Royal Reels: Gambling

Islands

SACRED HEART MISSION, THURSDAY ISLAND: FATHER FERDINAND HARTZER

The Queensland Postcard, Australia has a printed blue ‘POSTAGE/ TWO PENCE’ stamp of Queensland which is postmarked with an unframed postmark of THURSDAY ISLAND/ ( )/ 91/ QUEENSLAND. It is addressed to Dr. Sicard, Alby (sic) France, Europe and there is a black double ringed reception postmark of ‘ALBI’ as well as a double ringed red, presumed transit postmark (Figure 1). The reverse message is headed ‘Thursday Island, 2 Janvier

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ROBERT BEAR, PUBLISHER/IMPORTER & REV. DELAPORTE, NAURU MISSION

Five covers, dated 1901-1910 were addressed to ‘Sir’ Robert Bear at 16 Park Street, Sydney from British New Guinea and from Nauru. The first is a printed cover with a vertical pair of the 1d carmine with black centre British New Guinea stamps, postmarked with the ten bar obliterator (as well as blue crayon strokes) and there is an unframed WOODLARKS/ 1901/ B.N.G. cancel nearby. The reverse (not seen) showed

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REV. JAMES EGAN MOULTON, MISSIONARY, TONGAN BIBLE TRANSLATOR

wo covers were sent to the Rev. J. Egan Moulton at Tupou College (both spelt incorrectly as Tubou), in the capital city of Nuku’Alofa, Tonga. The first had a pair of the red 1d N.S.W. ‘Shield’ stamps cancelled with the barred numeral obliterator of ‘1204′ and in addition the origin was confirmed by a cds of ENMORE/ NO 17/ 1897/ N.S.W (Type 1D (i) 1896-1906). In addition there was a

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REV. ALEXANDRE BATTISTE, EPISCOPAL CHURCH, PORT-AU- PRINCE, HAITI

The registered envelope of Victoria is addressed to Rev. A. Battiste, Port-au-Prince, Hayti, West Indies. The boxed red printed ‘REGISTERED’ has been covered over by a red Registration Label of the ‘United States of America/ NEW YORK, N.Y. There is a handstamp applied in Australia of a black large ‘R’ in a circle and the pair of blue 2½d stamps of Victoria are cancelled with an unframed ELIZABETH STREET NORTH/

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REV. GEORGE HUNN NOBBS, NORFOLK ISLAND

This 1868 stampless cover is addressed to Revd G.H. Nobbs, Norfolk Island Australia, has a LOMBARD-STREET/ F.O./ OC 30/ 68/ PAID cds in red and has a large faint manuscript ‘6’ rating as well as manuscripts ‘Via Southampton’ across the top, ‘ans(wered) to Mr. Glennie, July 27th 1869’ on the left side and ‘Consignee’s letter/ (indecipherable)’ on the right. The vendor states that there is a colorless embossing on the

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R. P. CLARK, POSTMASTER, SCHOOLMASTER & ELDER, PITCAIRN ISLAND

The Sesquicentenary of the City of Newcastle, N.S.W. (1797-1947) First Day Cover has the set of 3 stamps (2½, 3½ & 5½d) postmarked on day of issue at EPPING/ 8 SE 47/ N.S.W. It is addressed to Mr. Roy P. Clark P.M., Pitcairn Island, South Pacific Island and there is a double circle reception postmark PITCAIRN ISLAND/ 27.OCT.47/ POST OFFICE (Figure 1). A cover with a blue 6 F French

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PLEASANT ISLAND, NAURU, THE N.W. PACIFIC ISLANDS’ OVERPRINTS

Most of the N.W.P.I. covers are philatelically contrived, and this possibly may be an exception. There are seven N.W.P.I. overprinted stamps on the cover: The KGV heads ½d green, 4d orange and 5d orange-brown (looking remarkably red!) as well as the Roos 2d grey, 3d olive, 6d blue and the 9d lilac. All are carefully postmarked P.O. PLEASANT ISLAND/ SE 10/ 1916/ NAURU. In addition, the ½d green has a

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PIPON BELL & CO., PORT LOUIS, MAURITIUS LETTER FROM MELBOURNE

The entire was addressed to Messr Pipon Bell & Coy, Port Louis, Mauritius and was sent ‘per Senator’ from MELBOURNE/ [crown]/ JA 20 H/ 1855/ VICTORIA. It had a reception postmark of [CROWN]/ MAURITIUS/ MR 8/ 1855/ G.P.O. There were no manuscript rating marks, and the reverse showed no additional markings (Figure 1). The letter was difficult to decipher as the thin paper allowed the manuscript writing on the front to

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PARLIAMENT HOUSE (SYDNEY) to HALF WAY TREE, JAMAICA

This airmail cover is philatelically contrived with a gutter block of eight red 3d KGVI stamps, the right hand block of four with the By Authority Imprint, and both blocks with the small circle in the selvedge (so-called ‘perforation pip’) plus a single blue 7½d KGVI stamp, a total of 2/7½d paying the 2/6d airmail rate to the West Indies in 1952. There is added interest as there are 3

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WILLIS ISLAND RADIO STATION, to BURNS PHILP, GIZO, BR. SOLOMON ISL’D

The cover is addressed to Mr. C. Williamson, C/o Burns Philp, Gizo, B.S.I. and the 2 green 1d KGV Head stamps are cancelled with the arrival postmark GIZO/ 17 AP 39/ BRITISH SOLOMON IS. The cover was handstamped with an oval RADIO STATION/ 7 APR 1939/ WILLIS ISLAND (whence it originated), there was a ms. ‘per MALAITA’, as well as an additional straight line handstamp ‘WILLIS ISLAND’ (Figure 1). The

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