Shreves Philatelic Galleries, Inc. Sale

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FIJI continued...

Postal History

Lot

Symbol

CatNo.

Lot Description

CV or Estimate

1561

1840 Inbound letter to "Somo-Somo, Fejee Islands", interesting and lengthy entire folded letter to The Reverend R. B. Lyth, a Wesleyan missionary whose correspondence provides us with several early letters tracing his work in New South Wales, the Friendly Islands (Tonga) and Fiji Islands in the late 1830's and 1840's, this letter was written at Hull England on March 27, 1840 but not posted from there until April 24th and prepaid by ship letter through London to Sydney, Australia, rated 8(p) in red and with black crown oval "General Post Office/Sydney/SE 3 1840" on the reverse, posted in care of the Wesleyan Mission House in Sydney who provided for its transmission to Fiji, ms. endorsement on arrival "Somo somo, June 28, 1841 per Triton" illustrates the great length of time for transit to this remote location, a similar docketing of August 15, 1842 may have been the recipient"s notation of when a reply was sent, an interesting tidbit in the letter speaks of the new 1p postal reform that had taken place in England and the humorous absurdities that were perpetuated on the post office because of it, the letter is in an excellent state of preservation and a marvelous item for the postal historian giving insight into early postal communications in the South Seas that the missionaries "enjoyed" there, very fine. (Image)

Est. 750-1,000

SOLD for $525.00
Closing..Mar-08, 12:00 PM

1562

S.G. #24e

S.G. #24e, 1875 Black "2d" on "Six Cents" surcharge on 3p Green with Gothic "V.R.", variety inverted "A" for "V", position 30, properly affixed and uncancelled on inter-island cover addressed to "C. Mayo Eqre. M.D./ Kadavu", this was an early post office on the small island of Galoa off the mainland of Kadavu, there is a very faint indecipherable straight line handstamp on the reverse, the stamp has a rather substantial pre-affixing tear and minor creases to the cover, but the stamp is rare in its own right with only 159 examples believed to have been issued (S.G. mint £3,000; used £1,200), and inter-island mail with these issues at this period is very rare as very little was preserved; ex-Robertson (Scott #29a). (Image)

Est. 750-1,000

SOLD for $750.00
Closing..Mar-08, 12:00 PM

1563

S.G. #31a

S.G. #31a, 1877 1p Deep blue on laid paper with monogram "VR" overprint, horizontal strip of three and three singles on cover to Dunedin, New Zealand, each stamp with what looks to be an "LL" ms. cancel (possibly Loma Loma), which just ties one of the singles and the strip, "Levuka/Fiji/AU 5 1878" double arc cds below, interestingly this cover was redirected to Wellington with ms. "OPSO/Wellington" indicating that the addressee must have been a government official, "OPSO" stands for "On Public Service Only" and explains why no forwarding charge was made to the cover, on the reverse Auckland transit, backstamped Dunedin and then Wellington, two stamps including one in the strip have corner faults plus each with a crease, others are fine-very fine, cover has mostly minor cover faults including some tape mending on the reverse, a fine and very scarce early period cover that shows the postal history of both Fiji and New Zealand; ex-Marcel Stanley and Robertson (Scott #36). (Image)

Est. 2,000-3,000

SOLD for $2,000.00
Closing..Mar-08, 12:00 PM

1564

S.G. #33

S.G. #33, 1877 6p Rose on laid paper with monogram "VR" overprint, an attractive example with deep color, tied to cover to Auckland, New Zealand by "sunburst" cancel of Levuka with clear "Levuka/Fiji/DE 1 1877" double arc c.d.s., forwarded on arrival in Auckland to Wellington, with right gutter margin pair of 1p Lilac of New Zealand (S.G. #152) tied by two strikes of Auckland duplexes, backstamped Auckland and Wellington, faint vertical cover crease, light edge toning to the cover slightly affecting the stamps, despite this the condition is actually quite nice and very fine for this early period; the red ink used for the new address, the color of the stamps and the lovely combination franking make for a very attractive and scarce cover; ex-Purves, Marcel Stanley and Robertson (Scott #39). (Image)

Est. 3,000-4,000

SOLD for $2,500.00
Closing..Mar-08, 12:00 PM

1565

S.G. #33

S.G. #33, 1877 6p Rose on laid paper with monogram "VR" overprint, along with 1879 2p Yellow green, perforated 12 1/2, in mixed issue franking, tied to attractive cover to the United States by "sunburst" cancels of Levuka, with nice strike of "Levuka/Fiji/MR 29 1880" double-arc c.d.s. at left, neat "5/Cents" due marking, prior to Fiji's admission to the U.P.U., postage only paid the rate to the United States port of entry, internal postage was collected from the recipient, portion of San Francisco steamship transit on the reverse, few minor perf. flaws to stamps and backflap is largely missing with small edge tear carrying to the front, very fine appearance and scarce early franking (Scott #39,41). (Image)

Est. 750-1,000

SOLD for $950.00
Closing..Mar-08, 12:00 PM

1566

S.G. #33a

S.G. #33a, 1877 6p Carmine rose on laid paper with monogram "VR" overprint, two singles (damaged) on linen-lined cover to the United States, stamps are tied by "Levuka/Fiji/OC 5 1877" double-arc c.d.s., with an additional strike at left, routed through San Francisco with that port's steamship transit c.d.s. and backstamped Cincinnati, horizontal crease at bottom of cover and other edge faults, but a scarce early cover and franking (Scott #39). (Image)

Est. 400-500

SOLD for $325.00
Closing..Mar-08, 12:00 PM

1567

S.G. #36, 45

S. G. #36, 45, 1878 "Two Pence" surcharge on 3p Green and 1885 6p Pale rose, perforated 10, both well centered and neatly tied to registered cover to Leipzig, Germany by well struck "G.P.O. Suva/Fiji/28 Sep 99" cds, 6p is also tied by black Liverpool oval transit, red London oval below, backstamped, tiny edge tear at top, otherwise very fine and particularly attractive cover (Scott #43, 46). (Image)

Est. 300-400

SOLD for $475.00
Closing..Mar-08, 12:00 PM

1568

S.G. #38

S.G. #38, 1880 6p Rose, perforated 12 1/2, tied to attractive single-franking cover to Tonga by "sunburst" cancel of Levuka, with nice strike of "Levuka/Fiji/JU 13 1881" double-arc c.d.s. at left, portion of backflap missing from opening leaving a couple of small divots at top, a fine and scarce cover of what can be considered inter-island mail as the "Friendly Islands" are in close proximity and were closely related postally to the Islands of Fiji, little mail of this sort was preserved; ex-Robertson (Scott #43). (Image)

Est. 500-750

SOLD for $300.00
Closing..Mar-08, 12:00 PM

1569

S.G. #39-40

S.G. #39-40, 1881-90 1p Grey blue and 2p Yellow green, perforated 10, tied to neat cover to Germany by type Ia March 11, 1892 c.d.s. of Suva (very little of the town name prints), the rate indicates this was evidently sent as printed matter, backstamped Dresden, very fine and an unusually attractive nineteenth century cover (Scott #40-41). (Image)

Est. 300-400

SOLD for $250.00
Closing..Mar-08, 12:00 PM

1570

S.G. #39b

S.G. #39b, 1883 1p Cambridge blue, perforated 10, two singles tied to cover to the United States by "Suva/Fiji/22 OC 1885" c.d.s., U.S. postage due marking at bottom left, this cover was addressed to Louisville, Kentucky but was forwarded to St. Louis, Missouri (address on the reverse), some place between Suva and Louisville other adhesives were lost as two pence was not the proper rate and there are impressions on the cover of other Suva cancels that were on the missing stamps, but the "Forwarded" straight line marking applied at Louisville is placed where the missing stamps were located indicating that they were already missing by the time it left Louisville, (there is an additional pen cancelled earlier issue stamp affixed at left that does not appear to belong), backstamps and transits trace the cover through San Francisco, Louisville and St. Louis, condition is typical of covers of this period and the extensive travels it underwent with edge faults, nevertheless an interesting postal history item (Scott #40a). (Image)

Est. 300-400

SOLD for $375.00
Closing..Mar-08, 12:00 PM

1571

S.G. #40, 42

S.G. #40, 42, 1881-83 2p Yellow green and "Four Pence" type A surcharge on 2p Pale mauve, perforated 10, tied to neat 1890 cover to England by Suva c.d.s., routed by the western route through Brindisi, backstamped London, stamps with minor perf. toning and 4p has small cuts from date of the cancel, otherwise a very fine and pretty cover (Scott #41, 48). (Image)

Est. 300-400

SOLD for $200.00
Closing..Mar-08, 12:00 PM

1572

S.G. #41

S.G #41, 1890 "Four Pence" surcharge on 1p Mauve, three singles plus a corner margin single of "2 1/2d" surcharge 2p Green (S.G. #70; preaffixing pulled perforations at top right), all tied by "Suva/Fiji/6 May 1891" c.d.s. to O.H.M.S. registered cover to the foreign mail clerk at the San Francisco Post Office, nice registry and foreign division receiving markings on the reverse, a fresh and very attractive cover with scarcer franking, very fine official cover (Scott #47, 50). (Image)

Est. 400-500

SOLD for $350.00
Closing..Mar-08, 12:00 PM

1573

S.G. #42

S.G. #42, 1883 "Four Pence" type A surcharge on 2p Mauve, perforated 10, vertical pair tied to very neat Bank of New Zealand cover to England by "Levuka/Fiji/8 JY l885" c.d.s. with additional strike at left, backstamped Colchester on August 28th, stamps are fresh and centered just into design at left, very fine cover (Scott #48). (Image)

Est. 200-300

SOLD for $300.00
Closing..Mar-08, 12:00 PM

1574

S.G. #45

S.G. #45, 1885 6p Pale rose, perforated 10, right margin horizontal pair with large selvage being imperforate between stamp and selvage, tied to cover to Hamburg, Germany by "Suva/Fiji/AP 25 1889" c.d.s. which impress the stamps as usual, carried by the western route through Italy with Milan, Naples and Florence transits, appears to be a commercial usage with corner card of an attorney in Suva on the reverse, stamps are fresh and centered just into the designs at top, very fine cover (Scott #43). (Image)

Est. 400-500

SOLD for $325.00
Closing..Mar-08, 12:00 PM

1575

S.G. #56

S.G. #56, 1896 4p Mauve, perforated 11, tied to commercial cover to Auckland by scarce double boxed "Loose Letter" handstamp, back flap missing though portion of Auckland backstamp still shows, plus edge tears and abrasions to the front of the cover, not affecting the stamp or marking, despite the faults a rare usage of this stamp (Scott #42a). (Image)

Est. 400-500

SOLD for $280.00
Closing..Mar-08, 12:00 PM

1576

S.G. #56

S.G. #56, 1896 4p Deep purple, perforated 11, vertical pair tied to attractive registered cover to Sydney, New South Wales by three strikes "G.P.O. Suva/Fiji/10 Sep 00" c.d.s., with additional strike at left, backstamped, few minor spots of toning affect some perforations, otherwise stamps are well centered and a very fine registered cover (Scott #42). (Image)

Est. 200-300

SOLD for $100.00
Closing..Mar-08, 12:00 PM

1577

S.G. #56/103

S.G. #56/103 1902 Five-color franking on registered cover to Moudon, Switzerland, stamps include 2 1/2p Red brown , 4p Mauve and 6p Dull rose of the Monogram VR designs and 1/2p Greenish slate and 2p Dull green of the new Pirogue designs, perforated 11 except 1/2p and 2 1/2p which are perf. 11x12, all tied by three strikes of "Suva/5 Feb 02" c.d.s., London registry transit on front and backstamped, horizontal fold that breaks the paper at one end at the bottom of the cover, otherwise a very fine and colorful cover (Scott #42/57). (Image)

Est. 400-500

SOLD for $210.00
Closing..Mar-08, 12:00 PM

1578

S.G. #56/101

S.G.#56, 1896 4p Mauve, perforated 11, well centered single of this value plus a pair and four singles of 1/2p Greenish slate and nine singles 1p Rosy mauve of the new Pirogue designs, both values perforated 11x12, all tied to large size commercial registered cover to Camden, New Jersey, actually the envelope is an O.H.M.S. envelope but the stamps have been applied over the imprint to use this as a regular envelope, all tied by "G.P.O. Suva/Fiji/4 Aug 00" c.d.s., because the stamps are on both front and back the cover has been opened out for display, some edge wear, still a fine and scarce franking (Scott #42a, 53, 55). (Image)

Est. 500-750

SOLD for $250.00
Closing..Mar-08, 12:00 PM

1579

S.G. #57, 58a, 99, 101

S.G. #57, 1896 6p Pale rose, perforated 11, beautifully centered example of this scarcer perforation, along with fresh example of 4p Deep purple and later designs of 1/2p Greenish slate and 1p Rosy mauve, all perforated 11x12, tied to exceptionally clean registered cover to Newton, Mass. by "G.P.O. Suva/Fiji/28 Sep 01" cds, San Francisco registry transit on the reverse, extremely fine four color franking (Scott #42-43, 53, 55). (Image)

Est. 500-750

SOLD for $300.00
Closing..Mar-08, 12:00 PM

1580

S.G. #57, 101-02

S.G. #57, 1896 6p Dull Rose, perforated 11, a lovely well centered example of this scarcer perforation on commercial self-addressed cover for a florist in Floral Park, New York, also has 1p Rosy Mauve and 2p Dull green of the later design, both perforated 11x12 (S.G. #101-02), this cover was posted from a country post office tying stamps by two light type IIIa "P.O./?/Fiji/22 Jul 01" c.d.s., (the town name is not readable but from the configuration it is undoubtedly Lautoka), additionally cancelled by Suva c.d.s. on July 25th, San Francisco registry transit on reverse, trivial edge flaws to cover at top, otherwise fine and scarce cover (Scott #43, 55-56). (Image)

Est. 300-400

SOLD for $110.00
Closing..Mar-08, 12:00 PM