Lot 41182 – 1936 Everest Expedition: Envelope sent by climber Frank Smythe to England with “EVEREST, 1936” violet despatch cachet initialled by him

1936 Everest Expedition: Envelope sent by climber Frank Smythe to England with “EVEREST, 1936” violet despatch cachet annotated “Shekar Dzong / Tibet” and initialled by him, reverse with Sikkim Legation official cachet and label reading “Suffered detention in Gangtok post office owing to the Postmaster’s failure to affix postage stamps and to forward them in time. The postmaster has been sent to jail for his offence”, forwarded by Sikkim officials and reposted in the UK with KEVIII 1 1/2d, fine and very scarce

Note: The Expedition team gave money to the Postmaster to send batches of mail home. However, he kept the money and did not send most of the mail onwards. He was later let freed on appeal.