An inwards piece of mail was addressed to John Drummond Esq, Naval Officer, Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land. There was a red PAID SHIP LETTER/ [Crown]/ 7 MR 7/ 1818/ LONDON postmark, as well as a manuscript ‘1/9′ in red paying the single rate to N.S.W. The entire’s letter was headed ‘Enfield Highway 5th 1818′. The vendor stated that it was the second earliest inwards mail to Tasmania, and an estimate
Three entires were found addressed to James Denham Pinnock over a period of 1847-1851, in his capacity as a public servant serving in two different roles in Melbourne. The first dated was addressed to him as the Deputy Registrar General, Supreme Court, Melbourne, Port Philip (sic) in July 1847. The front had a black rectangular boxed ‘JERRRYS PLAINS/ FREE’ and the ‘FREE’ was black-inked out with a wavy line and
This 1850 Victorian cover has an 1850 2d ‘Half Length’ stamp cancelled by the ‘butterfly 14/V’ of Ovens and it is addressed to Wm Gray Nairn, Geelong. There is nothing to suggest the name of the sender. The reverse was not seen (Figure 1). My interest in William Nairn Gray was initially piqued by a website concerning house names in the Colony of Victoria. The information was quite limited but intriguing, a
This philatelically contrived cover is different from the vast majority of such covers in that it celebrates the centenary of the landing in South Australia of an ancestor of the sender, the addressee on the cover. The cover has the 1d green KGV sideface Australian stamp cancelled by the roller cancel, ADELAIDE/ 11 AM/ 10 FEB/ 1937/ S.A. In addition, a photograph of W.H. Gray is adhered to the cover,
The cover has the blue ‘Four Corners’ 2d QV and the green ½d QV stamps of Queensland canceled by the duplex BRISBANE/ 23/ JA 20/ 1905/ QUEENSLAND postmark, and there is a red manuscript ‘Private’. The cover is addressed to W.D. Le Roy Esq., Magician etc, office and salesroom, 103 Court Street, Boston, Mass., United States America. There is a printed sender’s name ‘Postmaster-General’s Department, Brisbane’(Figure 1). The reverse has
This registered cover looks as if it might be philatelically inspired (on account of its neatness and by the use of 6 Australian stamps of 4 different colours), but a total cost of 1/ 8½d would seem to be an unnecessary price to pay for a non-First Day Cover of the three 150th Anniversary of Newcastle stamps, which were issued on 8 Sep 1947. The cover is postmarked RABAUL/ 13
Once again, mail to Tattersalls in Hobart (via one of the many forwarding agents, the Commercial Bank) reveals an interesting story. The registered cover has a strip of three blue 2d ‘Figures in four corners’ Queensland stamps as well as the same design single orange vermilion 1d stamp. There are four strikes of the barred numeral ‘534′, as well as a single strike of the unframed CLONCURRY/ NO 3/ 05/
This Post Office memo is somewhat peripheral to the majority of the items on this website, but it is of particular interest not only because of its contents, but also because of the person issuing the directive. It was sent from Charles Todd to all South Australian Postmasters, and it reads (Figure 1): On no account must any information be given to the police or detectives respecting letters passing through