Tag Archives: Mixed Country Franking

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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November 23, 2019 · 4:57 pm

August/September 2019 Ebay Report

I’m a bit behind again… Surprisingly there were a few nice things that popped up on Ebay in August (normally a very quiet month as everyone is on holiday or out and about), but there was nothing of note in September so I’ve cheated and combined the two months.

When I accidentally came across this item when I was searching for something else in the British Commonwealth category, I was excited as I thought I might get a bargain here if no GB collector sees this Leeward Islands 2d postal stationery envelope which was sent to England then redirected to Italy with a 2½ Jubilee then redirected back to London. The excitement didn’t last long unfortunately, as well before the deadline it had crept up to £129.80. Never mind.

This is a cut-out from a Smyrna Parcel Post / Customs Declaration form with five unoverprinted 6d Jubilees cancelled by a Smyrna cds. Intact forms are very scarce. This sold for £12.50.

This privately printed Parcel Post label from a company called Pryce Jones, in Newtown, Wales, is a little bit grubby but a scarce item. Despite its condition, it sold for £47.98.

Absolute bargain of the month was this cover from Stevenage to Bulawayo, Matabeleland, in Southern Africa. It is addressed to “Colonel Plumer’s Column”, which was a force organised to break the Siege of Bulawayo during the Second Matabele War (also known as the Matabeleland Rebellion). The Rebellion was officially over by 22 October 1896 (less than a month after this cover was sent), which saw the disbandment of Colonel Plumer’s column. Perhaps explaining why it had to be redirected to Johannesburg, as it has a Boer “ADVERTISED” hs and I think (I’m not sure) an “Unknown” hs at lower left. I was going to bid strongly but forgot and missed it so it only sold for £22.57… I think if you put a 2 in front of that, the right person would be happy to pay it.

And finally my surprise of the month was this registered envelope fro British Levant with the 40pa on 2½d sent from Beirut to Hong Kong. I know that destination mail to Hong Kong and China from GB is popular, but I  was still surprised to see this sell for £160.

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June 2, 2019 · 11:39 am

March & April 2019 Auction Report

April saw the sale of the “Eshowe” collection of Zululand at Spink. There were many interesting lots for the Jubilee enthusiast, and the following are four that I found particularly so. My research on the cancellations of Zululand has been somewhat lacking so it was good to see how well the non-Eshowe cancellations sold, even when the condition and the strike weren’t the best!

Lot 2343 was this highly attractive albeit philatelic franking from Nongoma and said to be the earliest known with this cancel. Like a moth to the flame, I was burned for £900 plus commission.

Lot 2335 was a cover with the rare “R.M. OFFICE/HLABISA’ rubber datestamp which sold £1’300 plus commission.

Lot 2338 was a rather tired looking cover with an OK strike of the triple-ring “NKANDHLA/ZULULAND” rubber cds. Even with a torn stamp, peripheral cover tears and a mostly legible cancel, it sold £1’000 plus commission.

Lot 2342 was another rather ugly cover, but obviously this oval Nondweni ds is a rare beast as it still managed to sell for £1’100 plus commission.

So not to give Spink complete dominance, we finish with lot 1055 from Argyll Etkin’s March 1st auction (apologies for the image quality but that’s what they have on their website), which is a well travelled presumed to have been written in Uganda and sent from Mombassa with 1895 British East Africa overprint on India 2a6p to a Captain Lugard (later Lord Lugard, who was sent to Uganda to assist in the pacification of the country in 1889-92 and who made terms with King Mwanga which placed the country under British influence), and then redirected from the UK with 2½d Jubilee to South Africa where it was unclaimed and finally returned to the UK. It doubled the £400-500 estimate selling for £900 plus 19% buyers premium plus VAT.

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March 5, 2019 · 10:41 pm

January & February 2019 Auction Report

2019 has kicked off with some beautiful Jubilee items already this year up for sale in auctions and not only in the UK! I spotted this rarity come up in the Spink China in their sale of The Lam Man Yin Collection of Small Dragons, Dowagers and 1897 Surcharges on January 18th. This cover (lot 685) was sent to the French Legation in Peking, China, and franked on arrival with a 2ca Dowager tied by a Tientsin seal in blue with Customs circular datestamp below. As China was not a member of the U.P.U., all incoming mail (usually arriving at Shanghai, but occasionally at Tientsin) required Customs postage to be added or a “To Pay” handstamp was used for transit within China, with the recipient paying in cash. Noted by the auctioneers as being one of only 26 incoming covers, it was estimated at HK$50’00-60’000 (around £5’000) and was hammered down for HK$180’000! (about £17’500). Almost certainly making it the most expensive 1/2d vermilion franking in existence!

This beautiful cover from the famous King Harman correspondence depicting a Robin on a holy branch was sold by Spink in London for £1’500 plus commission (lot 2466, January 22nd-23rd), which was a strong price even compared to the results of the Ramsey collection of hand-painted envelopes they sold last year.

This rare franking from British East Africa was sold by Grosvenor on February 21st (lot 539) and is apparently one of seven philatelic frankings by Whitfield King which bears the complete set of the overprinted GB stamps. Unfortunately I was the underbidder and it sold for £1’350 plus commission

One cover I did get though was in the Magpie Postal Auction on February 27th. Lot 409 was a 1/2d vermilion going to Guadeloupe, sent underpaid and franked with 40c of French Colonies postage dues on arrival. British mail to the French Colonies in this period is surprisingly scarce and this is the only cover I’ve seen going there. Estimated at only £25, I was very pleased to get it for £143 including fees.

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March 8, 2017 · 8:42 pm

February 2017 Ebay Report

We start this ebay report with what is I think the most valuable Jubilee item I’ve seen sell at auction on ebay. I would have been gutted to have missed it but I would never have thought of paying as much as $2’850 for the cover below. Sent to the Portuguese colony of Macao with a 5d Jubilee, it was then re-directed to Japan with a Macao 40r. It’s an extraordinary mixed country franking and Macao collectors have the hunger and the cash for such unusual items.

This is a rare used block of four of the Army Telegraphs overprint on the ½d vermilion. I’ve seen very few used examples (less than a dozen of the vermilion and I don’t think any of the ½d blue-green). So I might regret not trying to beat the final realisation of £129.25.

129-25-army-telegraphs-used-block

This unmounted mint example of the 1 ½d with inverted watermark variety sold for £460, which is just a little under half the Stanley Gibbons catalogue price of £950.

This slightly ugly cover is an unusual usage of the 4 ½d. It is paying the 2d registration rate and 2 ½d to send the cover from York to Plymouth. It is only the third single franking of the 4 ½d I’ve seen on an internal letter.

And finally quite an attractive uprated postal stationery cover to Belgium from Jersey. These types of covers from Jersey always sell well; this one realising £135.10.

135-10-postal-stationery-from-jersey

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September 11, 2016 · 10:57 am

August 2016 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month

It was a bit of a struggle to find some interesting items this month, as it is every August as even philatelists stop thinking about stamps to enjoy the sunshine!

81.00mmThe first item is a scarcer control setting of the 1/2d vermilion with the letter B without marginal rule. For those that are interested, I have published the Stanley Gibbons catalogue listing for the 1/2d controls on my site, and I haven’t been told off for doing so yet… But at some point I will do my own more specialised listing and pricing as strips of three and blocks of six with controls command a premium.

50-63This piece with a 2 1/2d Jubilee was priced at £49.99 and found one bidder. It has a Union Steamship Co. perfin and is tied by a Santa Cruz, Tenerife cds. As you can guess from the perfin, this would have been posted on board a ship and cancelled in port at Tenerife which was permitted by UPU rules.

67.99This block of six 3d Jubilees realised £67.99 in spite of a few minor faults because it is cancelled by a Continental Night Mail cds of the Travelling Post Office. More information on this is another “To Do” for the “Related Info” section.

165.70And this duo of 10d Jubilees is tied to a small piece by a complete Royal Niger Company Akassa ds and fetched a solid £165.70.

15-90And bargain of the month goes to this Portuguese postal stationery card sent from Funchal on the island of Madeira and redirected from the UK to France with a 1/2d vermilion. Probably because it was hosted only on ebay.com and not ebay.co.uk, it sold for only $15.90.

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June 13, 2016 · 8:04 pm

Jubilees in New York 2016!

NY 2016 World Stamp Show LogoI was fortunate enough to travel to the New York World Stamp Show earlier this month, as I was working on the David Feldman stand for the whole eight days. I was kept extremely busy for the first four or five days, but eventually found the time to take a look around some of the amazing exhibits. There were no collections of Jubilees sadly, but I did manage to find some items of interest amongst the maze of collections.

Ascension registered hooded ds, ex Vivien SussexThe first one I spotted was the sister cover to the Ascension registered hooded cds that recently sold at Spink, one of only two known examples of this cancellation. It belonged to the fabulous collection of GB Used Abroad of Hugh Wood that was on display in the Court of Honor.

2016-06-02 17.04.02In a collection of Indonesia were two covers going to Java and one to Sumatra. Surprisingly perhaps, Indonesia isn’t such a scarce destination. I have recorded 15 Jubilee frankings to Indonesia so far, with most going to the island of Java and only two going to Sumatra and three to Celebes.

2016-06-01 13.33.53In a collection of New South Wales was this attractive mixed franking on a cover sent from the UK with a 2 1/2d and redirected to the USA. The additional New South Wales franking was needed as it was before they joined the UPU. I also recognise this cover because the company I work for, David Feldman SA, sold this cover in the Baron von Uexkull collection in 1997.

Cover missent to CubaAlso of note was a cover featured in a collection of Cuba. The owner described it as the only recorded usage of the “MISSENT / Military Sta. No. 20 Sancti Spiritus Cuba” handstamp.

And finally on display in Alan Huggins’ collection of British Postal Stationery were five covers from a correspondence to Jamaica with stamped-to-order postal stationery, three of which were uprated with Jubilees (bringing my census of Jubilee frankings to Jamaica up to 5 known).2016-06-03 17.21.01

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October 24, 2014 · 3:02 pm

September 2014 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month
70.00September was a good month for the Jubilees (please ignore the fact that it’s nearly November…). I was actually a little spoiled for choice! First we have a cover sent from the USA with 1883 Washington 2c pair and 1887 Franklin 1c, redirected on arrival in England with two 1887 1/2d vermilion paying the single letter rate. Not a common franking as US/Jubilee combinations are more often seen with later US issues. It sold for £70.

21.01This little scarce book on the control letters on the 1881 1d lilac, 1887 1/2d vermilion and 1900 1/2d blue-green sold for £21.00. Although it won’t have any information that can’t be found in the essential Queen Victoria specialised catalogue by Stanley Gibbons, it’s still a nice addition to a Jubilee collector’s philatelic library.

43.00Another redirected cover with mixed country franking from the same seller. This time from India. As coincidence would have it, I bought a very similar cover the same day this one finished for £25 (a bit tatty on top unfortunately but still attractive) which bore a 1a brown instead of the 1a plum which this cover features. I had already set my heart on making this a pair with mine to make an attractive page. Alas, I underbid the cover to £43.

103.00mmThis Zululand set with Specimen overprints sold for a very reasonable £103 in mounted mint condition. I already have this set and I paid more than that…

31.98 (me)And finally we come to the only item I actually added to my collection this month. This registered envelope was sent at 12 times the UPU rate with five 6d purple on rose, plus 2d registration (as noted at the lower left) paid by the envelope. The peripheral wear and the US customs hs also indicating that something heavy was posted inside. I was very happy to add this multiple franking for £31.98.

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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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August 25, 2014 · 10:10 pm

July 2014 Ebay Report

Top 5 Items of the Month

266.64aLate again… :( After having to cheat last month due to a slow June, July has not disappointed. I start with this unassuming postcard sent from Austria to the UK, and then redirected to Ireland with my favourite stamp! Great! Another mixed country franking to add to my collection! Unfortunately the final price of $450 (£266.64 to me) blew me out of the water. I had thought this might have been a case of two people putting in big bids but not expecting anyone else to care. However, there seemed to be 18 careful bids up to this figure. A closer look revealed it was a printed advertising card from Sigmund Friedl. A quick google search and old faithful Wikipedia showed me the light. It turns out the Sigmund Friedl is one of the most famous philatelists, having sold the Sweden Tre Skilling Banco for a sum of 4000 gulden to the famous collector, Philipp von Ferrary before turning to defrauding collectors in later life. So a very interesting item for the philately historian.

55.74This interesting piece caught my eye, but I wasn’t that excited to pay £55.74 for this 2 1/2d “in combination” with a Spanish 25c, cancelled in Seville. My opinion is that the 25c covered the cost of postage, and the 2 1/2d was fortuitously cancelled at the same time.

57.00Controls seem to be more popular than ever, with even common corner pairs selling for £20 plus. So I wasn’t surprised that this duo sold for £57 even though they both had faults!

44.40This attractive piece has six 1/2d vermilions cancelled by the rubber datestamps of the Army Post Office at Modder Spruit. My second use of Wikipedia in a month reveals that “Modderspruit is a town in Bojanala District Municipality in the North West province of South Africa.” Short and sweet… I’m still learning about Boer War philately, but my gut says it must be scarce, and I’ve never seen this town cancel before. If only it were a complete cover! £44.40 is a good price for a piece though.

39.00And last but not least…I couldn’t let a month go by without a bit of destination mail! New Zealand isn’t the rarest of destinations of course, but as this letter was sent underpaid, the New Zealand post office struck it with a nice “TO PAY / 5d / DOUBLE DEFFICIENT POSTAGE” tax handstamp. Even though it’s a little aged, it sold for £39.

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