Tag Archives: Late Fee

January 5, 2022 · 8:44 pm

November 2021 Ebay Report

Accidentally missed out my November report…

This could well be the bargain of the month or possibly the biggest mistake of the month. This Board of Education 1s green & carmine came with a 1932 RPS certificate. But given the quality of some of the forgeries of this overprint (forgeries that may well have occurred even before 1932), it’s not a stamp I would risk spending £1’000 on from eBay with such an old certificate. But if it is right, it’s probably worth double what the person paid.

Although not brilliant strikes, these Manchester Station Late Box hooded circular datestamps are rare. This cover sold for £41.20, but I think a dealer would be easily asking £100 plus.

In terms of quantity, the ½d vermilion features on the largest proportion of covers in my collection. Because it was so ubiquitous there is such a large range and variety of usages which I enjoy finding. This example is an incoming postcard from India that has been redirected with a ½d three weeks later to elsewhere in the UK. It realised a strong price of £85.50.

This British Bechuanaland Protectorate ½d vermilion has an unusual dry print of the “Protectorate” overprint resulting in “rate” being omitted. Although it has a horrible crease, it sold for $40.07 on eBay.com.

Unfortunately I missed this one. Most of the time the uprated stationery cards are philatelic usages sent to the UK or Germany. However this example, with a 1½d on 1d card uprated with a ½d vermilion to pay the 2d rate to the UK, was sent from Palla which is one of the more scarce cancellations (this being only the fourth example I’ve found). Not only that but the message on the reverse makes reference to the “Jameson Raid”, which was a botched raid against the South African Republic carried out by British colonial administrator Leander Starr Jameson, under the employment of Cecil Rhodes. It only sold for £101.10.

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January 2, 2022 · 5:50 pm

September/October 2021 Ebay Report

I hope everyone has had a lovely holidays and those that braved travelling to see their families managed to do so without too much difficulty and inconvenience. I stayed in Geneva to avoid the uncertainties and was hoping to make some progress on the website but unfortunately got very little of what I wanted to get done, so this will be the total sum of my (overdue) work on the website before I go back to work on tomorrow. My girlfriend insists that it’s good to take a break from stamps occasionally, but I’m not so sure about that…

First up is a rare Cricket Ground cancellation from Nottingham. Unfortunately the green colour is slightly faded, but it’s a nice clear strike and at £145.50 it was a bargain when often they sell for more than £1’000.

This registered envelope with two 4½d Jubilees is paying a very scarce rate: 9d, with the envelope sent at the double rate and a late fee of 4d (as indicated by the handstamp). A cheap item for only £19.01. There’s a similar franking on on eBay at the minute for £75 “buy-it-now” which I still think is a very good price as this is only the sixth 4½d+4½d franking I’ve seen (plus only seven 9d single frankings).

This commemorative medal for the Jubilee of the Uniform Penny Postage is quite scarce. As you can see from the original paper packet, the medal was produced by Spink & Son, and it depicts Queen Victoria and the Uniform Penny Postage 1d stationery envelope on one side, and Sir Rowland Hill and the Mulready envelope on the other. Examples of the medal were made in white metal, bronze, silvered bronze, aluminium (as this example is according to the vendor) and solid silver. It sold for £198.50.

And finally we have this envelope sent registered from Charlestown (Fife, Scotland) to Norway at the triple rate plus 2d registration; although I’m not sure it actually got there. The reverse shows the despatch and Edinburgh transit beneath an “Officially Sealed in the Returned letter Office” label applied in London, with the front showing two strikes of London registered datestamps dated within a couple of days of sending. Perhaps the clue is on the front at the left, with the manuscript “Coin 3 Krones / Notes 10 ditto”. It could be that it was returned to the sender at London because they hadn’t made use of the more secure Post Office registered envelopes to send their money? If anyone knows any better then please feel free to use the comments section below. An interesting item at £29.01.

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August 30, 2014 · 8:49 pm

August 2014 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month

A busy month of exciting Jubilee items means this post comes just 5 days after my late, late post of last month.

1900 1s green and carmine on coverFirst off is the item I was most excited about. Number 48 in my census of 1s Green & Carmine covers. This is the only one I have recorded with a “LATE FEE 1/-” handstamp (which is fantastic because there is no need for guess work to work out what the franking is paying!). A good addition to my collection at £407.99 even if I was the only bidder.

92.90Next up is a cover sent by the Continental Night Mail. This is the second example I have seen come up on eBay in recent times. Sent from Crédit Lyonaise Bank, the 5d pair and 1 1/2d have the bank’s perfin and are tied by the “CONTINENTAL NIGHT MAIL” duplex with “CS / 2″ (denoting that it was posted at Cannon St. Post Office). It sold for £92.90.

57.00This is the second item this month with a “LATE FEE 1/-” handstamp (although for those that care, it has different dimensions to the one on the 1s cover above). Even though this is just a front, it’s an unusual franking with the 1s green and 4 1/2d green and red. It sold for a solid £57.

70.66I had been looking for a 1/2d vermilion franking with a Railway stamp for ages. And I finally got one last month for a very good price. So I wanted to see it sell more than the £50 I had paid for mine, but I didn’t have to help it as it reached £70.66.

125.00From the same vendor as the first three items, this was one I would loved to have had. Sent from Transvaal to England, the cover was then redirected by the Continental Night Mail with a 1 1/2d, 4d, KEVII 1/2d and 1d. If I hadn’t had my eye on the 1s cover I would have probably pushed it a bit further than the £125 realisation

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April 1, 2014 · 10:35 pm

February 2014 Ebay Report

82.48Sorry folks. To say I’m behind in my updates is an understatement… Oh well, let’s pretend that I’m not a month behind and look at the highlights of February.

First off is a scarce 1s5d franking to the USA. The 1s green is by no means common on cover, and this example is particularly attractive with the added bonus of having the “POSTED OUT / OF COURSE” handstamp. This means that the sender more than likely popped it into a postbox instead of registering it with the Post Office. Final price: £82.48

227.60Next is an item I was hoping to get for a bargain. Those hopes evaporated quickly as bidders competed against each other seemingly every day to get their hands on this. Although not at all described, the cover features a rare and highly collectable “LATE BOX” hooded cds. This being an example of the Bradford. I believe this was applied to mail posted at a special late mail box at the train station. It fetched £227.60.

124.47This cover was certainly the surprise of the month. Jubilee covers going to China are reasonably scarce. But I can only think that the fact this example is going to the British Legation in Peking made the difference, because the cover to China in my collection cost me about £10. Somebody paid £124.47 for this one…

20.35Since there has been a recurring theme of parcel post labels in recent months, I thought that this single 9d on a Stockton-On-Tees parcel label was worth a mention. I think I got it at a good price: £20.35.

90.00And finally another cover for the cancellation enthusiast. This cover actually peaked my interest because it’s a mixed reign franking. However on close inspection you can see that it has the rare “LONDON & HOLYHEAD / UNITED STATES MAIL” cds and matching “K48” barred numerals. Again this was not described by the vendor so I got it for a great price! Unfortunately as it was sent from America, the nasty customs people caught it on it’s way to the UK and charged me an whopping £21 on top. Meaning I paid about £90 in total. Still a good buy I think.

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October 6, 2013 · 3:24 pm

September 2013 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month

77.75We start this month off with a curious item. The postcard was sent to Sir Chih-Chen Lofengluh, Envoy and Minister Plenipotentiary to London. The card, which depicts an image of the man was duly signed and returned in the post according to the message on the back. The sender was the infamous Reginald Bray, tester of the post office’s regulations and autograph hunter extraordinaire. Reginald Bray sent thousands of these to celebrities and politicians of the time, and the items are highly collectable. The vendor of the item didn’t know of it’s provenance, but the distinct style is obvious to those who know. Still, the item managed to fetch £77.50 despite not being described.

341.00Another month and another inverted watermark. This time a lightly used example of the 9d dull purple and blue which sold for £341.00. It is catalogued by SG at £2’500.

 

 

36.91This cover is actually my favourite item of the month (and now part of my collection!). Not only is it an unusual franking in having two stamped-to-order postal stationery dies and three Jubilee values, but it is a scarce destination as it was sent to Java in the Dutch Indies (an island in Indonesia). I think it was cheap at £36.91.

9.38Superb used examples with a central cds don’t come along too often, and I always try to snatch them up. This 1s green and carmine is one of the best I’ve seen on eBay, but only sold for £9.38 (also now part of my collection!). This must have been due to the small image supplied by the vendor and the ever so slightly faded green (which is barely noticeable in the flesh).

29.10And finally we have the 1/2d vermilion paying the late fee on a cover with a nice boxed “LATE FEE / PAID” handstamp. There are many different types of Late Fee handstamp to be found. This on one cover sold for £29.10.

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November 2, 2012 · 3:26 pm

October 2012 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month

Ebay was jam packed full of great and interesting Jubilee material this month. Starting off with not just one, but two(!!!) covers with 1s green & carmine frankings. The first was a the latest known usage of the 1s green and carmine, and sold for a fantastic £638.29, far surpassing what I had bid! This KEVII postal stationery envelope was sent in 1907 and uprated with the 1s as well as a QV 2d green and carmine.

The other 1s green and carmine franking was a QV postal stationery envelope uprated with the 1s and two 2 1/2d purple on blue, with 2d paying a late fee. This one fetched a more understandable £430.95.

This cover is the first that I have seen sell on ebay. The cover bears a strip of four 1881 1d lialc and a 1887 2 1/2d all tied by the “CONTINENTAL NIGHT MAIL” duplex with “CS / 2” (denoting that it was posted at Cannon St. Post Office). The “Continental Night Mail” cancel was used a TPO or Travelling Post Office on the railway line from London to Dover, for mail that was destined overseas. An extra fee was required for this service. This fine example of this scarce TPO cover fetched £102.08.

The final realisation of this 1d letter card was a slight shock. Sold for £68.15, I can’t quite see how two people would want this so badly. With the 1881 1d lilac and 1/2d vermilion paying a late fee, both are cancelled by the Threadneedle St. late fee duplex, which in itself is pretty common. However Romania as a destination is slightly more unusual.

And finally this very attractive cover features three different 1/2d issues! If it had featured 1/2d vermilion I would have certainly pushed it above the £190.95 realised. Although this cover isn’t one isn’t of massive interest to a Jubilee collector, it still bears a 3d purple on yellow and Riga (now modern day Latvia) as a destination is not very common.

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December 22, 2011 · 12:35 pm

December 2011 Ebay Report

Top 3 Items of the Month

I have two rare frankings with the 9d purple and blue this month to show you. The first is a single franking, and the only one I have ever seen. It doesn’t appear to be philatelic, but I can’t make out what rate it is paying, but the crayon markings on the front obviously hold the clue. If someone could help me out it will be much appreciated! It sold for £109.92.

Then only a few days later, this pair on cover sent by the Insured rate fetched £138.00. With the manuscript indicating that the contents was £50, the franking pays 15d in insurance and registration (5d for the first £12, each further insured amount of £12 pounds cost 2 1/2d extra), plus the double the UPU letter rate. Both are very welcome additions to my collection!

This cover definitely interested me, and I was planning to make a cheeky bid, but alas, I forgot about it and it was sold before I knew it…for £139.05! At first glance, it is just a pair of 2 1/2d paying the double letter rate to Italy. Nothing unusual there. But take a closer look at the image and you will notice that it is going to Sir Henry F. Ponsonby, who not only rose to the rank of Colonel in the Grenadier Gaurds and fought in Crimea, but also later became Keeper of the Privy Purse and Private Secretary to Queen Victoria!! Not only that, but the stamps are cancelled by the scarce Royal “V R” hooded cancel of London, with a Buckingham Palace wax seal of the reverse. Making this a wonderful item for the Royalty collector.

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