Tag Archives: Channel Islands

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 , , , , ,

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 6, 2016 · 8:11 pm

May 2016 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month

Taunton Cricket Ground cds 392.45Best buy in the month of May certainly goes to this unassuming 6d. With a Royal Philatelic Society saying that this stamp has a “Taunton / Cricket Ground” cds, I was expecting this to fetch around the £1’000 mark, so I was surprised to see it only fetch £392.45. You can view my attempted census of these cancellations here.

22.75Also a 6d of note was this example of a Board of Trade official perfin tied to a small piece. These stamps are scarce, and until they are listed by Stanley Gibbons, will remain relatively inexpensive. I picked this one up for £22.75 (as well as a 9d for a little less). Forgeries abound so I tend to pick them up only on cover (which is not inexpensive!), put the piece of paper and the hooded London cancellation are very typical of the genuine item, as are missing puncture holes, inverted perfins and reversed perfins.

$267This philatelic cover with the complete Oil Rivers Jubilee set isn’t particularly scarce, but it is an attractive addition to a collection and it fetched a strong price of $269 on ebay.com

90.88This slightly tatty cover (some would say well travelled) was sent at the 2 1/2d rate from London to Melbourne. However when it was redirected to Sydney, the 2 1/2d was no longer valid and the charge of a 2d postage due stamp was added (1d for the postage and 1d for the fine). I have seen very few and wasn’t surprised to see it sell for £90.88.

1897 Cover to Sark 44.00And finally, my “if only I had spotted it” cover of the month. Incoming mail to the island of Sark in the Channel Islands is rare, and if I, or perhaps a more fervent Channel Islands collector had seen it, it would have sold for much more than £44.00!

Leave a comment

Filed under Ebay Reports

Tagged as , , , , , ,

March 4, 2015 · 9:22 pm

February 2015 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month

160.55We start the month off with this attractive advertising cover from the stamp dealer William Brown of Salisbury. In my ever-expanding “Related Info” section, I have started an encyclopaedia-type listing of famous 20th century stamp dealers and personalities (by started, I mean I have done two…), so you can find out more about William Brown here. Even though it is “tainted” with two 1d lilacs, it is still a very attractive cover and deserving of the £160.55 paid for it. I picked up an even more attractive example (although of different design) from a dealer at Stampex for £140 which goes to show that dealers aren’t always overpriced!


44.51This attractively used Niger Coast 1/2d sold for £44.51 due to the dot between “R” and “S” of “RIVERS”. I’ve not seen this variety before, so I’ll be on the look out in the future to see if this proves to be a constant variety.

51.95

 

 

This cover has a very scarce single usage of the 9d sent to the USA. Unfortunately it was reduced at the left and top, but that didn’t stop it selling for £51.95. Probably paying 3 times the UPU rate with a late fee of 1 1/2d because I don’t think it’s philatelic.

43.10Blocks of the 1s green aren’t rare, but this example with a fresh colour is surely worth more than £43.10!!

21.17Finally we have a postcard sent from Jersey, with a 1/2d blue-green pair cancelled in transit by a French Granville cds, with a French “Boite Mobile” (or Mobile Box) hexagonal datestamp adjacent. Unfortunately the stamps are a little discoloured, but it still sold for £21.17.

Leave a comment

Filed under Ebay Reports

Tagged as , , , , ,

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

Leave a comment

Filed under Ebay Reports

Tagged as , , ,

April 25, 2012 · 9:11 pm

April 2012 Ebay Report

Top 3 Items of the Month

Niger Coast covers are scarce, and this one went cheaply at £118.15. If I hadn’t have missed it, it would of gone for more! However covers from Old Calabar River are the most common.

 

 

Postal history from the Channel Islands is very collectable, and this attractive registered cover from Jersey fetched £56.68. Increasing its desirability is the 4 1/2d green and carmine which is one of the more difficult values to find on cover.

This cover sold for £58.75 because it is being sent to the Orange Free State (well at least that’s why I bought it!). In my September 2011 Ebay Report, I feature a cover also going to Orange Free State that sold for £97.45, so I’m happy with this purchase. The 7d rate is paying twice the 2 1/2d UPU rate plus 2d registration fee.

Leave a comment

Filed under Ebay Reports

Tagged as , ,