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The Murray Gellatly Collection of Morocco Agencies

by | Jun 6, 2023 | Auction Highlights

At auction on June 27th, 2023

Murray began collecting any GB overprinted material that came his way but soon moved to concentrate on King Edward VII, Seahorses and anything Morocco Agencies. Not content with simply collecting, he was determined to study the material, identify different printings, seek out errors and write up his findings. He was always keen to share his knowledge with others and Murray contributed regularly to the journal of the GB Overprint Society, The Overprinter, for nearly 30 years as well as serving as Editor and Auctioneer among other roles over the years, finally taking on the role of Chairman. Along with Marius Wlodarczyk he co-wrote the Morocco Agencies King Edward VII study paper published by the society, which has been a great source of information and inspiration for collectors of King Edward VII stamps. 

Lot 42004: unique cover from Tangier from when the Post Office ran out of 5 and 10 centimos stamps

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Lot 42167: 1907 (Jan 1) first day cover from Tangier

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The collection has been broken up into over 200 hundred lots. Although the collection is almost exclusively from the KEVII and KGV period, with British, Spanish and French Currency issues, one of the highlights includes a Gibraltar-period 1891 (Feb 22) envelope endorsed “Postage prepaid in cash”, which is the only known cover from Tangier when the Post Office ran out of 5 and 10 centimos stamps (lot 42004). There is great strength in mint multiples and positional multiples including the spectacular 1912 Somerset House 12p on 10s bright blue mint n.h. lower right corner marginal block of 16, the largest recorded of this issue (lot 42110), as well as many Seahorse issues in blocks and even complete sheets. There are rare Specimens, especially 1907 5c on 1/2d to 12p on 10s set of 11 and British Currency 1/2d to 2s6d set of 7 with “SPECIMEN” horseshoe (type 17) hs, all affixed to archive ledger (lot 42068). The most noteable and important variety in this section are three of the nine known examples of the “1ˮ of “15 centimosˮ omitted on KEVII 1½d (lots 42081 & 42082), plus an array of re-entries on the Seahorse issues. Finally the sale ends with a wonderful group of over 80 lots of rare and even unique cancellations on stamps and postal history from Alcazar to Tetuan, with philatelic and commercial frankings, in particular 1910 (Jun 6) OHBMS parcel tag for a bag sent registered to the Foreign Office in London (lot 42169), plus French Currency, general lots and collections.

It is surely the most important offering of Morocco Agencies in a generation and we are delighted to have been able to present Murray’s decades of collecting and research in our June auction.

Lot 42082: 1907-12 15c on 1 1/2d pale dull purple and green, a major rarity of Morocco Agencies with only nine examples discovered

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Lot 42121: 1914-26 Waterlow Seahorse 12p on 10s indigo-blue with “SPECIMEN” ovpt (type GB23) in mint n.h. lower marginal block of 8

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Note that items belonging to other vendors are noted as such at the end of the description.
For more information about the GB Overprint Society, please visit: www.gbos.org.uk.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact our specialist [email protected] or direct to our offices.

View all the lots of the Morocco Collection