The front of this unpretentious cover has nothing to do with the story that will unfold. It was sent from the G.P.O. Adelaide on November 18, 1896 with two South Australia stamps, the orange 2d and the ½d brown, a Mr. Kenton in Brooklyn New York (Fig 1). It was the flap on the reverse that caught my attention, for it had a printed ‘John James Virgo, Gen. Sec., Young
My interest in Reverend Bodger was stimulated by acquiring an interesting cover addressed to him. It was addressed in particularly fine manuscript to The Revd Canon Bodger, C/o Australian Board of Mission, 14 Spring Street, Sydney and was sent by airmail, as shown by a boxed purple stamping, and was faintly postmarked LAE/ 25 SE 51/ PAPUA NEW GUINEA on the blue 5½d emu definitive stamp of Australia, issued 12
This entire appeared on eBay auctions, listed by a German vendor. The address side has a manuscript ‘1305′ and is addressed ‘To the Secretaries of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, 77 Halton Garden, London’ and in the lower left hand there is a manuscript ‘/Tonga/’. The large obliquely placed manuscript superimposed on the address is the cost of sending the letter, but it is difficult to be sure of the amount, perhaps
Some 60 covers were posted from Papua-New Guinea with Australian definitive stamps in the 1950s at the Printed Matter Rate of 3 pence. There was some duplication in the postmarking and a selection was made of post offices that were uncommon in personal experience. They were all addressed to Dr. Allan Hauck, 730 Park Avenue, Newport, Kentucky, United States of America. The first cover front is the only one showed
This telegraphic message cover has postmark interest for in addition to the duplex postmark of HAMILTON/ FE 5/ 83/ VICTORIA with the barred numeral ‘46′ , there was a blue POSTMASTER-GENERAL / VICTORIA/ FRANK STAMP, as well as the faint blue double oval POST AND TELEGRAPH OFFICE/ HAMILTON/ FE 5/ 1883 ‘Belt & Buckle’ cancellation. The cover was addressed to Rev. C.W. Schurmann, Hochkirk. There was also an illegible manuscript
The cover was sent from W.H. Pethard of Northcote South, Melbourne and the orange 2d KGV Head stamp was postmarked with a roller cancel of MELBOURNE/ 430AM/ 26 APR/ 1935/ VICTORIA with a slogan AIR MAIL/ SAVES TIME. It was sent to The Rev. A. Leyland Bird B.G.S., The Rectory, Brewarrina, N.S.W. There was a reception postmark of BREWARRINA/ 29 AP 35/ N.S.W and it was redirected to Angledool Stn,
This undated stampless entire is interesting particularly because of a rare postmark, and its early date in the colony of Van Diemen’s Land. It is addressed to Reverend William Bedford, Hobart Town, with the signature of E. Abbott, who the vendor stated was E. Abbott, Tasmanian M.L.C. The only cancellation is the rare oval undated LAUNCESTON handstamp (Figure 1). H.M. Campbell et al’s book “Tasmania: The Postal History and Postal Markings” (1962)
This cover has a strip of three ½d green ‘Roo on map of Australia’ stamps plus a single red 1d stamp of the same design. The stamps are cancelled with four examples of the LAMEROO/ JY/ 11/ 13/ S.A squared circle postmarks. There is a printed red illustration with at least half of the diagram obscured by the three green stamps. The cover is addressed to Dr. J. Berg Esenwein,
The registered airmail cover has 3 Australian definitives, a green 3d Q.E, brown-purple kookaburra and a brown 2s crocodile, totalling 2 shillings and 9 pence. It was sent in the early 1950s from Manly, Queensland and it has a blue MANLY E2/ QUEENSLAND registration label as well as the red crayon cross-hatching. It is addressed to Pastor Roy allan Anderson, C/O The Headquarters of the Seventh Day Adventists, London, England,
A purchase of some 30 WW II censored covers mostly to the University of Notre Dame included 2 covers that were sent to the Most Rev. John F. O’Hara, C.S.C., D.D. The markings on one of these covers were not out of the ordinary with a boxed BRISBANE/ Q’LAND/12-MA / 2 1 OCT 2/ 1944/ POSTED IN/ PILLARS (12 MA was an error for 12 AM) plus a red ‘1.