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

May 6 (First Official Day of Use): 1 d. intense black, plate 1a, lettered IJ, margins ample to very good, tied to folded entire by red Maltese Cross, black "T.P. / Queen..." two-line handstamp alongside, letter internally dated "Cloak Lane, 6 May, 1840", to Fenchurch Street, with London Chief Office octagonal paid datestamp (6EV / PD / MY 6) on reverse, unobtrusive horizontal filing fold, a fine and extremely rare first day usage. Cert BPA (1983 and 2004) Gi. AS1ta = £75,000.

Provenance: Harmers, London, 9 May 1960; Robson Lowe, London, 12 April 1967, lot 525; Harmers, London, 29 June, 1970, lot 52;
Mercurphila, Frankfurt, 7 May, 1984, lot 357.
Literature: Illustrated in "May Dates", by Michael Jackson, 1999.