Tag Archives: Stamp Dealers

January 5, 2021 · 7:03 pm

October 2020 Ebay Report

I mentioned in my last post how I was behind on my philatelic reading and this month’s report neatly brings me on to the second book that I haven’t read (as well as the first again). “Great Britain Victorian Mixed-Franking Covers Illustrating Postage Stamp Development” by Ray Simpson and Karl Louis has a section of Jubilee mixed frankings which features several covers from my collection. It is an interesting area of research (and requires more study really) particularly for the changeover from the Lilac & Greens in early 1887 and the changeover to KEVII issues in 1902.

This mixed issue franking may possibly be philatelic, but the Inland Revenue 1d lilac (which was valid for postage) in combination with the ½d and 6d Jubilees pays the triple UPU rate to Germany and is unusual. It sold for £49.03.

And this postal notice for the “SPECIAL POSTAL JUBILEE ENVELOPE” brings us back to John Davies’ book “A Jubilee Reminiscence”. This notice announces the sale of the postal stationery envelope that was produced for the South Kensington exhibition which was put on sale at 1s. Either foresight or clever marketing suggested that “it is not improbable that the strictly limited supply will be exceeded by the demand”, which indeed was true. It sold for £83.

These printed envelopes produced by photographers are reasonably popular and this example sold for £38. Photographs were allowed to be sent at the cheaper book post/printed matter rate, with this cover paying postage up to 6oz. I have two different examples from A & G Taylor from their Stockton office from 1890 which don’t feature the Royal Warrant which they received in 1886, as the one above does, but still mention “Photographers to Her Majesty the Queen”.

These attractive covers from the stamp dealer H. G. Hanson aren’t particularly scarce, but often they have unusual frankings or marginal examples of Jubilees. This neat single use of a 4d to uprate a ½d postal stationery caught several bidders’ eyes and sold for £70.

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December 12, 2020 · 12:29 pm

June & July 2020 Ebay Report

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.

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May 11, 2019 · 3:04 pm

April 2019 Ebay Report

April not only brought us Easter, but also some interesting items and some strange results on Ebay along with it.

My favourite item was this cover from the Cardiff stamp dealer H. G. Hanson. I have seen many unusual and attractive covers sent by him with Jubilee frankings, with this being one of them. Not just because it has four different values including the 1s green, but because it has a corner marginal pair of the 4d from setting 4B (with the head duty rule cut away in the corner) and it’s rare to find marginal stamps on cover. It sold for the opening bid of £89.99.

This mint Mafeking 1d on ½d sold surprisingly well at £103 considering how poor the image is. It looks to be genuine but I’m not confident…

Bargain of the month was this Army Telegraphs ½d blue-green with SPECIMEN overprint. I think mostly because it finished on Easter weekend (and partly because of a few short perfs), it sold for a paltry £32.76. I’ve seen a mint nh example retail at £675 which the dealer presumably sold because he doesn’t have it any more!

This next item made my heart skip a beat! After calming down for a moment and requesting a higher resolution scan of the O. W. Official overprint on the stamp, it was quite clearly a forgery. Enough people obviously suspected the same and it sold for £140 (not that I would pay that much for a reference item). The only Victorian O. W. Official stamps on cover I have seen are the ½d vermilion, ½d green and 1d lilac, so this would have been unique if it was right.

And we finish with another stamp dealer’s cover. As attractive as it is, I was very surprised to see this sell for as much as £94 as there are plenty of them around.

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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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