A short time after the South Kensington Exhibition, Harry Furniss [a noted caricaturist of the time] published his version of the Jubilee Envelope and Card. The purpose of the caricature was to highlight the poor working conditions that many postmen were subject to. In fact in June of 1890, the first major strike of postal workers took place.
At the time of the production of these caricatures 100 “special subscription” copies printed in black were prepared. It is thought that these were sold to pay for the preparation of the 10’000 due to be printed in blue. Each of these envelopes and the insert cards were signed by Harry Furniss and are sometimes sold as “proofs”.
Most examples seen are unused (a listing of all used examples I have recorded are below), though the remainders of the edition of 10,000 were obtained by the Stamp Collector’s Fortnightly. These copies were distributed with the 15th December 1906 edition and are stamped in dull red on the envelope backflap in five lines; “Presented / with the / Christmas Number of the / Stamp Collector’s Fortnightly / December 15th, 1906”.
Recorded Usages
1. 1890 (Jul 24) sent within Liverpool with 1d lilac ¹
History: Regency Superior, Aug 2014, lot 2494, realised $357
2. 1890 (Jul 25) Sent within London with 1881 1d lilac die II, a few slight age stains, otherwise fine.
History: Grosvenor 25th Jan 2007 lot 104 realised £380 plus commission
3. 1890 (Jul 25) Sent within London with 1881 1d lilac die II, a few slight age stains, otherwise fine
History: Sold by Special Auction Services, March 2015
4. 1890 (Jul 25) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature sent from London to York with 1881 1d lilac¹
5. 1890 (Jul 25?) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature sent from London to Brighton with 1881 1d lilac¹
6. 1890 (Jul 25?) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature sent from London to Cambridge with 1881 1d lilac¹
7. 1890 (Jul 25) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature sent from London to Southampton with 1881 1d lilac
History: For sale by Mulready Philatelics October 2018 for £475
8. 1890 (Jul 26) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature sent to Guildford with 1d lilac, tied London double ring cancel, a little grubby, back stamped Guildford.
History: Corbitts March 2012 lot 1979 realised £115 plus commission
9. 1890 (Jul 26) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature sent to Ramsgate ¹
10. 1890 (Jul 26) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature sent to Ballymena
11. 1890 (Jul 31) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature sent from Lombard St. B.O. with 1881 1d lilac ¹
History: Cavendish June 2016 lot 2275 sold as part of group for £260 plus commission; For sale by Mulready Philatelics for £595 July 2016
12. 1890 (Jul 31) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature sent from London to Elham, Kent, with 1881 1d lilac tied by London E.C. squared circle ¹
13. 1890 (Jul 31) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature sent within London with 1881 1d lilac tied by London Hoster machine cancel ¹
History: For sale by Samwells Ltd for £450 in 2016
14. 1890 (Aug 2) Penny Postage Jubilee “POST OFFICE JUMBLE” satirical envelope by Harry Furniss sent registered from London to France
History: For sale by Mulready Philatelics (Oct 2018) for £625
15. 1890 (Sep 12) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature with 1d lilac tied by London Hoster machine cancel, Leatherhead arrival bs (scan of reverse)
History: Sold on eBay May 2014 for £84
16. 1890 (Sep 24) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature sent from Dewsbury to Canada with 2 1/2d Jubilee ¹
17. 1890 (Nov 30) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature sent from Chippenham to London with 1/2d green, 1/2d blue and Foreign Bill 1d
History: Cavendish sale 682 ex lot 1310
18. 1890 (Dec 13) Penny Postage Jubilee “POST OFFICE JUMBLE” satirical envelope by Harry Furniss, sent registered from Eastbourne to Germany with three 1887 1 1/2d (two on reverse), address partly erased, very rare registered use.
History: David Feldman SA September 2012 lot 31575 estimate €500 (unsold)
19. 1890 (Dec 24) Penny Postage Jubilee “POST OFFICE JUMBLE” satirical envelope by Harry Furniss sent to Wimbledon with 1d red pl.215 tied by London dulpex
History: Ex Eric Kenwright (Argyll EtkinSep 27th 2018 lot 338 realised £200 plus commission)
20. 1891? (Mar 11) Penny Postage Jubilee “POST OFFICE JUMBLE” satirical envelope by Harry Furniss from Birkenhead to Fairfield with 1881 1d lilac
21. 1895 (Oct 19) Penny Postage Jubilee “POST OFFICE JUMBLE” satirical envelope by Harry Furniss sent locally in London with 1881 1d lilac tied by geometric ds
History: For sale by Andrew Lajer for £325 (Oct 2017)
22. 1896 (Dec 21) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature with 1887 1/2d vermilion tied by Ipswich squared circle ds
23. 1896 (Dec 24) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature with 1d lilac, redirected from London to Bristol
History: For sale by KC Philatelics for £735
24. 1898 (Dec 27) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature with 1881 1d lilac ¹
25. 1900 (May 13) Penny Postage Jubilee “POST OFFICE JUMBLE” satirical envelope by Harry Furniss from Harrow to Switzerland with six 1900 1/2d green (five on reverse)
History: Sold by Andrew Lajer £400
26. 1903 Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature with KEVII 1d sent within London
History: Cavendish sale 676 ex lot 1366
27. 1906 (Jan 18) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature with QV postal stationery cut-outs (one missing) sent from London to the Netherlands
28. 1907 Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature with KEVII 1d tied by Croydon cds
History: For sale by Mulready Philatelics for £250 in 2020
29. 1914 (Apr 14) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature with 1887 2 1/2d and KGV 1/2d sent to the Falkland Islands
History: Grosvenor 21st May 2014 lot 1442 sold £170 plus commission
30. 1930 Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature with KGV 1 1/2d sent to the USA
31. 1940 (May 6) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee cover caricature with 1940 1d tied by Llangollen cds
History: Sold on eBay for £56 (Oct 2017)
Insert Cards
1890 (Jul 31) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee caricature insert card with 1887 1/2d vermilion tied by London squared circle, London bs
History: For sale by Mulready Philatelics Oct 2018 for £295
1890 (Jul 31) Harry Furniss Uniform Penny Post Jubilee caricature insert card with 1887 1/2d vermilion tied by London squared circle, partial arrival bs
Notes:
¹ Thanks to John A. McCulloch for this information
Bibliography / Further Reading
The 1887 Jubilee Issue 
Were there two editions of this envelope? In the above illustrations in 11, 17 and 19 the head of the left hand horse is well above the protruding feet on the left, whilst in all the other examples they are level (there are other smaller differences as well)
Hi Simon, I’m very sorry for the late reply. You are right! As far as I know this hasn’t been noticed before so I’ll ask around.
Hi John
I have a a copy of both types of the ‘Harry Furniss’ envelopes i.e. with the DOT and without the DOT and have compared the two and found a number of anomalies. I have noted the ones I have found in my cover files. If you are interested I can send you copies of them.
There are definitely two versions of this envelope. They are most easily distinguished by a “dot” or “no dot” after 1840.