This is definitely my record for a late post. In spite of the worldwide problems with COVID, it’s been a busy year for stamps and a very busy year for me at David Feldman. But now with our auctions over for the year and Christmas rapidly approaching, I can finally sit down and trawl through all the images and data I’ve stashed over the last 6 months or so.
June and July are typically quiet months for stamps collectors, when minds turn to outdoor pursuits rather than the comforts of our stamp collections. I was lucky enough to get away for 3 weeks but still managed to spend too much time indoors working on the site and researching Jubilees, and some interesting items still managed to surface on eBay…
This 1d letter card, uprated with a 2d Jubilee, was sent express from Regent Street to Soho Square in London; a distance of about half a mile. It would be interesting to open it up to see why the sender couldn’t do the 10 minute journey themselves! This nice usage so for £66.83.
Used multiples of the 1s aren’t particularly scarce, although they are often impressive as the were used on parcels or telegraph forms and cancelled neatly with circular datestamps, with this block of 12 (from the first setting without Jubilee lines used unusually late) with cancels from the Aberdare Money Order & Sorting Branch in Wales. It sold for £160.55.
Stamp dealer mail is a popular collecting subject. This example is from Alfred Smith, who was prolific in producing printed advertising envelopes and often using an attractive franking to please the stamp collector receiving it. This example has a mix of stamped-to-order stationery dies, Penny Lilacs and ½d green and 4½d green & red. It sold for £57.65 (although the postage from the Netherlands was listed at a whopping £16.65 extra!)
This cover was sent to Malta, which is a reasonably common destination during the “Jubilee” period. But the unusual thing about this cover is the “UNCLAIMED” handstamp and the “RETURNED LETTER BRANCH / G.P.O. MALTA” datestamp. There was only one bidder at the asking price of £46.75.
Finally, a very scarce single franking of the 4d green & brown, paying the 2d internal letter rate for up to 4oz in weight, plus 2d for the registration fee. It’s more regularly found on mail going to South America (before the rate was reduced to 2½d), on express covers, or uprating stationery. It only sold for £12.60 which is very cheap for such a scarce single franking, but it was another one I forgot to bid on before it was too late.
The 1887 Jubilee Issue 