Auction 333-341 Western Australia & Great Britain - Day 3

1912: Wilkinson 'Penny in a Slot' Machine Trial comprising two covers. A First Day of Use envelope, with crisp "London EC / 1 D / Postage Paid / Crown" in red with a London EC double circle in black dated 25 January 1912 and a Last Day of Use cover, with the same paid mark in a dark red-brown and the same London cds 31 August 1912. Sent from different senders (the former a Postmaster at the GPO) but with enclosures informing the recipient of the first and last day nature of the posting.
Note: The coin-fed machine, for public-use, was a self-service stampless postmarking machine, devloped by Mr F. Wolkinson of Braintree.The mailer inserted a 1 d. coin along with the cover, rotated the hand-crank, whereupon a "London EC / 1 D / Postage Paid / Crown" single circle postmark in red would be applied to the cover, which was retained by the machine until retrieved by a postal clerk, who subsequently applied a second postmark indicating the date and time. During the seven month trial 12,000 mail items were postmarked.