little wotsit!! Still, they’re very attractive. This one sold for £18.16

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May 30, 2013 · 10:31 am

May 2013 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month

51.00 May was a quiet month for the Jubilees on eBay so I only have four items for you…sorry. First up is this attractive British Levant commercial cover sent from Beirut. The 40pa on 2 1/2d is tied by a crisp hooded circle ds on Beirut which is much less common than the cds of Constantinople and Smyrna. What made it that extra bit special, was that the reverse had transit marks of both the British Post Offices at Smyrna and Constantinople! So it sold for an impressive £51.00.

104.00Inverted watermarks on the Jubilee issue don’t pop up often on eBay (except for the 1/2d values). This used example of the 5d purple and blue is catalogued at £1’000 in the latest SG Queen Victoria catalogue. Although described as very fine, a small wrinkle at the lower left obviously put people off and it sold for £104. That’s 10% of the catalogue price…

43.00To compare, the 1/2d vermilion is catalogued at £50 used, and sold for £42.00 this month. That is 84% of catalogue. As the Americans say, go figure…

 

 

 

303.55 mmI’ve chosen this Board of Education official overprint on the 5d purple and blue as another reminder to readers about the danger of forged overprints. Catalogued at £4’500, the fact that the seller was happy to let this mounted mint example go for only £303.55 should be a clear indication. ALWAYS buy these stamps with a certificate. Dealers know this. So if you’re offered one without a certificate of authenticity from a respected expertising committee such as the BPA or RPS, just walk away.

31.70And finally there were several control strips of three just like this one which appeared this month. Prices showing that there is still a strong demand for these items even for the more common O, P and Q controls. This one is slightly more unusual in that it is doubly perforated in the margin. It sold for £31.70 despite some tone spots.

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May 1, 2013 · 1:55 pm

April 2013 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month

Leyton Cricket Ground cdsWe kick off this month with something of a rarity, that I’m not too ashamed to say, that I missed it completely… Starting at 29p and 32 bids later, the final price was £1’800!!! Thanks to the very rare “LEYTON CRICKET GROUND” cds, which was the HQ of Essex County Cricket Club from 1886-1933. So keep an eye out in those bargain bins!

 

31.20Coming down a peg or two in terms of price, but certainly not in terms of beauty, this superbly cancelled 5d purple and blue die I. For those that struggle with the difference between die I and die II, a cds like this with the year date 1887 clearly visible guarantees it as a die I, as the die II didn’t come out until 1888. Not only is this a very crisp cds, but it also has a Travelling Post Office (TPO) cds of the Edinburgh and Carstairs Sorting Tender. Why I was the only bidder for £31.20 is beyond me!

75.50This stamp is one of the very few and certainly best example of an offset that I have seen on the 1/2d green. This is caused when a sheet of stamps is placed on top of another sheet that still has wet ink, leaving a mirrored impression on the gum. It sold for a very reasonable £75.50.

 

 

93.00This item is not an imperforate example of the 3d purple on yellow, but in fact printer’s waste. It’s the same with the 1/2d green on buff, this 3d purple on green paper was struck just as a test to check the quality of the printing. It sold for £93.

47.88And finally my best purchase in quite a while. Not only are Army Official overprints on cover scarce (except for on the 1d lilac), this 1/2d is paying the postcard rate, which you can imagine for official correspondence was used rarely. The usage of the 1/2d for the open-letter rate is marginally less rare. A bargain at £47.88.

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March 26, 2013 · 9:45 pm

March 2013 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month
48.20We kick of this month with this attractive 1900 1/2d green franking with a scarce “Posted out of course” handstamp. This handstamp indicated that this registered envelope was probably placed straight into a postbox instead of being handed over at the Post Office as was required for all registered letters. It sold for £48.20.

82.51Another attractive 1900 1/2d franking was this advertising cover for Tiptree Fruit Farm. Advertising covers are very collectable, and the more ornate they are, the more desirable they are. This one fetched an impressive £82.51.

128.00This impressive multiple of 16 of the 1s green sold for only £128.00. The “73” cancellation is a telegraph cancellation, meaning that this block would have been attached to a telegraph form and hence not postally used, which always reduces the price. However the block has very good colour which is difficult with this stamp as contact with water will make the green fade.

 

68.80This parcel post label is a scarce single usage of the 9d purple and blue. In unusually fine and attractive condition for a parcel label, it was no surprise to see this sell for £68.80.

63.95And finally this attractive multiple Jubilee franking sold for £63.95. Although a little bit grubby, the stamps pay a scarce high franking  of 1s 5 1/2d to Greece.

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