A collection of the mid-Victorian issues of Great Britain is far more difficult to complete than one devoted to the Victorian stamps of Mauritius. Even the ‘Post Office’ Mauritius must be considered quite common when compared with some of the British rarities, although the market price of the Mauritius stamps is considerably higher. The anomaly is attributable to the fact that the rarities of Great Britain lack the glamour, romance and fiction which has grown up around the issues from the home of the dodo.
To understand why some of these early stamps are so rare, it is necessary to refer to the practice at the time when a plate was finished and ready for press. The invariable practice was to print a sheet for approval to be marked ‘imprimatur’, that is, ‘let it be printed’. The general, but not invariable, practice was to print at the same time five extra sheets, which are referred to as the usual five extra sheets. The imprimatur sheet was then registered and kept in the archives at Somerset House. It was not perforated but the usual five extra sheets were perforated in the normal way and then issued. In some instances no general issue was made after the imprimatur sheet from the plate had been registered; sometimes a general issue was delayed for a long time after such registration. In either of those two events stamps from the usual five extra sheets are termed ‘abnormals’ – all of which are rare. Some are great rarities.
A list of the abnormals, in ascending order of face value, is as follows:
3d. Plate 3 of 1862-1864 ‘Threepence Secret Dots’ SG 78
4d. vermilion Plate 16 of 1873-1880 SG 152
4d. sage green Plate 17 of 1873-1880 SG 153
6d. mauve Plate 10 of 1867-1880 SG 109
6d. pale chestnut Plate 12 of 1872-1873 SG 124
6d. pale buff Plate 13 of 1873 SG 145
9d. bistre Plate 3 of 1862-1864 the ‘Ninepence Hair Lines’ SG 88
9d. straw Plate 5 of 1865-1867 SG 46
10d. red brown Plate ‘2’ of 1867-1880 SG 114
1s. deep green Plate 2 (3) of 1862-1864 SG 91
1s. green Plate 14 of 1873-1880 SG 150
2s. blue Plate 3 of 1867-1880 SG 120
A further stamp often included in the list is: 10d. red-brown Plate 1 of 1867 printed in error on ‘Emblems’ watermark paper SG 99, though it is not derived from the five extra sheets.
Of recent years some authorities have also included among the abnormals the 1s. printed in purple doubly-fugitive ink from Plate 14 SG 163 noted, which was never issued in that colour. Some examples were employed for Before and After the Stamp Committee. No used example of the 1s. purple Plate 14 has been recorded. The 1s. purple Plate 13 (which was printed at the same time as, and side-by-side with, the 1s. purple Plate 14) was never issued.
1862-64 3d Rose pl.3 with white dots below the spandrels, imperforate from the abnormal plate. Lot 30127 from our June 30th-July 1st auction series
The Ninepence Hair Lines
The characteristic of 9d. bistre Plate 3 May 1862 is the addition of fine uncoloured lines, known as hair lines, across the outer angles of the squares containing the check-letters in each corner of the design. About seventy examples of the Ninepence Hair Lines with perforations have been recorded. Of them only about ten are unused. Used examples are known from at least nine different places in England.
One Shilling deep green Plate numbered “2”
Philatelists are, inevitably it seems at times, faced with complications. Consider the one shilling stamps of 1862-1864. Each design is twice neatly numbered in a little box which breaks a double-lined oval surrounding the Queen’s head. In the box appears either ‘1’ or ‘2’ – for two plates were used in printing the stamps.
In addition, the plates bore their numbers which were printed in the margins of each sheet. Anyone could be forgiven for taking it for granted that stamps with ‘1’ in the boxes would be from sheets with the same number in the margins; and similarly with stamps bearing the number ‘2’.
Do they? They do not. The margins of the sheet with stamps bearing ‘1’ are numbered ‘2’, and the margins of the sheet with stamps bearing ‘2’ are numbered ‘3’.
Why? Because, just over six years earlier, in November 1856, a one shilling green stamp, without numbers in the design – indeed, without check-letters in each corner – was issued, and the sheet number ‘1’ appeared in the sheet margin. Plate 2, with stamps numbered ‘1’, was used for printing the normally issued stamps.
Stamps numbered ‘2’ from Plate 3 are abnormals, they have hair lines across each outer angle of the squares containing the check-letters. The plate was never put to press.
Some at least of the usual five extra sheets were printed but they were not officially perforated. Some stamps are known with perforation from a line machine gauging 14. Others, including two pairs, are known imperforate.
Seven examples unused and perforated have been recorded. The letters in the lower corner squares are: A – A; A – D; A – E (as lot 527 in Stanley Gibbons’ fourth auction of the “Maximus” collection on 27 November 1970, the stamp realised £1,500); B – C; E – A; E – I and T – A.
9d. straw Plate 5 (1866)
The most unusual abnormal is the 9d. of the 1865-1867 issue printed from Plate 5. It is known only unused although Wright and Creeke record the discovery of a used example. Plate 5 was registered on 24 April 1866. It was never put to press.
De La Rue & Co, who had unceasingly harped for years on their doubly fugitive inks as being safeguards to the revenue, succeeded in so impressing the authorities that a series of stamps in those inks was produced and issued between August 1883 and April 1884. The stamps were known as the ‘Unified Series’ because they did duty not only for postage but also for revenue purposes, and they were so inscribed. Such a monstrous inelegance were they that they aroused a veritable storm of criticism and a commission of inquiry was appointed by the House of Commons. The members were the Postmaster-General, the secretary to the Post Office, the chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue and a ‘Stamp Committee’ consisting of a chairman and four members.
The Stamp Committee, which sat at the General Post Office, met between mid-1884 and 1887 and eventually resulted in the production of the so-called ‘Jubilee’ issue of 1887-1892. The decision was taken to provide officials and members of the Stamp Committee with a memento of their efforts and their results.
Lot 60045 from our May 2005 Rarities of the World auction, a 9d straw plate 5 from King George V’s collection, the only stamp he sold in his lifetime, which we sold for CHF69’915. The stamp has also graced the collections of Trivett, Hind and Shaida.
Each memento – there were, eventually, thirty-nine of them – comprised an album titled Before and After the Stamp Committee. They contained three leaves each with eleven recessed rectangles; respectively the pages bore stuck down stamps of the series superseded by the issue of April 1884; the series issued April 1884; and the series determined upon by the Stamp Committee and issued January 1887.
For the mementos the 9d. stamp was required, and thirty-six examples were removed from what was left of the imprimatur sheet of Plate 5. It is that occurrence which leads to the conclusion that, if the usual five extra sheets were printed, they were destroyed before the albums were prepared. The stamps removed were perforated 14, seemingly comb, by De La Rue & Co; twelve of them were returned and stuck back on to the imprimatur sheet in a straight row, nine from the N row and then one M, one K and again one M. At least twelve of the other perforated stamps were used in the mementos of 1890.
No example of the 9d. Plate 5 has been found with the normal comb perforation.
An example, lettered K – L in the lower corners, taken from one of the albums of mementos, was in the Royal Collection and was presented by King George V to be sold in aid of the National Philatelic War Funds on 13 March 1916. The stamp was mounted on a card inscribed in the handwriting of Sir Edward Denny Bacon, then Curator of the King’s Philatelic Collections, and signed by the King. The inscription reads:
This 9d. Plate 5, Gt. Britain stamp was taken from my collection and given to the National Philatelic War Funds Auction in September 1915.
George RI.
At the sale, as lot 35, the stamp realised £280; it was bought by Stanley Gibbons Ltd., who returned it for sale again. The second time, it reached £245, the purchaser being Frank Godden, a well-known dealer. The stamp was thus the means of adding £525 to the fund. Subsequently that example passed through the L.O. Trivett and Arthur Hind collections and realised £250 at the Hind sale. The stamp, still on its card as signed by King George V, was in the Corinphila sale 63 at Zurich, as lot 2062, on 11 March 1980, with an estimated price of 7,500 Swiss francs and a reference to a Stanley Gibbons catalogue, 86th edition 1980, of a price of £8,500. It realised SFr 17,000 (£4645). In David Feldman’s Rarities of the World sale on 24 May 2005, with an estimated price of SFr 20,000 to 30,000, it realised SFr 59,000 plus 18.5% buyer’s premium.
On 22 October 1992 at Phillips’s sale 29097 of Dr. Latts’s collection an example lettered K – A was lot 130.
On 19 October 1977 in Edgar Mohrmann & Co’s 148 sale in Hamburg, as lot 1999, an example lettered K – F was described as very fresh and fine. On 7 March 1984 at Sotheby Parke Bernet & Co’s sale, as lot 183, the stamp was unsold.
On 15 November 1979 at Stanley Gibbons’ sale 5549, as lot 330, an example lettered K – J realised £4,675.
On 1 March 1983 in Harmers of London’s sale 4371, as lot 389, an example lettered L D which had formed part of the presentation volume Before and After the Stamp Committee, realised £4,095.
An example lettered L – H in the lower corners in the Isleham Collection, auctioned by Christie’s Robson Lowe in New York 11-12 March 1987, as lot 2021 realized $10,450 (£6,527).
On 5 June 1980 an example lettered L – K and described as ‘repaired in places’ was included in Phillips’ sale 22812, as lot 136.
On 12 February 1981 at Stanley Gibbons’ sale 5578 of the John O. Griffiths collection, as lot 108, an example lettered N – K realised £3,410; it was described as ‘regummed’ and ‘Ex-Silkin’.
On 21 June 1984 at Phillips’ sale 25030, as lot 317, an example lettered L – I described as ‘very fresh mint… part original gum’ was unsold.
6d. mauve Plate 10 (1867-1880)
The plate was registered on 1 April 1869 and was never put to press. According to the warrant issued for use of the paper, only one sheet was specifically for that plate. No example of the stamp in unused condition has been recorded.
Records exist of the following ten examples, the lettering being that of the lower corner squares only.
C – A. Postmarked 545 (Newcastle upon Tyne). On 10 November 1966 at Stanley Gibbons’ auction, as lot 174, the stamp realised £800. On 19 October 1977 the stamp was included in Edgar Mohrmann & Co’s 148 auction, as lot 2002.
D – A. In the Royal Collection.
E – H. The design is centred low to left; at right, the stamp has a wing margin i.e. a vertical line of perforations only in the centre of the gutter between the panes. Cancelled 105 in diamond in upright oval of bars. The cancellation obscures the plate number, On 17 January 1936 at Harmer Rooke’s auction the stamp was lot 177.
G – B. The design is centred low to right. Postmarked 545. On 16 January 1956 at H.R Harmer’s sale of the ‘Per Gjerding’ collection, as lot 188, the stamp realised £270. It was bought for £1000 by Frank Stott on 30 October 1963 at Robson Lowe’s auction of the Burrus collection. The stamp was lot 179 in Phillips’s sale of Dr. Latto’s collection on 22 October, 1992; it sold for £7000.
K – I. The stamp, which has a clipped wing margin at left, is slightly thinned in the lower left corner. It has a postal marking of 15 as part of SE/15 in an oval of bars. Before World War II the stamp was taken by a dealer from Austria to South America and was sold to a dealer in New York. On 5 December 1949 at H. R. Harmer’s sale, as lot 162, the stamp realised £220. It was bought by K. M. Beaumont. On 7 December 1965 at Robson Lowe’s sale of the Beaumont collection, as lot 300, the stamp realised £480. On 5 July 1976 at H.R. Harmer’s sale, as lot 118, the stamp realised £800. On 12 April 1984 at Phillips’ sale 24931, as lot 215, the stamp was estimated to realise between £3,000 and £4,000; it realised £11,500 not including buyer’s premium and VAT.
M – L. The design is centred low. The stamp is cancelled with SE/15 in upright oval of bars. The stamp was discovered in 1978 and has B.P.A. certificate 84582.
O – K. Found in 1935 by a collector in Austria, who had read newspaper stories about the discovery and sale of the example lettered Q – H. The stamp is centred low. It is cancelled SE/13 in upright oval of bars. On 23 June 1936 it was sold at H.R. Harmer’s auction for £190. It was bought by J. de R. Philip. On 4 November 1959 at Robson Lowe’s sale, as lot 221, the stamp realised £550. At the Isleham Collection sale by Christie’s Robson Lowe in New York on 11-12 March 1987, as lot 2023, the stamp realized $18,700 (£11,680).
P – B. On cover addressed to Dr Henry Giglioli, 36 Lung Arno Nuovo, Florence. The letter bears the Weymouth 873 duplex cancellation dated 17 September 1869 and another indistinct marking and a red ‘PD’ in circle, indicating that the letter was paid to destination. On 27 October 1932 at Plumridge’s auction, as lot 78, the cover realised £365. The cover was acquired by H. C. V Adams and is now in the Reginald M. Phillips collection in the National Postal Museum, London.
Q – H. The stamp has a wing margin at right. It is cancelled ‘2’ in bars of Aberystwyth.
In 1935 the stamp was discovered in Hollywood, California. It was sold on 1 April 1935 by H. R. Harmer as lot 138, when it realised £155.
Q – K. Some perforations are trimmed at top and left. Postmarked SE/13 in upright oval of bars. On 27 November 1970 at Stanley Gibbons’ fourth auction of the Maximus collection, as lot 519, the stamp was unsold.
10d. deep red-brown Plate 2
Plate 2 was registered on 30 August 1867 but was never put to press. The usual five extra sheets were printed and over 50 examples of the stamp have been recorded.
Remarkable among them is a used pair with the lower letter squares bearing the letters P – C and P – D. The right-hand stamp of the pair has attached part of the adjoining pane margin and perforations vertically immediately beside the stamp. That form of perforation is unusual. Similarly positioned stamps from Plate 1, among many others, had a wing margin. There are records of another example of the 10d. from Plate 2 with vertical perforations immediately adjoining the stamp and having a wing margin sufficiently wide to establish that there was no central line of perforations.
In the Philatelic Journal of Great Britain vol 82 no 1 March 1972 an unused example, lettered J – I was pictured in colour. In the G.B. Journal for May 1975, in an article above the name “E. Kim”, J – I is tied up exactly with a used example lettered J – J in the sense that portions of the design encroached by the vertical perforation on the left of J – J are supplied by perforation “teeth” vertically at the right of J – I.
There is an example lettered R – G, which is recorded in The Royal Philatelic Collection with the comment that it had a repair.
In David Feldman’s catalogue for 27 – 30 June 1978, at Zurich, on page 402 appeared an enlarged illustration of a 10d. Plate 2 unused, lettered T – A; the teeth of the perforation at the top of the stamp indicate that it was severed by cutting.
Most of the existing used examples of the 10d. from Plate 2 have been found on letters sent by Messrs. Crosse & Blackwell to their agents in India.
4d. vermilion Plate 16
One of the rarest abnormals is the 4d. vermilion printed from Plate 16. In The Postage Stamps of Great Britain Part 3 by Beaumont and Easton p 121 appears the statement that at least eight perforated and used copies in vermilion have been reported. Stanley Gibbons’ Great Britain Specialised Stamp Catalogue vohune 1 (10th edition 1992) p 239 states that eight used copies are known. I have records of seven examples.
E – G. The stamp has a wing margin at left but is perforated close to the design. The design is centred to left and slightly low. The perforations at the lower right are slightly clipped. The stamp has an indistinct postmark, possibly 936. On 27 November 1970 at Stanley Gibbons’ fourth auction of the Maximus collection the stamp, as lot 517, realised £2,500.
E – J. The design is centred to left and slightly low. There is an indistinct, light postmark. The stamp is in the Royal Collection.
F – A. The design is centred slightly to left. The stamp is postmarked 383 (Hull). In Harmer, Rooke & Co. Inc.’s auction in New York on 28 November 1956 the stamp was lot 640.
F – E. The design is centred slightly to right. The stamp has an indistinct overall cancellation and a small imperfection at the top. On 17 November 1983 at Phillips’s auction sale 24712, as lot 138, the stamp realised £6,050.
I – H. The design is centred low so that the lower frame-line of the stamp above (H -H) is visible. The stamp is postmarked 561. At the Isleham Collection sale by Christie’s Robson Lowe in New York on 11-12 March 1987, as lot 2028, the stamp realized $20,350 (£13,077).
J – F. The design is centred low and slightly to right. The stamp has perforated initials CCB / +Co and is postmarked 383.
P – L. The design is centred high and to the right. There is an indistinct postmark. The stamp is in the Reginald M. Phillips collection in the National Postal Museum, London.
4d. sage green Plate 17
Complaints that the vermilion 4d. stamp was liable to be confused in artificial light with an 8d. value printed in orange and issued in September 1876 caused the 4d. from Plate 17 to be registered in green on 30 July 1877. However, that plate was not put to press until 10 June 1880, after another decision had been made to change the colour of the 4d. to brown. The sage green abnormal emanated from the usual five sheets made at the imprimatur stage.
As appears from “The Postage Stamps of Great Britain Part 3” by K. M. Beaumont and H. C. V. Adams Royal Philatelic Society, London 1954 p 59 and repeated in the revised edition of that part (1964), the only known perforated example of the 4d. green Plate 17 with a date is dated 17 September 1877; at least twenty other recorded examples seem to have been used in Bradford, the obliteration half of the duplex postmark bearing the number 107.
No perforated example is known unused.
Among the recorded examples are the following:
1873-80 4d Sage-Green pl.17 imperf. imprimatur from the rare “abnormal” plate. Lot 30179 in our June 30th-July 1st Auction Series
A-D. The stamp is centred to left and bears parts of both elements of the Bradford 107 duplex postmark. The stamp is in the Royal Collection.
A – I. The stamp was in the Manus collection auctioned by Plumridge on 27 October 1932 as lot 106. It has a circular date stamp part of the duplex postmark reading BRADFORD – YORKS SP 17 77. At the Isleham Collection sale by Christie’s Robson Lowe in New York on 11-12 March 1987, as lot 2029, the stamp realized $7,150 (£4,466).
B – G. The stamp, which has a wing margin at the left, was lot 518 in Stanley Gibbons’ fourth Maximus auction on 27 November 1970, when the stamp was unsold.
B – H. The design is centred to the right and the vertical perforations at the lower right are trimmed away. The stamp is cancelled 107.
C – C. The stamp was exhibited by H. Reck, of West Germany, at London 1980 in frame C1-074.
C – F. The design is centred high. The stamp, which has been re-perforated at right, is cancelled 107. It has BPA certificate 58859.
D – H. The design is centred left and somewhat low. The stamp is cancelled 107. On 10 November 1955 at Robson Lowe’s auction, as lot 714, the stamp realised £26.
F – B. The stamp was in the sale of Sotheby Parke Bernet in New York on 14 November 1979 as lot 1341, when it realised $9,000 plus 10 per cent premium (£4,715).
F – J. The stamp is centred low and slightly to right. It is cancelled with part of the 107 obliteration of Bradford. It is in the Reginald M. Phillips collection at the National Postal Museum, London.
G – L. The design is centred low to right. It is cancelled 107. In H. R. Harmer’s auction on 5 July 1976, as lot 140, the stamp realised £900.
H – K. The design is centred low to right. The stamp is cancelled 107. In H. R. Harmer’s auction on 5 July 1976, as lot 141, the stamp realised £550.
I – G. The stamp has a wing margin at left. It is cancelled 107. It has BPA certificate 21330.
I – J. The design is centred high to right. The stamp is cancelled 107. The stamp was refused a certificate by the expert committee of the Royal Philatelic Society, London, but has BPA certificate 39678.
K – L. The stamp was in the H. G. Fletcher collection.
T – B. The design is centred low so that part of the lower corner letters are encroached by the perforation and part of the lower frame-line of the stamp above is visible. It is cancelled with parts of both elements of the Bradford 107 duplex postmark. On 23 September 1983 at Phillips’ auction of the Harold Fisher collection the stamp, as lot 825, realised £2,420.
T – D. The design is centred low so that part of the lower corner letters are encroached by the perforation and part of the lower frame-line of the stamp above is visible. The stamp is cancelled with the obliterating part of the 107 Bradford duplex postmark. On 17 May 1978 in Robson Lowe’s Great Britain sales 4277-79, as lot 768, the stamp realised £1,500.
A stamp lettered R – J, cancelled 927 in the Gerald E. Wellburn collection was found to be a forgery. The authenticity of a stamp lettered E – G in the Beaumont collection has been doubted.
1s. green Plate 14 (1876)
The rarest of the recorded abnormals is the 1s. in green printed from Plate 14. No record of its existence is known until after 1915. Five examples have been recorded. Plate 14 was registered in green on 20 December 1876 but was not put to press in that colour. In 1881 it was re-registered in brown. In 1882 it was again re-registered in purple.
The known examples of the 1s. green Plate 14 were perforated by the official comb perforator, so that a wing margin with perforations at its vertical extremity occurred, unlike other abnormals in which, although attached wing margins are known, the vertical perforation is immediately adjacent to the design.
The examples known are as follows:
A – I. A smudged cancellation of two strikes of a number in an upright oval of bars and is repaired, was in the Sugden collection. On 21 to 23 May 1951 at H. R. Harmer’s sale 2205-7, as lot 793, the stamp realised £120. On 8 December 1965 at Robson Lowe’s auction of the Beaumont collection, as lot 456, the stamp realised £160.
A – L. Postmarked Greenock 14 March 1876; in the Royal Collection.
C – L. A circular date stamp of Greenock dated 14 March 1876; came from the H. C. V. Adams collection and is now in the Reginald M. Phillips collection at the National Postal Museum, London.
D – H. Used on small portion of original; the perforations and part of the wing margin at right cut away and some perforations at the top are trimmed. The stamp has a heavy, smudged cancellation of an unidentifiable numeral in an upright oval of bars but the Queen’s head is almost clear. On 27 November 1970 at Stanley Gibbons’ fourth auction of the Maximus collection, as lot 528, the stamp realised £1,500. At the Isleham Collection sale by Christie’s Robson Lowe in New York on 11-12 March 1987, as lot 2027, the stamp realized $15,400 (£9,896).
F – E. Cut into at right and trimmed at left; it is obliterated at the north-west by part of a cancellation of 486 in an upright oval of bars. Found in France in 1971. On 28 September 1976 at Robson Lowe’s auction, as lot 496, the stamp was unsold.
The Tenpence Emblems
An error of watermark occurs on the 10d. red-brown of 1867 printed from Plate 1. That stamp was printed on paper watermarked ‘Emblems’ instead of ‘Spray of Rose’. The error is said to have been entirely that of the printers, for, contrary to instructions, they used the wrong paper. The first example was discovered in 1892 by J. H. Anheisser, a German philatelist. No unused example has been recorded. Records exist of the following, the lettering being that of the lower letter squares only.
A-H. With perforations clipped off at right and left, bearing a London postal marking, which was lot 963 in Robson Lowe’s auction sale 432-22 on 11 October 1968.
B-I. Centred low, with re-perforated left margin, corner crease at north-west and slightly soiled, bearing the Constantinople cancellation consisting of the letter ‘C’ in a transverse oval of parallel bars. The stamp was in Stanley Gibbons Auctions’ sale 5608 on 28 May 1962, as lot 373; it realised £3,520.
C – L. Bearing the Constantinople cancellation. In the Royal Collection.
F – E. Bearing a London postmark SE/13 in upright oval of bars.
G – F. Bearing an indistinct postal marking, thought to be Scottish. The stamp was bought by Charles Nissen at the auction of the Ferrary collection for 130 francs plus tax (£2), about one per cent of the stamp’s true value. According to the catalogue description, it appeared that the stamp was not guaranteed genuine; in fact, it was only the postmark which was held suspect. Nissen satisfied himself as to its complete authenticity, and was surprised during the bidding to find that he had hardly any opposition. The other people in the room had, seemingly, accepted the catalogue description at its face value.
H – L. Bearing the Constantinople cancellation. The stamp was in Stanley Gibbons’ Maximus auction on 27 November 1970 when, as lot 526, the stamp was unsold, It was there described incorrectly as an ‘abnormal’.
K – A. Bearing a London postal marking SE/11 in upright oval of bars. The stamp was in the Beaumont collection.
L – J. Bearing the Constantinople cancellation. The stamp was found by I. J. Bernstein and acquired by G .H. Worthington. At the Isleham Collection sale by Christie’s Robson Lowe in New York on 11 March 1987, as lot 2022, the stamp realized $21,450 (£13,398).
L – L. Bearing the Constantinople cancellation. It was referred to in History of the Adhesive Stamps of the British Isles. This stamp was lot 131 in Phillips’s sale of the Dr. Douglas Latto Collection on 22 October 1992.
P – K. Bearing the Constantinople cancellation. The stamp passed through the hands of W. H. Peckitt, the dealer known as “The Panther of the Strand” because of his pouncing on possibly profitable collections and items. At Robson Lowe’s auction sale 4481-85, as lot 650, on 19-20 February 1980, the stamp realised £3,250.
R – J. Bearing the Constantinople cancellation. The stamp came from the collection formed by the Earl of Crawford and is now in the Reginald M. Phillips collection at the National Postal Museum, London.
S – K. Bearing a postal marking variously said to be that of London or Constantinople.
Referred to in the book by Wright and Creeke.