Auction 321 - 332 Australian States & Commonwealth of Australia, St. Helena, Basutoland, Bechuanaland, Swaziland, Brazil 1843 –1870 - Day 1

Queen on Throne / Recess by Thomas Ham 1852 (Dec.): 2 d. reddish-brown, imperforate, three single examples and a horizontal strip of six (lettered AE-FK), good to large margins all round, with a further probable 3 d. pair removed from lower right of cover (not mentioned on cert.), used on 20 May 1854 part entire from Kennangwoolong Creek to Glasgow tied by oval "19 / V" obliterators of The Grange in black and rated "2/-" in manuscript on arrival. Interesting content: "Our letters have been detained and returned by the Post Office new regulations in place of 2d. it is now 6d. We had 1/6d. worth on being a foreign letter but unfortunately it weighed above the mark...". Reverse with "HAMILTON / ♚ / VICTORIA" datestamp (June 3), Melbourne (June 6), London (Dec 2) and Glasgow the following day. Illustrated in "The Stamps of Victoria" by Geoff Kellow RDP on page 67. A spectacular and most attractive cover. Cert. BPA (1990).rnrnProvenance: Collection Julius Beresford, RL, London, lot 484.rn                     Collection J.R.W. Purves, RL, Basel, 4 Nov 1981, lot 414.rn                     Collection Ludwig Baetgen, Christie's, London, 7 Feb 1989, lot 597.rn                     Spink, London, 9-10 March 2003, lot 1365.