The first cover was a printed envelope sent from Louis Gille & Co., of Sydney, 73-75 Liverpool Street and of Melbourne, 300-302 Lonsdale St., The addressee was printed in large black letters: FRANCE/ Messrs LOUIS GILLE et Cie/ Fabricants de Bronzes et d’Orfevrerie d’Eglise/ 37 Quai Claude Bernard./ LYONS. The routing of the letter is given as Per P & O. R.M.S. “Mongolia”ViaBrindisi. There are a total of six New
This registered cover uncovers the gullibility of the writer who presumably wanted to increase his height. It is addressed to The Cartilage Company, Rochester, New York, U.S.A. It has three coloured Queensland stamps, the green ‘ONE HALFPENNY’ showing QV in widow’s weeds, and two ‘Four Corners’ stamps, a blue 2d and a brown 3d, for a total cost of 5½d. The stamps are cancelled with FORTITUDE VALLEY/ 21 OC 10/
Prologue: The appearance of 17 covers at one Australian philatelic website sparked my interest in the Branson family. The amount of information concerning this family on the Internet was surprisingly minimal, considering what was eventually learnt from a local source. All 17 covers were addressed to family members at Binda N.S.W. over a period of 29 years, from 1883 until 1912, and unfortunately no letters were still enclosed. The stamps
The cover was addressed to Thos. Lyons Esq., 69 Collins Street, HOBART, Tasmania and the pink pair of the ‘ONE PENNY’ stamp of Victoria was cancelled with a duplex DAYLESFORD/ AP 30/ 04/ VICTORIA associated with the barred numeral ‘173′. The reverse was not seen (Figure 1). Thomas Lyons, businessman, banker, gold miner, lottery promoter, race horse breeder & owner, stock broker tin miner was born on 3 January 1861
The two companies, one in Melbourne and the other in Calcutta no longer exist as such. Two covers were sent from Robert Bryce & Co. Pty. Ltd. to Messrs. Volkart Brothers, 8 Clive Street, Calcutta, India from Robert Bryce & Co. Pty. Ltd., Melbourne, Australia, the first pre-WW II, the other during WW II. The first was sent airmail and had a total postage of 1 shilling and 2 pence
The registered cover has a blue Bourke St. East C1 Victoria label and it is addressed to The Manager de Tobler & Co. S. ft., fabrique de Chocolat, Berne Suisse, Switzerland. The purple-brown 6d small laughing kookaburra stamp is canceled BOURKE ST EAST/ 25 FE 38/ VIC (Figure 1). There are 3 further repeat cancels of the same Bourke St. East, Victoria, as well as a Registered Melbourne cancel on
Philatelically inspired mail of this type is not uncommon, but this cover is somewhat unusual for the addressee is a good starting point for researching a family that was associated with a printing company that had a history of 100 years, from 1875 to 1975. The front is adorned with a total of four hand-struck stampings, one in black script, another in green made up of three parts, a purple
The advertising cover has ‘Ask for MONDS/ ROLLER FLOUR, ROLLED OATS, AND 0ATMEAL, All Grocers Sell Them’ at the top, and ‘Nothing For Breakfast So Good As ROLLED OATS, Nor ROLLED OATS So Good As MONDS’ at the bottom. It is addressed to Messrs Button, Bros. Oatlands. The red 1d pictorial stamp of Tasmania is postmarked LAUNCESTON/ MY 12/ 1906/ TASMANIA. The reverse was not seen (Figure 1). Thomas Wilkes
The cover has a ms. Per Clipper Ship Schomberg from Liverpool, Octr. 5.1855 and was addressed to Thomas M Sloman Esqr. Merchant, Bathurst, New South Wales Australia, Via Sydney N.S. Wales. The stamp had washed off but most of the EXETER/ OCT 2/ 1855 was legible, and at the left hand border, in another hand, were the words Paid by Stamp (Figure 1). The reverse has a transit SYDNEY/ B/
Two Thomas C. Lothian Pty Ltd covers were found recently and I was surprised that I had never heard of the company before, not only because of its longevity but also because of its importance to Australian publishing. The first was a WW II censored cover with the usual red label of ‘3 Opened by Censor’ as well as the purple hand stamp, and it was addressed to an important