Shreves Philatelic Galleries, Inc. Sale

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British Virgin Islands Postal History continued...

20th Century Virgin Islands stamps on cover continued...

Lot

Symbol

CatNo.

Lot Description

CV or Estimate

S.G. #69-70

S.G. #69-70, 1913 1/2p Green and four 1p Red, tied to 1915 registered WWI censored cover to Switzerland, each stamp is tied by "Road Town/Tortola. V. I/OC 15 1915" double circle c.d.s., Type 17, Road Town and St. Thomas registry handstamps and St. Thomas and New York transits, backstamped Bouvret, military violet handstamps tie censor tape, very fine commercial usage. (Image)

Est. 200-300

SOLD for $300.00
Closing..Jun-27, 01:00 PM

S.G. #69, 70b. 78

S.G. #69, 70b, 78, 1913-17 1/2p Green, 1p Scarlet and 1p Carmine with "War Tax" overprint, on 1918 cover to an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps at Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, stamps are tied by "Tortola/V.I./OC 16 18" c.d.s., Type 21, censor tape at left tied by censor circular handstamp "No 523" of Puerto Rico, backstamped Santo Domingo, vertical fold and toning to the cover, but nevertheless a very scarce and interesting usage (Scott #38-39, MR1). (Image)

Est. 200-300

SOLD for $220.00
Closing..Jun-27, 01:00 PM

S.G. #69, 78

S.G. #69, 78, 1/2p Green and 1p Red with "War Tax" overprint, block of four and pair of the former and three singles of the War Tax stamp, all tied to neat 1917 registered cover to the United States by uncommon "Road Town/Tortola. V.I./Jan 30 1917" large double circle c.d.s., Type 19, Road Town and St. Thomas registry handstamps, plus St. Thomas, and San Juan (spelled "Jaun"), Puerto Rico transits, backstamped New York, fresh and extremely fine cover; war tax was not required on covers to the United States until the day after this cover was posted but may have been charged anyway, this Road Town cancel is quite a bit scarcer than other markings as it was only in use for thirteen months (Scott #38, MR1). (Image)

Est. 200-300

SOLD for $110.00
Closing..Jun-27, 01:00 PM

S.G. 78a

S.G. #78a, 1p Red on bluish with "War Tax" overprint, block of four on puzzling registered cover to St, Thomas, block with central "Tortola/V.I./JU 5 18" double circle c.d.s., Type 21, with matching strike on the reverse, violet St. Thomas, June 12th backstamp on the reverse, then somehow and for some reason this cover went to Puerto Rico where it was opened by censor 501 of Puerto Rico and resealed with tape, this tape is tied by a similar black receiving cds of St. Thomas on June 28th, sixteen days later, there are no forwarding instructions or Puerto Rico transits, why it went there for censoring is unknown, a very fine and unusual cover (Scott #MR1 var.). (Image)

Est. 200-300

SOLD for $170.00
Closing..Jun-27, 01:00 PM

S.G. #86-87, 92-93

S.G. #86-87, 92-93, 1922 1/2p-2 1/2p King George V, four different values, each neatly tied to 1922 registered W.T. Wilson cover to England by scarce violet "West End/Tortola/AU 14 22" c.d.s., Type 18, Tortola (Road Town), St. Thomas and New York transits, backstamped Birmingham. small edge tear at right, otherwise very fine; a pretty cover with a very uncommon town cancel in violet (Scott #53-54, 58-59). (Image)

Est. 200-300

SOLD for $150.00
Closing..Jun-27, 01:00 PM

S.G. #86

S.G. #86, 1922 1/2p Dull green, horizontal pair tied to 1926 internal cover to Road Town by scarcer violet "West End/Tortola/JU 18 26" c.d.s., Type 18, a variety showing a modification in the year date changing the "5" to a "6", this is one of the latest uses of this cancel before a new similar cancel was issued to this post office, backstamped Tortola, minor perf. toning to pair, otherwise very fine and scarce intra-island usage (Scott #53). (Image)

Est. 300-400

SOLD for $220.00
Closing..Jun-27, 01:00 PM

S.G. #86

S.G. #86, 1922 1/2p Dull green, tied to cover to Castries, St. Lucia by "Road Town/Tortola. V.I/OC 25 32" c.d.s., Type 17, underpaid by 1p and therefore charged 2p postage due, vertical pair of 1p Black on blue St. Lucia postage dues (S.G. #D1), third printing, applied with "Castries/St. Lucia/12 NO 32" c.d.s., matching strike on the reverse as a receiving postmark, name in address erased, otherwise very fine; St. Lucia postage dues are scarce on cover and particularly so on a Virgin Islands cover (Scott #53; J1). (Image)

Est. 200-300

SOLD for $130.00
Closing..Jun-27, 01:00 PM

S.G. #87

S.G. #87, 1p Rose Carmine, fresh and well centered horizontal strip of three, tied to neat 1925 registered cover to Road Town by scarce violet "West End/Tortola/NO 20 25" c.d.s., Type 18, matching violet "R" in oval handstamp with manuscript "West End/Tortola V.I/No 54" registry notation next to it, backstamped double circle Tortola c.d.s, Type 21, a lovely and extremely fine cover; highly unusual to have a registered cover sent between two post offices on Tortola and the violet color of this scarce West End cancel is rarely encountered. (Image)

Est. 200-300

SOLD for $100.00
Closing..Jun-27, 01:00 PM

S.G. #91, 95

S.G. #91, 95, 1928 1 1/2p Venetian red and 1927 2 1/2p Bright blue, three singles of the latter, all tied to cover to San Francisco, California by light strikes of "Road-Town/Tortola. V.I/OC 23 29" double circle c.d.s., Type 17, this is a commercial cover marked "By Air Mail" in manuscript and with blue air mail label affixed, St. Thomas registry transit on the reverse (this cancel evidently used because of the high franking, though the cover is not registered), tear to cover at bottom from rough opening, otherwise a very fine and interesting cover; apparently U.S. trans-continental air mail service was desired to the West Coast of the United States, an additional 7 1/2p postage had been added for the air mail service to the normal 1 1/2p rate to the United States, whether the United States granted this air mail service is not known, unless the air mail label was applied in the United States (it would not normally have been available on Tortola), but this is the earliest cover from the Virgin Islands designated to be sent by air (Scott #57, 59). (Image)

Est. 300-400

SOLD for $325.00
Closing..Jun-27, 01:00 PM

S.G. #92

S.G. #92, 1922 2p Grey, tied to commercial mail order envelope of Montgomery Ward & Co. by "Virgin Gorda/V.I./MR 5 26" c.d.s., Type 12, Tortola (Road Town) transit, slight normal postal edge wear and filing pinholes to cover, still a very fine commercial usage from this small island (Scott #58). (Image)

Est. 200-300

SOLD for $110.00
Closing..Jun-27, 01:00 PM

S.G. #107-09

S.G. #107-09, 1937 Coronation, cplt., tied to registered cover to Barbados by "West End/Tortola/28 JU 37" c.d.s., Type 22, plus unusual use of the first West End c.d.s., Type 18, as an improvised registry handstamp, omitting the date and writing the registry number in the center, Road Town and Charlotte Amalie of St. Thomas transits, backstamped, fresh and very fine cover; the small post office at West End was never issued a registry handstamp and regulations required that the name of the post office accompany the registry number, previously the postmaster had written it by hand but with the increase in philatelic mail, such as this, he attempted some improvisation to save time, yet only three or four examples of this marking are known (Scott #73-75). (Image)

Est. 400-500

SOLD for $700.00
Closing..Jun-27, 01:00 PM

S.G. #103-06

S.G. #103-16, 1935 Silver Jubilee cplt., along with 1 1/2p and 1/- George VI (S.G. #112, 17), all tied to 1942 registered air mail cover to England by "West End/Tortola/JA 26 42" c.d.s., Type 22, again in violet, Charlotte Amalie of St. Thomas, San Juan, Puerto Rico and New York transits for transatlantic air mail to England, censored while in San Juan and censor tape is tied by a blue green censor handstamp of the World War I period, this being the only reported use of this WWI censor handstamp during the WWII period, normal edgewear and wrinkles typical of its usage, but very fine for this; a scarce cover with numerous desirable features (Scott #69-72, 78, 83). (Image)

Est. 300-400

SOLD for $450.00
Closing..Jun-27, 01:00 PM

"Anegada/British Virgin Islands" double circle postmark, Type 24, apparently a "proof" or "specimen" type impression of this rare cancel being very clearly struck and without date, on printed addressed envelope to St. Croix, unposted, also bears a black boxed registry handstamp, the registry handstamp has never been found on a posted cover as this is the only known example, very fine. (Image)

Est. 400-500

SOLD for $290.00
Closing..Jun-27, 01:00 PM

S.G. #103-06

S.G. #103-16, 1935 Silver Jubilee cplt., tied to inter-island cover to Road Town on Tortola by rare "Anegada/British Virgin Islands/DE 30 39" double circle c.d.s., Type 24, minor tone spots affecting a few perf. tips, otherwise very fine; this island is the most remote of the populated islands from the main island of Tortola and saw the least postal activity in its post office, which opened as early as 1908 with a temporary rubber datestamp, this double circle cancel was only in use for five years and saw very little use even on philatelic mail, rare (Scott #69-72). (Image)

Est. 400-500

SOLD for $725.00
Closing..Jun-27, 01:00 PM

S.G. #110s-19s

S.G. #110s-19s, 1938 1/2p-5/- King George VI with perforated "Specimen" cplt. for the ten values that were originally issued, this "set" is tied to piece from postal archives by purple "Postal Services /Department/H.M.B." circular handstamps, very fine; this is the only known "set" that has come out of post office archives being held by the General Post Office in London from the stock that was sent to the UPU in Bern, Switzerland (Scott #76-85). (Image)

Est. 750-1,000

SOLD for $625.00
Closing..Jun-27, 01:00 PM

S.G. #110-17

S.G. #110-17, 1938 1/2p-1/- George VI cplt., tied to registered cover to the United States by clear "Road-Town/Tortola. W.I./SE 1 41" c.d.s., Type 23 (a later date than previously recorded for this cancel), Road Town registry handstamp, and on the reverse scarce black "Passed/By Censor/V. Is." handstamp, St. Thomas and New York transits and backstamped Jacksonville, Texas, very fine and nice example of the local Virgin Island censorship (Scott #76-83). (Image)

Est. 200-300

SOLD for $180.00
Closing..Jun-27, 01:00 PM

S.G. #110-11, 113-14

S.G. #110-11, 113-14, 1938 1/2p-2 1/2p King George VI, four different values neatly tied to cover to the United States by scarce "Anegada/British Virgin Islands/AU 21" double circle c.d.s., Type 24, on reverse is scarce local censor marking "Passed/By Censor/V. Is." in violet, very fine; scarce war-time cover from this remote island (Scott #76-77, 79-80). (Image)

Est. 300-400

SOLD for $210.00
Closing..Jun-27, 01:00 PM

S.G. #110a/117a

S.G. #110a/117a, 1942-43 1/2p-1/- King George VI, six different values on ordinary paper including a 2 1/2p Ultramarine block of four, all tied to 1944 registered cover to St. Croix by rare "Anegada/British Virgin Islands/28 AP" c.d.s. without year date, Type 24, Road Town transit on reverse, Type 23 (four years later than its supposed period of use), plus Charlotte Amalie transit, backstamped Frederiksted and Christiansted where it was forwarded, some edge wrinkles to cover, otherwise very fine; a rare cover from this little used post office, despite its philatelic flavor this is the only cover in the McCann collection from this post office that clearly went through the post (Scott #76/83). (Image)

Est. 400-500

SOLD for $400.00
Closing..Jun-27, 01:00 PM

S.G. #111-12

S.G. #111-12, 1938 1p Scarlet and 1 1/2p Red brown, tied to small commercial cover to Chicago by "Road-Town/ Tortola. W.I/OC 17 39" c.d.s., Type 23, on the reverse is scarce "Passed/By Censor" two line handstamp, with triple oval and crown "Postmaster/Virgin Islands" post office cachet overstriking the censor mark, cover opened a bit roughly at right, not affecting stamps or markings, otherwise very fine; most frequently censorship of mail out of the Virgin Islands during World War II was done in transit or on entry into the country of destination, but a small amount of mail was censored at the post office in Tortola, this is an early example of such censorship, evidently location of censorship was required so the post office cachet always overstruck this generic marking, later a "V. Is." country designation was added to the censor handstamp, all are scarce but this first type is the rarest with only four examples known (Scott #77-78). (Image)

Est. 400-500

SOLD for $375.00
Closing..Jun-27, 01:00 PM

100

S.G. 114, 15a

S.G. #114, 15a, 1938-43 2 1/2p Ultramarine and 3p Orange, two singles of each tied to OHMS Money Order Advice envelope of Tortola, sent air mail to the Postmaster at New York, stamps tied by "Road-Town/Tortola. W.I./11 OC 44" c.d.s., Type 26, Charlotte, Amalie transit, air mail service was evidently to the United States from St. Thomas and the normal air mail supplement was 10p, making this 2p underpaid needing 3p postage, unless being official mail the postage was only paying the air mail fee, in which case it was 1p overpaid, slight wrinkling to the cover, otherwise very fine; a very scarce official cover of the Virgin Islands (Scott #80-81). (Image)

Est. 300-400

SOLD for $230.00
Closing..Jun-27, 01:00 PM