Royal Reels: Gambling

Armed Forces

GOV. PHILLIP & CINDERELLA STAMPS for AUSTRALIA’S 150TH ANNIVERSARY 1937-38

Two covers appeared on Ebay displaying in total, on the two covers, the 15 different designs of the cinderellas stamps that are derived from a sheet of 30. The format of the sheet was six horizontally and five vertically, with the same order repetition of the first and last three stamps in each horizontal row of six (Figure 1). The first cover has nine of the 15 cinderella stamp designs

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GENERAL SIR JOHN MONASH, SOLDIER, ENGINEER & ADMINISTRATOR

The designer of this home-made first day cover has provided an unique cover, but what a pity he could not spell and that he did not realise that the yellow colour would fade badly. It has a single copy of the 5d John Monash in uniform stamp and is postmarked with the familiar Philatelic Bureau Melbourne First Day of Issue 23 June 1965, the centenary of his year of birth. It

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GENERAL JOHN FRENCH, HERO in the BOER WAR [SOUTH AFRICA]

This Boer War recruitment publicity postcard with ‘General French War South Africa’ has a portrait of the general on a medal, shows British flags, a crown and crossed swords, plus an inscription ‘We Conquer Step by Step”. It is postmarked with a partial squared circle ALDGATE/ 2/ JY 30/ 00/ S.(A). There is an additional faint circular cancel confirming the JY 30/00 date. The message dated 28th July 1900 reads

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FLIGHT LIEUT. ERNEST ANDREW MUSTARD, C/O BANK of ADELAIDE, LONDON

Three Melbourne-origin covers, were presumably sent by the same person over a period of 3 days to the same individual, and they all finally finished up at the same address in London, but the addressee’s rank was not identical on all 3 covers. The first cover was sent to Captain E.A. Mustard C/o an address in Linden, Berlin, Germany, and it was re-addressed to the Bank of Adelaide, Leadenhall Street,

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EVERETT A. COLSON, ADVISOR to EMPEROR HAILE SELASSIE, ETHIOPIA

The cover had a blue registration label for SYDNEY—C/ N.S.W. and the stamps consisted of an orange ½d, a green 1d and a red-brown KGV Head stamps, as well as the green 3d airmail stamp. They were postmarked by a REGISTERED/ B 14 MR 33/ SYDNEY N.S.W. The cover was addressed to E.A. Colson Esq, Box 215, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Abyssinia) (Figure 1). The reverse had 4 postmarks, the second

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ELMER DAVIS, DIRECTOR, OFFICE of WAR INFORMATION, WASHINGTON D.C. [U.S.A.]

This World War 2 cover was mailed with a total of 3½d postage made up of the red 2½d KGVI and the maroon 1d Queen Elizabeth stamps postmarked PARL’MT HOUSE CANBERRA/ -8 SP 42/ A.C.T and there was a red boxed 2/ PASSED BY CENSOR/ 1106. It was addressed to Elmer Davis, Esq., Director, Office of War Information, Washington, D.C., U.S.A. with a typed Personal in the lower left hand

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LORD BRASSEY, VICTORIAN GOVERNOR & R. FULLARTON, NAVAL BRIGADE

An undated On Her Majesty’s Service cover was addressed to Lord Brassey, Govt. House Melbourne by R. Fullarton, Commanding, Naval Brigade, and the MINISTER OF DEFENCE, FRANK STAMP, VICTORIA was applied in blue. This letter would have been sent during Thomas Brassey’s term as Governor of Victoria in the years 1895 to 1900 (Figure 1). Thomas Brassey,1st Earl Brassey was born in England on February 11,1836 at St. Mary’s Stafford,

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LIEUT. LYONS, PRISONER OF WAR in JAPAN 1942-1945 [JAPAN]

This special Prisoner of War Post cover with Air Mail vignette was sent from Brisbane in1945 (month not certain) with a ‘3 Opened by Censor’ label, as well as a purple boxed ‘Opened by Censor 195’ marking. It was addressed to Service No.: Q302572 Rank: Lieutenant Noel Joseph Lyons, Camp Zentsuji, Japan. A 5d stamp was required, and a pair of the red 2½d Duke and Duchess of Gloucester stamps

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LEWIS BECK SEBRING Jr. (1901-78). WAR-TIME REPORTER MEETS GEN. MACARTHUR [U.S.A.]

The newspaper wrapper that prompted this research is postmarked PAID AT SYDNEY/-14 MY 43/ N.S.W. and is addressed to Lewis Sebring, Tribune Herald Newspaper, USA Army Hdqrs., (General Douglas MacArthur), AUSTRALIA. This was sent by “Reveille”, Official Organ, R.S.L (N.S.W. Branch), Anzac Memorial, Hyde Park, SYDNEY. “Reveille” is the journal published for the Returned Soldiers’ League in Australia. Unfortunately the red postmark is very faint, and even with a red

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LETTERS from WIFE in AUSTRALIA to H.W. ROGER, CIVILIAN INTERNEE, H.K.

Six covers with letters were addressed to Hugh (Hugo) Wood Roger in Hong Kong dated from December 1941 until October 1943, but only five of them were from his wife Claudia and their 2 sons, Ned and Robin. The first cover is an introduction to the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong, and it was sent just prior to his wife had any information about this terrible event in the life

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