360 / Mai 2015 London

1851/54, Rayon I 5 rp. blue/red in horizontal pair in combination with 1854, Strubli Munich printing 5 rp. orange-brown, all in fresh colour and with good to mostly wide margins, tied by light grid cancel to letter sheet dated "1854 / Frauenfeld 25 Sept." and with faint adjacent date stamp, to Stein with arrival mark; a faint ironed horizontal crease affecting the upper area of the Strubli stamp; an attractive and very rare entire. Only 41 covers with combinations of Rayon and Strubli are known; this is the only existing with a sole combination of two different 5 rp. stamps, certificate Rellstab/Witschi (1992) (Zumstein 17IISFe)

1854, Munich printing 40 rp. yellow-green, 10 copies, all with ample to very good margins, tied by grid cancel to quadruple rate coverfront with top backflap (mounted on lettersheet to appear complete) from "FLEURIER 7 JANV. 1855" to Canton, China, endorsed "Via Marseille, Suez & Bombay"; on reverse flap French transit marks and part of British PO cds. of Canton; a very attractive and rare early franking to the Far East. Certificate Rellstab BPP (1989; as 'Faltbriefumschlag') Zumstein 26A

1855/57, Issue on thin paper: 5 rp. brown in horizontal strip of 3, good colour and large margins all around, tied by cds. "LENZBURG 18 FEB. 58" to entire letter to Bern; small pre-cuts between the stamps at top, the stamps have been lifted for inspection and re-fixed; a rare and very fine entire. Certificate Rellstab (1987) Zumstein 22F.

1862, 2 rp. grey in vertical block of 10, fresh colour and good to large margins all around, cancelled by several nice strikes of cds. "THUN 29 MAI 1863 VORMITTAG"; a rare and attractive multiple in very fine condition, we have only 2 other blocks of 10 recorded of this stamp. Zumstein 21G