This 1855 letter was addressed to a circus but unclaimed by the addressee and it was accompanied by a Post Office List which was advertised in the Melbourne Morning Herald of March 10, 1855. The letter had an orange-yellow 6d ‘woodblock’ stamp of Victoria postmarked with a barred oval ‘2 over V’ of Geelong and alongside there was a red butterfly cancel ‘14 over V’ . It was addressed to Mr. Jones,
This inward bound letter had three stamps from England postmarked with a duplex of LONDON-N/ X/ NO 25/ 60 with a barred obliterator N/ 16 addressed to John Bon Esq, Wappan, Delatite River, Melbourne Australia (Figure 1). Interestingly the Australian Dictionary of Biography was for his wife Ann Fraser Bonn with limited information about her husband. Ann was born 9 April 1838 at Dunning, Scotland the daughter of David Dougall,
With a modest stretch of imagination the label could be classed as postal ephemera, and it did appear several times on eBay Australian philatelic auctions. It was a label to be affixed to boxes posted with breakable Pottery Ware (Figure 1). I acknowledge that this short paper is taken directly from the John Campbell & Sons Pottery history site at http://www.auspottery.com/Campbell_history.htm . “In 1902 Campbell’s pottery became the first industry
The present postcard cannot be called postal history as my card has not been through the post. It shows a group of longitudinally challenged individuals in fine formal ware, five ladies and six gentlemen. The group are described as Zeynard’s Amazing Midget Circus. Tiny-Town. The Big Show and the reverse simply has Post Card, without any identification as to the maker or country. (Figure 1). Information on the group is
This intriguing On His Majesty’s Service cover has a blue-green ‘Bantam’ ½d and a pair of OS perfined pink ‘ONE PENNY’ stamps of Victoria canceled with a duplex CANTERBURY/ MY 5/ 12/ VICTORIA with the barred numeral ‘722′. The printed address at lower left identifies that it originated from the Education Department, Melbourne, 1. It was addressed to The Secretary, Simplified Spelling Board, No. 1. Madison Avenue, New York, U.S. America. The
The Post Office in New South Wales was responsible for several innovations in the philatelic area, and the two Charity Stamps of June 1897 influenced other countries to issue similar items. This included the two Charity stamps of Victoria which were issued in October 1897. The 1990 issue of the Australasian Stamp Catalogue (A.S.C.) gives the best historical information of these stamps which were designed by C. Turner and typographed
This unpretentious cover was sent by William Lewis, Sydney to the Hawkeye Pearl Button Co., Muscatine, Iowa, U.S.A., and it has quite a story behind it. The blue 2½ d Roo on map of Australia stamp is postmarked with a roller cancel, SYDNEY/ DE 19/ 1917/ NOON/ N.S.W. (Figure 1). The making of buttons from mother of pearl was introduced into the United States about 1855, but at that time
This ‘TELEGRAM, IMMEDIATE’ cover was postmarked CUMNOCK/ AP 4/1878/ N.S.W. and was addressed to A.E. Anderson, C/o G(eorge) or his son S(age) Bruce, Loombah (N.S.W.) The CHARGES TO PAY ‘Message’ and ‘Porterage’ were not filled in. There was a ms. ‘N.M.’ at top left, the meaning of which is uncertain (Figure 1). The reverse had a blue oval on the flap, with the print ‘NEW SOUTH WALES/ ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH’ (Figure
Several telegrams were sent to George Mackaness in 1938 on the occasion of King George VI bestowing the Order of the British Empire on him for his services to Australia in so many aspects of his teachings of the English language, his many literary and historical publications and his zeal in promoting Australiana. I have chosen 2 examples, the first from the Prime Minister of Australia at that time, Joseph
The cover had a purple 2½d ‘Sideface’ stamp of Tasmania cancelled with a roller HOBART postmark of the early 1900s and it was addressed to W. Schulz Jnr, General Manager, The Cosmopolitan Correspondence Club, Milwaukee, Wis., U.S.A. and there was a ‘medallion’ at the top left corner. The reverse was not seen (Figure 1). The ‘medallion’ was a ‘sticker’ denoting THE COSMOPOLITAN CORRESPONDENCE CLUB, MILWAUKEE, WIS. U.S.A. The sticker was