360 / Mai 2015 London

Very thick soft paper: Prince Consort 6 d. reddish-purple, a fine example, close but clear at upper right and with large margins on the other three sides, used on 1858 envelope to Dorchester, Mass., USA lightly tied by '21' numeral with 'Montreal / LC' datestamp below (March 19). Cover with small opening tear at top, but with the original enclosure. A very rare stamp on letter. Cert. BPA (1964) Scott 10 = $ 8'000 / Gi £ 4'000 off cover.

1851/1859: The Postal History collection (33 covers/entires), with 1851 3 d. Beaver covers (2), 1851 6 d. slate used on entire to New York, 1852/57 issue with ½ d. used on Printed Circulars (3), 3 d. Beaver single franking covers (9), 3 d. covers bearing pairs or two examples (4), Prince Consort 6 d. grey single frankings on covers (6), 7½ d. yellow green on 1859 cover to Liverpool, Cartier 10 d. blue usages on covers (2) to England, one with 'Legislative Assembly' cachet in red; 1858/59 perforated ½ d. single franking covers (2), 3 d. red on single franking covers (4). Condition variable but an extraordinary lot of enormous catalogue value.

1851/60: The Postal History collection (16 covers/entires), with 3 d. red single frankings (5 covers), 3 d. red (two examples) used on double rate cover, 3 d. red (two examples) used on covers to New York (2),  3 d. red used on rare 1852 registered Money Letter franked by three examples for 9 d. rate; 6 d. yellow single frankings on covers to USA (3), 6 d. yellow bisected for 3 d. rate to St. Johns (cert. RPS, BPA); also two 1860/63 covers with 5 c. single franking and two 5 c. used on cover to the USA, as well as a fine 10 c. red bisected on cover to St. Johns (cert. BPA). Condition variable but an extraordinary lot of enormous catalogue value.

1857/64: 8 d. scarlet-vermilion, a diagonally bisected example with large margins on the remaining sides, used as 4 d. to pay the single rate on 1860 cover to Baltimore (Tucker correspondence), tied by barred obliterator in black. 'St. Johns-Newfoundland-Paid' cds in red at left (Dec 5) somewhat overstruck by 'Boston Br. Pkt. / 5' datestamp of transit (Dec 15) in black. Minor file fold but an impressive and rare cover, #29 in the Pratt census Scott 8a = $ 6'000 / Gi. = 4'250. Provenance: John F. Seybold (1910).

1857: 8 d. scarlet-vermilion, a vertically bisected example (right half) with huge margins, used to pay the 4 d. rate, tied to 1860 cover to Baltimore, USA, Tucker correspondence, by barred obliterator in black with 'St Johns Newfoundland / Paid' cds alongside in red (July 4). 'Boston / Br. Pkt. / 5' (July 12) transit in black at left. File fold well away from the adhesive. A rare cover. Cert. Graves Greene (2004) Scott 8a = $ 6'000 / Gi = £ 4'250. Provenance: Alfred H. Caspary (Oct 1956) lot 348; Henry H. Conland (April 2001) lot 518.

1860: 4 d. orange-vermilion, a clear to large margined example of good colour, small corner crease at lower right, used on 1860 cover to Baltimore (Tucker correspondence) and cancelled by black barred obliterator and 'St. Johns-Newfoundland-Paid' cds in red (Oct 16). 'Boston Br. Pkt. / 5' charge marking in black (Oct 17) alongside. The cover crossed by two file folds but a rare usage, Pratt records just 6 covers used with single 4 d. to the USA, this being #3 in the census. Rare. Cert. BPA (1968) Scott 12 = $ 6'000. Provenance: Dr. Chan Chin Cheung (Sept 1995) lot 145.

1860 (Aug 15): First Day of Issue, the famous cover bearing 4 d. orange-vermilion, used example with large margins at top and at base, shaved at right and touched at left, used on 1860 cover to Baltimore (Tucker correspondence) cancelled by barred obliterator in black. 'St. Johns-Newfoundland-Paid' in red alongside (Aug. 15), overstruck with 'Boston Br. Pkt. / 5' charge marking in black (Aug 22). Despite the small faults, a remarkable and rare cover, only six covers recorded thus - this being used on First Day of Issue of the 4 d. adhesive and the earliest recorded usage of any of the orange-vermilion issue. Pratt census #1. Cert. BPA (1986) Scott 12 = $ 6'000. Provenance: Col. Robert H. Pratt (Oct 1986) lot 290; H. Conland (April 2001) lot 529.

British Post Offices 1865/73: 4 d. vermilion, plate 12, used on attractive 1871 cover to New York tied by bold strike of the rare 'C65' error for 'C56' obliterator applied in Carthagena. Reverse with Britsi P.O. double CARTHAGENA cds (Feb 1), obverse with COLON transit cds (Feb 3) in black and 'N. Y. STEAMSHIP / 10' arrival marking (Feb 28). A fresh and fine cover. Provenance: Andre Bollen.