339 / März 2010

1881, 10 pa. lilac rose, a superb mint block of four, wmk. inverted, with large part original gum (Mi. 320,-+)

1884, 20 pa. on 5 pia. green, a fine horizontal pair used on neat 1884 cover to Vienna tied by "Caire / Depart" cds (July 25) in black. Vienna arrival on reverse. A rare stamp on letter, in very fine quality.

1884/1902, 5 pia. grey and 1914 pair 20 m. olive with "Douane Alexandria" datestamps on parcel card, plus another card with 1922, 50 m. maroon in strip of three tied at Ghuria. An attractive pair.

1888, 1 m. brown and 2 pia. orange (2) used on extraordinary 1893 "Value Declared" cover to Suez cancelled on reverse of cover by "Caire / M.P.I." datestamps (Mandats Postaux Internationales) with framed "Assuré" bilingual cachet and further strike of datestamp on front. A rare usage with rate breakdown as follows: 32 grams Postage: 15 m. + Registration: 10 m. + Value Declared fee of 16 m. = 4 pi. 1 m.

5 m., imperforated proof,  top marginal block of four printed in black adhered to thick card. A fine and scarce multiple.

5 m. carmine, repaired example with fine strike of "TOKAR" seven bar datestamp (Jan 1893) in black. Tokar is situated south of Suakin. See Smith pages 582 and 583 for more information on the rarity of this cancellation.

5 m. carmine used on 1904 "Eastern Telegraph Company" envelope addresssed to Carl Hangen´s Expedition, Assouan tied by "Cairo Continental Hotel Post Office" datestamp (March 19) with repeated strike alongside, the reverse with "Cataract Hotel-Assouan" arrival cds (March 20). Complete with full original enclosure, a magnificent and very rare cover. Signed Todd.

5 m. carmine, 4 examples in two pairs, used on 1912 registered cover tied by scarce "Oasis Siwa" datestamps with rare "Oasis Siwa" registration cachet above. Reverse with Alexandria transit and Istanbul arrival cds´s.

5 m. rose carmine on chalky paper, an exceptional Coil Strip of six with ´paste-up´ between fourth and fifth stamps, trimmed perforations at base as is normal for this rare machine vending experiment. Superb and fresh strip with large part original gum. A rarity

5 m. rose carmine on chalk surfaced paper, a fresh and fine mint Booklet pane block of six with margin at top with staple holes, full unmounted original gum. Rare, ex Booklet Nile Post SB1 or SB3.

1892/1902, 3 m. orange-yellow on chalky paper, a fresh mint Booklet pane of six with margin at top with staple holes, fine unmounted original gum. Extremely rare, ex Booklet Nile Post SB2.

2 pia., Die Proof in black on white glazed card, struck in blue "23 May 1901" and in black "Before / Striking". A rare and fine Proof.

1914, First pictorial issue, proof set of 10 values, imperforate without watermark in pairs, and the (rarer) set of 10 in singles, imperforate with watermark upright. Scarce group.

5 m. lake, 20 m. olive, 50 m. purple and 200 m. maroon, all imperforated with  wm., overprinted "SPECIMEN" diagonally in black, unused without gum. Rare group, these were all used as Samples for showing the work of De La Rue and were adhered to boards, thus all known examples are unused without gum (Nile Post = $ 800).  

10 m. blue pair used on 1918 registered cover struck with large framed "Aliens / Internment Camp / Sidi Bishr * Alexandria" at right, mailed to Berne with oval "Passed By Censor-No.13" on reverse. A fine and attractive cover.

1915, 2 m on 3 m. orange-yellow, complete mint pane of 100 stamps with serial number ´1´ at top and interpanneau bars at base, all stamps showing the overprint showing through on the reverse. Fresh and fine unmounted original gum.

2 m on 3 m. orange yellow, used example showing variety overprint inverted. A scarce stamp. Signed Ela. Certificate Hass (Mi. 250,-)

1922, Monarchy 1 m. sepia, fresh mint block of four, Control A23 with Type III typographed overprint, watermark reversed. Superb og., a rare and fine block (Nile Post D78 IIIe = $ 200).

1 m. sepia, fine mint example showing "Crushed Crown" variety clearly (Nile Post D78 Ie).

1 m. sepia, a fine mint example with variety overprint inverted and "à cheval", fresh and fine, large part original gum. Ex collection Grimmer. Signed Ela. Certificate ESC (Nile Post D78 Id = $ 200).

Overprint Essays, 1 m. sepia and 15 m. indigo blue, fresh mint examples with Crown overprint struck in red, fine large part original gum. Very scarce, only 120 of each stamp  were overprinted thus (Nile Post D78ct+D85ct = $ 500).

2 m. vermilion, Type III overprint, the fresh mint example with variety overprint double. A fine and scarce stamp with large part original gum. Only 200 were printed. Ex collection Grimmer. Certificate ESC (Nile Post D79 IIIi = $ 200).

4 m. green, fresh mint example with variety overprint inverted, superb and fresh example. Only 200 stamps exist. Certificate Hass (Nile Post D81 Ie = $ 200).

5 m. pink, marginal block of six from left of sheet with Control B23, sixth stamp showing "Crushed Crown" variety, somewhat toned original gum. Scarce (Nile Post D82 I/d).

1922: Monarchy 20 m. olive, a fine mint example with variety overprint double. Fine, large part original gum. Only 100 of this variety exist. Certificate ESC, ex Grimmer collection (Nile Post D86 Ic = $ 300).

20 m. olive, a fine mint example with variety overprint inverted. Fine, large part original gum. Only 200 stamps with this variety exist. Signed Ela (Nile Post D86 Ib = $ 200).

50 m. maroon in a strip of three tied to Parcel Post card to Venice by "Salah El Din" datestamps, Brindisi transit below, and a 1934 Parcel Card to Switzerland franked by First Fuad 20 m. (2), 100 m. and strip of three 200 m. from Alexandria with Swiss 40 c. tied at left. Small faults but a scarce pair.

100 m. slate, a fine example showing variety double overprint, fine large part original gum. Only 100 stamps printed, but most were used before the error came to light (Nile Post D89 Ib = $ 400).

Essays by Harrisons for first Fuad issue: 15 m. imperforate pairs (2 different) in deep brown, 15 m. pair in orange, all on watermarked paper; fresh and fine, unmounted original gum and a 15 m. pair in blue on card paper (cert. Sismondo). A scarce group (Nile Post E203c+E203d+E204+E204c).

3 m. pair in grey brown, 5 m. red brown pair in issued colour, marginal example of 15 m. in apple green, 15 m. pair in blue (cert. Sismondo), 20 m. pale red brown (on card paper) and 20 m. pair in green-also on card paper.

1923, Fuad 4 m. red-brown (similar to the issued colour of the 5 m.), a superb imperforate Proof block of 40 (10x4) unused, with manuscript notation on reverse "very rough proof, Sept 22, 1923". The largest known multiple of this Proof and a superb showpiece. Certificate Holcombe.

200 m. violet, imperforate Proof on watermarked paper, a fresh and fine mint example with sheet margin at base. Unmounted original gum (Nile Post D101h = $ 250).

Coil Machine vending Trials. 5 m. red-brown in a vertical strip of 10 stamps all overprinted "Cancelled" in black. The Trial was a failure and Egypt´s two attempts to use vending machines were disbanded. Full unmounted original gum with coil join between ninth and tenth stamp. Rare and very fine (Nile Post D95m = $ 750).

1926, 50 p. purple, used, with large part of top margin imperforate (Nile Post C13g), also used example with watermark reversed, a fine used vertical strip of three,  and 2 mint examples showing blind perfs. at sides with large part og., a scarce group

Navigation Congress, 5 - 15 m., the Farouk Royal imperforate set , all marginal from right of sheet, fresh and very fine. Rare, only 50 sets were produced.

Port Fouad, 5 m. - 50 pia., very fresh and fine, large part original gum. A rare set, only 1500 sets issued  (Mi. 2.200,-)