Around the houses ~ Cavendish Philatelic Auction: 10 June 2009

The Gilbert Wheat Collection of Great Britain Victorian (1840-1901) stamps on cover was outstanding for quality, the destinations and the rarity of many of the frankings.

The sale opened with a few pre stamp items and then an early “star” was the 1/- + 6d embossed franking to Madeira at £1495 (18), followed by an 1855 cover to Paris, the quadruple rate being paid by a block of 4 of the 4d deep carmine at £2760 (34). An 1860 cover to Corfu at 1/- rate reached £2070(49) and then an outstanding 1858 cover to Moscow with 1/- block of 6 and a pair plus 1d stars and 2d blue was taken to £4370 (61). It was a slight surprise that the 1865 cover to Rome with a possibly unique franking of a block of 8 of the 9d bistre reached only £1955 (109) but the back cover illustrated cover from Gosberton to Ohio (Est £750) made a healthy £1840 (118).

It was soon eclipsed by the £5290 paid for the 1880 Registered internal cover franked with a 2/- brown, and other adhesives, an apparently unique usage (136A), followed by £4140 paid for the beautiful 1874 cover to New York with a strip of 3 5/- rose, 2/- blue, 1/- green a two x 4d vermilion (180). Another very pretty cover was the 1878 cover from St Andrews to the USA with 8d orange, 4d sage-green and ½d plate 11; estimated at £750, it made £1092 (236). A few moments later a beautiful single franking of the 4d sage green to the Falkland Islands in 1879 made £1380 (239) (see image). Another quite stunning cover was the 1901 registered cover to Rouen with 10/- ultramarine, Jubilee 1/- green and red block of 4 and Jubilee 4d, making a healthy £2300 (275). Also very eye-catching was the 1884 cover to Venezuela with 5/- plate 4, 1/- orange brown and a pair of 4d grey-brown, only two covers recorded with this 5/- stamp and, accordingly, it made £4600. (303).

A rare cover to Thayetmyo, Burma with a 1/- embossed and 4d rose-carmine with Aberdeen experimental duplex cancels was taken to £2530 (estimate £400) (557). Malaysian destinations proved very popular with an 1878 cover to Perak franked 8d orange and a fine Laroot arrival cds on the front went from a £750 estimate to £2070 (597). The next lot, an 1857 cover to Sarawak, franked 6d, 4d and 1d, via Agents in Singapore, reached £2070 (598) while £2760 was paid for a beautiful 1861 envelope to Sarawak from Torquay (Photo on front cover of catalogue) (600).

The best was yet to come - with an 1858 “Insufficiently Stamped” cover to Foochow, bearing 6d lilac, 2d blue and 1d red stars, Hong Kong transit backstamp (Webb type 12 - only 6 examples recorded) reaching the top realisation of the day, after much competition between phone-bidders, agents and collectors in the room, at £6900 (679). An 1858 cover to Ningpo made £1100 (682) while another Ningpo destination cover of 1859, at quadruple rate, was fought over from the estimate of £500, ending up at £4600 (683). Another popular cover was the 1898 registered envelope from Armagh to Mukden (Manchuria) which was estimated at £300 and hectic bidding took to £2300(689), followed by another “Big item”, the 1881 cover from Lurgan to Tamsui Formosa with 4 x 2½d plate 22 (photo on back cover) which finally ran out of bidders at £5750! (691). An 1860 cover to a Sailor at the 4d Concession rate, and returned as the ship was lost off Japan made £1380 (700).

A fine section of GB used abroad had highlights of an 1880 cover from Gibraltar to Bordeaux with 4d grey-brown pl.17 Large Garter watermark and 1d Venetian red at £1150 (717), the 1881 envelope from Haiti to France with the 1/- orange-brown plate 13 watermark spray and 1½d Venetian Red at £1725 (729) and just before the end, a beautiful cover from Ecuador to Barcelona (photo on front cover of catalogue) with 2/- blue, 4d bright vermilion and 1d red plate 116 was taken to £2300 (734).

The auction was a great credit to Gilbert Wheat in his choice of material and his persistence in tracking down some of the most obscure frankings and destinations.

Notes
1. Cavendish (2009), The Gilbert Wheat Collection of G.B. Victorian stamps on cover. Consulted 8/Jul/09.
2. Cavendish (2009), The Gilbert Wheat Collection of G.B. Victorian stamps on cover 1840-1901. Consulted 8/Jul/09.