388th Auction

1840, Victoria One Penny black QC with good margins on three sides, closed at bottom right, clear strike of the Maltese cross in red, thin at right, otherwise fine, additional 2 d. blue CG, Maltese cross in black, closed on two sides, tiny faults

1841, QV 1 d. red-brown SL on blued paper with wmk. Small Crown,unused no gum, imperforate with good margins on three sides, closed at left, fine 

1840, QV 2d. blue, plate 2, horizontal pair, lettered EK-EL, four mostly good margins, cancelled with Maltese Cross in black, lovely bold strikes, right stamp tiny vertical crease, otherwise fine and attractive. Certificate P.E. London. (1996)

1926, König Georg V. mit schwarzem L1 “HOMERIC” auf Luftpost-Vordruckbrief als Versuchs-Vorausflug von der SS Homeric für spätere Katapultpost-Flüge via “NEW YORK NOV.25” mit Freimarke 2 C. nach Milburn mit Ankunftsstempel und vorderseitig eigenhändiger Unterschrift des Piloten. Dazu Vordruckbrief mit Freimarke USA 5 C. und Maschinenstempel “N.Y. AUG.29.1924” sowie L1 “HOMERIC nach Deutschland und kleiner Prospekt ”HOMERIC - THE SHIP OF SPLENDOR"

1969, Anniversaries NATO 1 s. 6 d., one showing variety black omitted, the other with variety yellow-green (flags) omitted, both mint never hinged and very fine, each with cert. BPA (2014)

1882, £5 orange on blued paper, AA, handstamped "SPECIMEN", type 9, very good colour, mostly very good perforations, unused with part original gum with various paper residues, a few shortened perfs at upper right and one short perf at lower right, otherwise in fine and fresh quality. Certificate Louis BPP (2025)

Provenance: 2025, re-discovered from a recent find near Frankfurt, Main (Germany) in a printed “All World” stamp album, assembled by a stamp collector around 1900.

1862/64, 9 d. straw, tied by duplex "545/NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE AP 23 63" to entire letter, endorsed "via Osend" and with Hamburger transit mark, to Copenhagen. A scarce reduced rate franking. Certificate Sismondo (2002)

1878, wm 'Maltese Cross', 10 s. greenish-gray, GF, bright fresh colour, very good perforations, unused with part original gum and various paper residues, central thin on reverse causing internal tear below the Queen's ear, otherwise in fresh quality. The stamp originally from an “antique” printed stamp album where it was stuck on a page with its original gum. According to Mr Louis, only 60 unused stamps of this classic rarity are known to exist, some of which are held in institutional collections, such as postal museums, and are therefore unavailable to private collectors. This stamp was previsouly not recorded. Cert. Louis BPP (2025)

Provenance: 2025, re-discovered from a recent find near Frankfurt, Main (Germany) in a printed “All World” stamp album, assembled by a stamp collector around 1900.

1878, wm 'Maltese Cross', £1 brown-lilac, DI, very good colour, very good perforations, unused without gum, central heavy thin on reverse and minor surface rubbing on the front in the bottom right corner, two light horizontal creases (almost invisible and not further affecting the appearance), otherwise in fresh quality. The stamp originally from an “antique” printed stamp album where it was stuck on a page with its original gum.  According to Mr Louis, only 56 unused stamps of this classic rarity are known to exist, some of which are held in institutional collections, e.g. postal museums, and are therefore unavailable to private collectors. This stamp was previsouly not recorded. Cert. Louis BPP (2025).

Provenance: 2025, re-discovered from a recent find near Frankfurt, Main (Germany) in a printed “All World” stamp album, assembled by a stamp collector around 1900.

OFFICIALS: 1840, Unissued "VR" 1 d. black, LL, small but regular margins all around, unused without gum, slightly toned, otherwise in good and fresh quality. According to Mr. Louis, “It is possible that the stamp was used by Rowland Hill for cancellation removal trials carried out in June 1840. The stamps were coated with unknown substances, then cancelled, and finally treated chemically to remove or wash off the obliteration. The chemical process might have caused the toning of the paper. Stamps from the horizontal “L” row are recorded having been used for those trials." Certificate Louis BPP (2025)

Provenance: 2025, re-discovered from a recent find near Frankfurt, Main (Germany) in a printed “All World” stamp album, assembled by a stamp collector around 1900.

1847, Mulready wrapper 1 d. black, stereo A159, cancelled by red Maltese Cross handstamp, on reverse arrival mark BELFAST AU/29 1840, fine red wax seal and dated red marking on reverse, spot on top left, vertical crease, early usage to Ireland

1847, Mulready wrapper 2 d. blue, stereo a201, from Dublin to Kilkenny cancelled by “186” Irish numeral of Dublin, blue Kilkenny OC/12/1847 bs., fine red wax seal and dated red marking on reverse, slightly toned, horizontal fold at top, still a scarce cancel and late usage on the Mulready (SG £ 1.400)

1856, 50 b. blue with 2 b. olive green tied by overlapping diamond cancellations on a complete, freshly preserved collector's folded letter with full content, alongside local ‘ROMA 3.1.1856’ cds., ‘ROMA FRANCA’ and red decorative oval ‘A FRANCA’, addressed to Luciano Serra/ Duca di Cardinale/ Palazzo Paliano/ Napoli with red arrival mark on reverse. 50 b. tiny closed at bottom, otherwise absolutely flawless, fantastically fresh with part of the neighbouring stamp on the right in an equally effective and rare combination. Certificate E. Diena (1989)

1859, 80 c. bistre-olive, fresh colour, good to large balanced margins, unused without gum, very fine, opinion Colla (2025)

1851, King Emmanuel II 40 c. lilac rose, two fresh examples of this rare shade, margins shaved or touched to large, each tied by mute cancel to folded entire to Thann, France with alongside departure cds. “TORINO”, red “P.D.” and transit cds. “PONT DE BEAUVOISIN 6 MARS 1853”, reverse transit via Lyon and arrival “THANN 9 MARS 1853”. One 40 c. with a strong paper crease, still a fine, very rare and attractive franking, slightly overpaid at the previous 1844 postal convention, certificate Bottacchi AIEP (2024) (Sassone-Nr. 3d)

CEPT 50 Rp., Oberrandstück, mit Abart "orange Farbe um 1 mm nach rechts verschoben", postfrisch

CEPT 50 Rp., Unterrandstück, mit Abart "violette Farbe um 1 mm nach unten verschoben", postfrisch

1931, Zeppelin 1-2 Fr., Randstück bzw. rechte obere Bogenecke, je auf Beleg der Lausanne-Fahrt

1919, War widows and orphans 2 c. - 5 fr., 15 c. unused, otherwise mint never hinged. Very fine and fresh.

1852, blue fiscal handstamps “TE ZEGELEN” and “NOORD HOLLAND 1 C.” on a complete printed matter and its wrapper, dated inside 7 April 1852, sent to Innsbruck, Tyrol with departure cds. “AMSTERDAM 6-4", reverse railway postmark “DEUTZ-MINDEN 7 4”, two-line “BEGRENZ 11” and arrival Innsbruck, minor peripheral ageing not detracting, very fine and very scarce

1947, Airmail set of 17 values, (10c., 15c. and 60c. missing) mint never hinged, fresh and very fine

1941, Wilhelmina 10 c. – 10 g. as imperforated proofs, all in horizontal pairs, including 10 c. in 4 different colours

1906, Freimarken 2-5 Ö. mit Stempel “HAMMERFEST 24.VIII.06” in Mischfrankatur mit Spitzbergen-Vignette 10 Ö. braun mit violettem EKr. “ADVENT-BAY” auf Spitzbergen-Ansichtskarte mit viel Text und Schiffspost-L1 “Kong Harald.” nach Leipzig mit Ankunftsstempel, in guter Erhaltung

1900, “S.S. AUGUSTE VICTORIA SPITZBERGEN 16.JUL.1900” violetter EKr. sehr klar auf blauer Vignette “Eisbär” 20 Öre auf Brief mit Norwegen Freimarke 20 Ö. blau mit Stempel “DIGERMULEN 18.vII.00” nach Bad Elster mit Ankunftsstempel. Der Umschlag mit senkrechten Faltspuren, die Vignette ist in guter Erhaltung

1854, “VÍKEN 24.0.1854” blauer EKr. klar auf Faltbriefhülle von “STRALSUND 21.9.” mit Ra1 “FRANCO.” via Hamburg nach Bergen mit Weiterfranko-Vermerk “fr 6½” nach Bergen mit Nachsende-Vermerk. Ein Rötel-Vermerk ist abgeschwächt, ansonsten in guter Erhaltung, ein nicht häufiger Schiffspoststempel

10 k. dark blue/carmine, fresh colours and nicely centered, unused and regummed, a couple of short perfs on the right due to cissor´s cut, otherwise very fine, scarce, certificate Philatelic Experts (2024)

1934, Philatelic Exposition Katowice: Special exhibition picture postcard bearing the special stamp 20 g. and 2 g. orange, both tied by special exhibition datestamp on 12th May 1934, very fine and attractive

1944, Handstamp “POCTZA POLSKA” on Generalgouvernement Hitler 24 Groszy, with inverted overprint, tied by cds. “KONSKIE 16 II 45” to small piece of registered cover, fine and scarce

1944, Handstamp “4” on Generalgouvernement Hitler 24 and 30 Groszy, mint never hinged, some minor color adhesion, very fine, signed Schmutz

1936, First Flight cover Linha Aerea 1.Expedicao 3.2.36 Lisboa-London and postal stationery card with same cancellation to Germany, each showing mixed frankings with Acores

1896, King Carol 5 b. blue postal stationery card used uprated with 5 b. blue, clear cancelled GALATI 31/JAN/96, red transit LONDON FE/4/96 and arrival mark ST. HELENA MR/10/96, all cancellations on front and full message for stamp exchange on reverse. A very early destination to Africa and to a British Colony, Romanian maritime mail service to Egypt began after 1899. In PROFI archive is no other mail from Romania to St. Helena recorded.

1931/32, CIDNA airmail post labels ‘PAR AVION’, two different booklets, one large size turkish-french bilingual, punched and without labels, with turkey revenues preprinted on reverse, the other small size containing 27 labels (missing 1) in french showing romanian air mail cover of 1931 imprint with tarifs for all countries on the route. The booklets advertise the 1 day flight from Paris, France to Turkey and retour. CIDNA was the name change from 1925 of CFRNA “The French-Romanian Company for Air Transport”. Fine and scarce.

1866, letter sheet with clear c.d.s. "GALATZ 2/5" and adjacent "FRANCO", to Corfu, franked upon arrival with 20 l. blue, clear to large margins, tied by Kerkyra cds. Vertical folds not affecting the stamps. A fine and rare entire.

1875, unpaid letter sheet from "GALATZI 20 APR" via Vienna and Triest to Corfu, taxed "100" lepta and paid with postage due 1875, 1 dr., tied by dotted "106". The stamp stamp was lifted for inspection, otherwise very fine and fresh. A very rare and attractive pre-UPU cover. Certificate Simmermacher BPP (2004)

1872, Paris print 10 b. blue, 15 b. deep brown and 25 b. yellowish bistre (2), tied to envelope from "BACAU 7 JUN 75", endorsed "via Varna", to Athens, paying the full tariff for mail to Greece of 75 bani (the cover was presumably held at the P.O. awaiting full payment, as the 10 b. is cancelled a day after the other three stamps). On reverse transit marks of Bucharest, Galatz, Constantinople and Piraeus. Charged for local delivery with postage due 1875, 40 l. tied by dotted "1". An exceptional and most unusual pre-UPU cover. Certificate Heimbüchler (2012).

Provenance: Fritz Heimbüchler (Corinphila 2013)

1858, Handstruck 40 parale blue on thin blueish paper, showing clear and rare "Double Print" of the entire design in an under-inked pale shade, cancelled FRANCO PIATRA in black, full margins, very fine and scarce