Tag Archives: Exhibitions

February 5, 2022 · 8:12 am

December 2021 Ebay Report

Happy new year everyone! Just about managed to get this out in January…

At first glance this looks like a rather mundane 2 1/2d franking from Edinburgh to Austria on a registered envelope. But look slightly to the left of the stamp and you will see the “EDINB INTERNL / EXHIBITION” circular datestamp. The Edinburgh Jubilee Exhibition was an International Exhibition of Electrical Engineering, General Inventions and Industries, including the Jubilee Postal Conversazione which included displays brought together by the General Post Office. According to John Davies’ book “A Jubilee Reminiscence”, this is now only the fourth recorded example of this datestamp from the exhibition post office. A very good buy at £253.

I would have like to have added this advertising cover to my collection if I had spotted it. The postman had a few valiant attempts to deliver this “Church Monthly” cover. There are several datestamps and the postman seems to have recorded his attempts by putting the word “Not” in front of the datestamps of West Felton, Bucknell and Oswestry before figuring that the destination couldn’t be in Shropshire and crossing it out and writing “Try Colwich Staffordshire”! It sold for £46.

Grenada sounds a rarer destination than it actually is. There seems to be quite a correspondence that exists sent to The Honorable G. W. Williamson in Grenville with similar mixed Jubilee and stamped-to-order frankings. I highlight this one because I like the four of the same Jubilee value added to make the quintuple rate. It sold for £37.

It’s very rare that I have any British East Africa to highlight on my eBay reports. It so rarely comes up as an eBay auction item that to be honest I don’t look. But I came across this example of the 4a on 5d cancelled by a neat Lamu cds one offered by a Dutch seller, which sold for US$188.26 (equivalent to about £139).

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January 29, 2019 · 7:44 pm

January 2019 Ebay Report

After an eight month hiatus from my monthly Ebay reports (I can’t believe it’s that long to be honest), I’m bringing it back for 2019 with a great selection of items that popped up in January.

First up is this beautiful printed envelope from stamp dealer William Ward advertising the 1909 Manchester “Postage Stamp Exhibition & Philatelic Congress” franked with a ½d vermilion and tied by the special cancellation. I don’t know how rare it is but underbid it up to £116 because it such an extremely attractive late usage.

 

Those that are familiar with my Ebay reports will have seen my reports on Cricket Ground cancellations that have come up over the years, which nearly always sell for more than £1’000. So I was quite excited to see this example of a 1s green & carmine with a “HULL / FOOTBALL GROUND” cds. So I was rather excited to pick it up for £78! Here’s to hoping it gets a good BPA certificate.

 

This Foreign and Colonial Parcel Post labels are reasonably scarce and not at all expensive. This attractive example is from Lurgan in Ireland and deserved to fetch more than £35.

This unusual postcard has been stamped with the “Contrary to regulations / 154” handstamp and charged 1d due. Thanks goes to Maurice Buxton for pointing out my error in my original post. I had presumed it was taxed because the card was too thick, and the Post Office had regulations on the size of the postcards permitted. I completely missed the fact that this was sent more than 5 years before postcards were allowed to be franked with a stamp. So an absolute snip at £25.05.

And another topic I have featured quite often on my blog is the Army Telegraphs overprint on the Jubilees, and the control strips that have come up in auction over the last few years. The strips of three have sold upwards of £800 in auction. This pair sold for only £138.89. Absolute steal.

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January 31, 2016 · 5:57 pm

November 2015 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month

37.78Yikes. Doesn’t time fly over Christmas… Back in November there was a few items that I would like to have added to my collection but managed to miss out on all of them for various reasons. First up is a Penny Postage Jubilee insert sent with a 1/2d vermilion and cancelled by the special South Kensington cds. Not only is it uncommon for the insert to have been used as a postcard, but the added interest here is the manuscript “Nature of a letter / 1d to pay”. I think a collector of Exhibition items would have been willing to pay more than the £37.78 it realised.

18.93iNext up is a cover sent during the Boer War with a 2d green and carmine tied by the Field Post Office British Army South Africa cds. It was sent to forwarding agents Holt & Co showing their cachet and redirected within the UK. A good buy at 18.93.

30.50Uprated newspaper wrappers and postcards with the Bechuanaland 1/2d are reasonably common, but nevertheless this attractive example sent from Ramoutsa only sold for £30.50.

The cover below is a scarce usage of the Board of Trade departmental perfin. Strangely still not listed by Stanley Gibbons, these official stamps are particularly difficult to find on complete cover as they were often used for printed matter resulting in fronts being more easily available. I was hoping that no one would notice the perfin from the thumbnail image but alas, it sold for £128.80.

128.80

And finally we have a quite scarce single franking of the 4d green and brown paying 2d internal postage and 2d registration fee. They are much more often seen paying the foreign letter rate to South America. It sold for £11.59.

11.59

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September 6, 2015 · 3:30 pm

August 2015 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month

Bechuanaland 1-2d blue-green control blockI guess I wasn’t the only one being distracted by the sunshine as there didn’t seem to be as much of interest on offer in August, so I only have 3 items to show you this month.

Of course it wouldn’t have been a proper holiday for me if I hadn’t missed ANOTHER overprinted control block. This Bechuanaland Protectorate overprint on the 1/2d blue-green was in unmounted mint condition although you can see some gum creasing from the front, and sold for £88.50. One day I’ll get my hands on one…

7.00 sugThis plate proof of the 1/2d blue-green easily qualifies as bargain of the month. One lucky bidder picked this up for only £7!!! Often retailed at around £100, I think it’s real value is £40-50.

115.09 augThis cover, although marked in pencil by a dealer for £28, didn’t stop it selling for £115.09, which is about double what I thought it would have sold for even though it’s an attractive high franking.

1887 American Exhibition LondonThis cover is a rather unassuming one. Sent from Earl’s Court in May 1887, this cover was actually sent from the American Exhibition, the first ever exhibition at the Earl’s Court Exhibition Centre! I’m sure the retail on such an item would be £300 plus, so this was a snip at £172!

Of The Nature of a Letter handstampThe last item is something that I would have liked to have added to my collection. It’s a postcard, but with a message on the reverse, it didn’t qualify for the 1/2d postcard rate and was charged an extra penny and struck with “Of the nature of a Letter” handstamp. Sold for £44.02.

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January 31, 2013 · 10:48 pm

Christoph Gaertner Sells a Few Nice Jubilee items

Royal Navy Exhibition card uprated with 1/2d JubileeChristoph Gaertner’s usual phonebook-sized auction catalogue for their 21st-24th January 2013 sale managed to feature a few interesting Jubilee items among the 25’000+ (!!!) lots on offer. As is understandable, some are well overpriced, some are nicely priced, and it’s rare to find anything estimated low.

However my pick of their auction was lot 7804, pictured above. It is a souvenir card from the Royal Naval Exhibition on the 15th August 1891. Not only is it very attractive, but it is hard to find these cards uprated for postage abroad. I’m slightly regretting not being the winning bidder at €93 plus 20% commission.

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As destination mail for the Jubilee issue goes, St. Pierre and Miquelon has to be up there with the rarest (it had a population of roughly 6’000 at the time…and it still does now!), and is so far the only one I have recorded. Although lot 7806 has some soiling and the indistinct arrival cds, I can’t help but feel that at only €60 it shouldn’t have gone unsold.

1/2d Jubilee Destination Mail to AlgeriaAnd just as a comparison, lot 7803 was a postcard sent to Algeria fetched €65 plus 20% commission. Although still pretty  scarce as a destination (with it being a French colony, as St. Pierre et Miquelon, there was very little commercial mail coming from the UK), I have seen a few. Algeria’s population was roughly 4’000’000. Obviously it is helped by the its freshness and crisp arrival.

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