Tag Archives: Destination Mail

June 30, 2012 · 9:40 pm

June 2012 Ebay Report

Top 3 Items of the Month

This attractive, if slightly ragged, cover has two interesting points. Firstly, it is an advertising cover sent from Alfred Smith, the well-known stamp dealer, and prolific maker of advertising envelopes! This one has a 6d and 1d stamped-to-order dies which is much less common on advertising covers. And secondly, it’s going to Turks Island! Due to its condition, it sold for only £87.08. A fine one should fetch double.

This 1s green single franking is scarce, since at this time most countries were part of the UPU, and hence the standard letter rate of 2 1/2d applied. However, New Zealand was one of the few for which letters were still charged 6d, so this double rate cover is a nice example of this scarcer rate. If it were a little bit fresher, it would have sold for more than the £50.29 it realised.

This block of six 1/2d vermilion Army Officials looks pretty standard at first glance. However a closer look reveals that the fourth stamp has a broken L variety in OFFICIAL and the fifth stamp has a broken Y in ARMY. Unfortunately some creasing put me off pushing past £28.70.

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May 7, 2012 · 10:10 pm

Corinphila Sell “Severin” UPU Collection

April proved to be a busy time for philatelic auction companies. One of the more interesting and unusual sales was at Corinphila in Zurich on April 24th-26th, where they sold the “Severin” collection of UPU. The highlight (for me at least) was this beautiful Reply Paid Letter hand-painted essay. Estimated at a meagre 1’000SFr, I bid it up to 4’200Sfr before dropping out (likely beaten by Stanley Gibbons but we’ll see…). At this price it was still below what it’s really worth.

Also of note in their main sale was a cover sent to Tunisia and franked with postage dues on arrival which fetched 240Sfr plus commission. Its irregular shape likely putting more bidders (like myself) off. As well as a 1s green and carmine on cover with sold for 400Sfr plus commision. This being the 59th that I have recorded.

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May 6, 2012 · 9:17 pm

Spink Sell “Fine Covers of the World”

On 2nd May 2012, Spink sold “The Adriano Landini Collection of Fine Covers of the World”, including a few covers of interest to the Jubilee collector.

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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.

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October 26, 2011 · 8:47 pm

October 2011 Ebay Report

Top 3 Items of the Month

As can be seen from my census of the 1s green and carmine on cover, there are less than 60 covers known. So while this cover has the most common rate of the 1s green and carmine frankings, and the condition isn’t fantastic, I still expected this cover to easily reach £300. Amazingly I was proven wrong and it fetched a measly £113.04. What a bargain!

The 40 PARAS overprint on the 1/2d vermilion is dogged by controversy due the misappropriation of the handstamp and subsequent use to create mint stamps and philatelic covers. This cover however appears to one of the few genuine usages. Not only that but it was sent registered with the 80pa on 5d paying the registration fee. So although the cover is quite foxed, competitive bidding saw this cover fetch $189.00 (about £120)

This quite scruffy cover fetched £266.50! Sent from Braintree to Shanghai, China, with the manuscript “To be left at the Post Office till called for”. Sent June 19th 1895, a look at the back shows that it remained at the Shanghai post office for nearly 10 months!! Hence the “Dead” manuscript at top left. Very interesting, but worth £266.50?

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September 25, 2011 · 9:39 pm

September 2011 Ebay Report

This 1s green and carmine with inverted watermark catalogues at £850, and was sold for £375. In fine condition, something of this calibre rarely comes up on eBay.

 

 
This cover fetched a good price at £97.45. As a franking it is not much to write home about, but because it is going to Orange Free State in Africa, it is much more sought after, possibly moreso by collectors of Orange Free State postal history as an example of incoming mail. This example shows the 4d rate to Africa plus 2d registration fee.
Printed advertising covers are collectable in their own right. This attractive one is advertising Malloch Fishing Tackle in Perth, and was sold for £79.94.

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April 30, 2011 · 10:00 am

April 2011 Ebay Report

Top 3 Items of the Month

This British Levant 4 pi on 10d on cover is rare. This is only one of a few examples that I have seen. The condition is quite poor; it is creased and has a tear affecting one of the 40pa on 2 1/2d, but it is still not a bad looking cover for only £37.00. Expect to pay at least 10 times that for an example on cover in good condition (if you can find one).

This Niger Coast 1s green block of four actually came from the same vendor as the cover above. It is from the 1st setting (no marginal lines) and is cancelled by Old Calabar cds. The colour isn’t as fresh as it could be, but blocks of four of these issues just don’t come around. Sold for £178.50

This cute postcard was sent to France with a 1/2d green, but was declared underpaid by 5c (equivalent to 1/2d) on arrival and taxed with a 10c French postage due (which includes a 5c fine). I was very happy to only pay £4.10.

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January 30, 2011 · 10:00 am

January 2011 Ebay Report

Top 3 Items of the Month

Zululand covers bearing the overprinted Jubilee issue are rare, and seldom appear at auction let alone on ebay. The 5d is more scarce than the rest on cover, and although this is from a known philatellic correspondence, only one person was willing to bid $678.50, which seems like a steal to me.

This parcel tag to Jerusalem bears an 1883-84 2s6d as well as 1s green, 3d purple on yellow and 2d green and red Jubilees. The item was won by Andrew Lajer for £117.39, who then placed it on his website for £395. In fact, the ebay vendor bought the tag from David Feldman SA as part of the “Severn” collection in November 2010 for €100 plus 20% commission.

This attractive cover with USA 10c postage due was sold for $21.85. Covers with foreign postage due are quite scarce and make an interesting addition to a collection.

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