There were several interesting items this month and, if I remember correctly, the following five were all from the same seller which is most unusual. It was even more of a coincidence that I had seen the seller post them in a Facebook group for Queen Victoria stamps only a few weeks ago.
First up is me bragging again (sorry) about my latest purchase. This attractive postcard is advertising a German-language newspaper in London and was sent to Germany with two 1900 ½d greens. One was abnormally placed in the lower left and obviously the postal clerk missed it with the canceller and so was cancelled only on arrival in Breslau. Cheap as chips at £29.85.
This large cover features an irregular block of five of the 6d purple on rose as well as two 1881 1d lilacs (how I wish it had been a 2d green & red instead), which are paying 12 times the UPU rate plus 2d registration fee; making an unusually high franking especially using a multiple of 6d. It sold for £36.
Regular readers will probably know how much I adore the 1s green and carmine. I was planning to bid on the attractive parcel label but at the time I was still sulking about my missing purchases from December. I have started a census of usages on parcel labels but I’ve not been as rigorous in tracking down items as my listing for the usages on cover, so currently I have 24 recorded. Even if I had been in the right frame of mind to bid, I wouldn’t have gone as high as the £181 it realised, although I think it’s worth it.
This is a stamp I still don’t have in my collection; a ½d green with inverted watermark. The SG catalogue value of £75 for mint nh and £50 for hinged would suggest it’s common enough, but I really have seen very few, and the fact that this unmounted mint example sold for £89.11 was no surprise. Definitely under valued in the SG catalogue.
And finally this piece with four ½d vermilions used abroad is cancelled by two strikes of a Malta machine cancel. Shame it’s not a cover! It sold for £43.
The 1887 Jubilee Issue 