THE POST BOX

As a child I would spend several weeks during the Summer holidays in Bournemouth, a large and reasonably well- heeled seaside town on the south coast of England.

A few weeks ago an experienced philatelist admitted to problems he was having in identifying the chalky paper versions of King George 6th Leeward Island stamps.

Sometimes discovering philatelic errors is easy, particularly when examples have been identified and are accurately described.

Behind my desk, is an open box clearly marked “FORGERIES” sits, its maw open wide awaiting its next debunked visitor.

We are proudly displaying, on the front cover of our latest Sandafayre catalogue three rather splendid and very different errors.

I got married three weeks ago! Just one of several unusual experiences from a recent trip to America – and no, Elvis and Vegas were NOT involved!

The 1920s and early 1930s saw the expansion of Pioneering Flights extend to non stop distance records and international non stop flights.

The Posta Europea, a privately owned postal service in Lower Egypt, was founded by an Italian printer called Carlo Meratti.

Most stamp issuing authorities only sent out information regarding postal rates or new stamp issues to their own post offices until 1874.

The Alitalia AVRO 691 Lancaster 3 plane was on route from Buenos Aires to Rome when it was forced down at Dakar, Senegal.

It’s freezing, the office is often open by 7.30 and nicely warm when most of us arrive but not today so everything has a chilly edge to it.

As a teenager in the early 1980s I worked in a stamp shop. One fateful day a gentleman arrived with a collection of Great Britain stamps.

My fellow philatelists, I have a story to tell about how I single-handedly got a bunch of young people to play around with stamps.

Here in the UK the state of our road network has probably overtaken the weather as our favoured gripe.

The Mount Currie Express One Penny stamp, issued in 1874 is one of South Africa's rarest philatelic pieces.

These questions were part of a quiz we ran in 2017 but we've left them on our site as you might enjoy answering or researching the answers.

The Mysterious Indian Classic! I am getting old enough, and I’ve spent long enough in philately, to find myself reminiscing.

This morning we held a staff meeting, part of which involved the reviewing of our website homepage and we were soon discussing some of the lots we saw…

Occasionally I talk to groups of non-collectors about our hobby and my business. It does pay to keep the audience in mind.

We are currently offering an example of one of the British Empire's strangest stamps, a typewritten Long Island 1916 ½d mauve on white laid paper.

This week we received an email asking us to purchase a stamp collection. A dozen or so images were attached which we opened.

For those military and civilian personnel captured and imprisoned during wartime, the scant and unreliable mail services became, next to food, water and shelter, the most important services they could hope to receive.

I couldn’t fully read the postmark on a used stamp, was that a “W” or part of two other letters? Was that an “R” or part of an under-inked “B”?

Our forthcoming Hunters sale (number 7264) offers the contents of a large, wide-ranging collection of Red Cross related stamps, covers, proofs and ephemera.

The values of stamps are dictated by many things including the amount originally printed, the survival rate, the popularity of the country or the design or even the stamps history.

An attractive envelope from allied occupied Berlin dated 1st June 1947 sent to Narberth, Pennsylvania and censored by the military inspectorate of civilian mails.

Sandafayre’s offices are located on a business park, where we rub shoulders with over 100 other firms.

It can be fun to hear some unusual stories about stamps, so here are a couple of ‘quickies’ that I hope you’ll enjoy, they relate to stamps from both ends of the value spectrum!

1858 – 1866 A series of scarce stamps in 5 issues (Barefoot 1 – 27) used to pay the costs incurred by appellants to the Court of Divorce and Matrimonial Causes.

On 20 January 1936, Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, came to the throne as King Edward the Eighth.