| Lot |
Type |
Qual |
Description |
Estimate |
Starting Price |
Your Bid |
AUSTRALIA Kangaroos - Small Multiple Watermark - Stamps on Cover |
| 2034 | ✉ | | The Donald Harkness Remarkable Kangaroo Franking 1933 (Mar 25) parcel-wrapping portion bearing an extraordinary postage composition comprising Third Wmk £1 grey x11, SMult Wmk £2 x3 plus KGV 4d olive paying an aggregate £17.1.4d, representing, by a quantum margin, the record franking, for a pre-war postal article.
At upper left endorsed "Accepted/Weight/32lbs/T Hart/Inquiry Office/G.P.O./Sydney" with "£17.1.4" beneath. 32lbs exceeded the limit for parcel post, and the article was therefore required to be charged at full letter rate, as follows:
£17.1.4d postage represents 512ozs (32lbs) at 2d per oz. Letter rate = 1,024d (or £4.5.4d) + airmail surcharge 3d per ½oz = 3,072d (£12.16.0d) = Total £17.1.4d.
This article, which was professionally restored in 2012 (and affixed to non-acidic backing paper), is the record, and the most remarkable Kangaroo franking extant, retaining the essential elements required to confirm origin, destination, postal service utilised, and to determine and confirm the franking.
Rod Perry, in Australian Stamp News (Nov 2012) stated "I rate this survivor, against the odds, as one of the ten greatest items of Australian Commonwealth Philately."
Most major Commonwealth collections, past and present, including Australia Post Archival Collection and The Royal Collection, have relatively poor usage representation (most had/have none). At last the opportunity to acquire this unrivalled Kangaroo usage article is available.
Historial notes:
1. The recipient of the original parcel Donald James Harkness (1898-1972) was a pioneer in the Australian automotive and aeronautical industries, and a record-breaking racing car driver; the first Australian to exceed 100mph over a measured mile. The subject parcel is believed to have contained an automotive part, dispatched during an endurance trial across Northern Australia.
2. The destination, Newcastle Waters, a 10,353 sq km breeding property in the West Barkly region of the Northern Territory, was once owned by the late Kerry Packer, for decades Australia's richest person. | 80,000.00 |
This lot is no longer available | | |
AUSTRALIA - First Flight Covers |
| 2123 | ✉ | | 1939 (Mar 6) airmail cover (minor blemishes) Sydney to GB at 5d Empire Air Mail Scheme (EAMS) 5d per ½oz rate, posted at 9pm, too late for QANTAS SW91 (Corio) and therefore loaded onto SW92 (Capella) which on March 11 struck a sunken wreck whilst landing at Batavia, DEI, the mail load transferred to Corio before the aircraft became waterlogged (Capella was damaged irreparably and subsequently scrapped). Only the second Capella incident cover to be discovered. | 2,500.00 |
This lot is no longer available | | |
VICTORIA - Postal Stationery - Franks |
| 2181 | ✉ | | Commissioner Of Crown Lands & Survey: handstamp in blue Karman #V270.1 on 1875 (May 4) Melbourne registered cover with 'CORRESPONDENCE DIVISION/DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND AGRICULTURE' imprint (unrecorded by Stieg & Watson) at lower-left, 'TOO LATE' & rare 'UNCLAIMED'-in-oval handstamp in green, very fine strike of unframed 'MT COLE/MY7/75/VICTORIA' arrival datestamp (rare) at left, DLB 'JN14' backstamp in green, fine condition overall.
 | 350.00 |
This lot is no longer available | | |
LITERATURE |
| 2304 | L | | India: 'Express Mail, After Packets and Late Fees in India before 1870' by Max Smith & Robert Johnson, 291pp softbound, cover blemishes, published by the Stuart Rossiter Trust (2007).
 | 40.00 |
10.00 sold |
|
CANADA - Postal History |
| 2392 | ✉ | | 1942 (Aug 17) late use of 1897 Jubilee 1c, 5c x2 & 8c on Special Delivery cover from Midland (Ontario) to USA, Chicago backstamps.
 | 50.00 |
32.00 sold |
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