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Auction: 6001 - Transvaal - The Dr. Alan Drysdall Collection
Lot: 1119

TRANSVAAL 1872-74 Postal Stationery Envelopes Printed by P. Davis and Son at Pietermaritzburg 1872 First Issue 1872 (13 Jan.) 6d. blue envelope from Pretoria to England marked "6d" in red crayon, cancelled with target obliterator and with Pretoria despatch c.d.s. at left, in combination with sixteen Cape of Good Hope 1d. red arranged around the address square (two folded over left edge of cover) all clearly cancelled with "1" in oval of bars and with several strikes of the Cape Town transit c.d.s. for 1 February, the reverse with faint Potchefstroom c.d.s. (date unclear), Farnborough Station (6/3) and Bagshot (6/3) c.d.s. A very rare and spectacular franking. Photo Estimate £ 3,500-4,000Note: In 1872 the "matrix die" sent by Otto with his plates for the first 6d. stamps was used by Messrs. Davis and Son of Pietermaritzburg to produce 2,000 envelopes. All measured 140x82mm. but two different designs of the ornament embossed on the flap are known. The envelopes were, according to Tamsen, delivered on 13 February 1872 although the above example was posted at Pretoria a month earlier The cover was posted prior to the postal convention between the ZAR and Cape Colony coming into force on 1 March, 1872, and would have been forwarded via the OFS and Colesburg. OFS stamps were evidently not available as the "6d" written in red crayon records that the letter was forwarded with cash to pay the OFS inland/transit rate. The ship that carried the cover was the Union liner "Celt", which sailed from Cape Town on 4 February and off loaded the mail on 5 March provenance: C. Emerson Huston, 1961 Christie´s Robson Lowe, 1990

Sold for
£3,500