Sale No: 249
Lot No: 2217
Symbol: C/CL
Cat No: Collection
Accumulation of 1930s-50s covers mostly from the major pre-war flights including 1929 Adelaide-Perth x9, 1931 England First Experimental x8, Second Experimental x2 & ANA Flight x8, 1934 (Feb & April) New Zealand x17 (five are 'boomerang' covers), 1934 New Guinea & Papua x10 (two with Victoria Centy 1/-) & 1934 England x5 but also noted 1930 Melbourne-Sydney, 1930 Brisbane-Townsville, 1931 Batavia, 1931 England-Australia Christmas flight x4 (one signed by GU Allan), 1933 King Island-Melbourne (ex Tom Frommer), 1934 Bega-Sydney, 1934 Charleville-Cootamundra 'Patterson River, Carrum' (Vic) postcard sent registered 'AR' [Avis de Reception] service, 1935 Townsville-Cairns, 1935 Broken Hill-Adelaide, etc, condition a little variable but most are fine to very fine.
(80+) (Image1)
Estimate AU$400
Opening AU$ 440.00
Sold...AU$ 575.00
Closed..Nov-09-2022, 18:00:00 EST
Sold For 575
Sale No: 249
Lot No: 2218
Symbol: C
1920 (July 30) commercial cover to Traralgon AAMC 47 with KGV 1½d brown cancelled on arrival, the reverse with a very fine example of the violet/yellow 'AFC/By/HERALD/AERIAL/MAIL' label tied by Herald & Weekly Times clock datestamp in violet, significant staining on the face does not affect the label, Cat $2000; $750 for a used label. [NB: of the 266 covers sent to Traralgon, the vast majority were philatelic, many deliberately underpaid or franked with pre-1913 stamps]
1922 (Apr 17) cover to North Melbourne flown to Geelong with KGV 2d scarlet plus 'Herald/Air [plane] Mail' promotional label in indigo both tied by Geelong machine applied on arrival AAMC 63, Cat $1500. One of the finest examples we have seen. RPSofL Certificate (1975).
Sale No: 249
Lot No: 2220
Symbol: C/CL/
Cat No: 499
1935 Australia - New Zealand Silver Jubilee Flight the Neil Donen one-frame exhibit and additional material with flown covers x18 including from Victoria x2, from Tasmania x2 & from Adelaide as well as one signed by the entire crew & another by "PG Taylor" plus one accompanied by an explanatory letter from the New Zealand Post Office "I forward herewith one letter which was saved ..." - stated to be the only such item in private hands (the other known example institutionalised), includes a variety of specially-prepared illustrated envelopes (one scarce long-format) many with Silver Jubilee frankings noted one with the 2/- and another with 1/- ANZAC (AAMC #499, Cat $175 each plus a substantial premium for the explanatory letter, autographed items & non-Quensland origins), also unofficial cover signed "C Kingsford Smith", "PG Taylor" & "John BW Stannage" and endorsed "... reclaimed when machine returned to Mascot with broken propeller May 15, 1935 / J Percival Flight Manager" (AAMC #500, only 6 carried, very fine, Cat $575), 'Faith in Australia' search flight for 'Southern Cross' cover endorsed "RELIEF FLIGHT" signed by 11 airmen & officials including "RN Boulton", "B Shiel" & "J Percival" to which "PG Taylor" & "John SW Stannage" added their signatures on return (AAMC #500a, only 25 carried, minor tonespots, Cat $700), covers with 'Received Too Late For/Jubilee Air Mail' h/s x3, return 'flight' covers x20 including to UK x8, one subsequently flown to India, two flown to Japan (both with Singapore jusqu'a h/s) and one to South Africa taxed and probably sent by ship, also newspaper clippings, precursor flight 1934 (March 29) illustrated cover with New Zealand 7d 'TRANS-TASMAN' Overprint flown to Australia signed "C Kingsford Smith" & "J Pethybridge" (AAMC #367a, Cat $100), 1935 (July 18) Last Flight of the Southern Cross cover with silver label signed by the crew & passengers (AAMC #515, very fine, Cat $1000), plus a piece of the original fabric from the plane signed "Ernest A Crome" on the reverse, etc, condition a little variable but most are fine to very fine.
The flight left Richmond Aerodrome, Sydney just after midnight on 14-15 May with 28,000+ pieces of mail. Around seven hours into the flight - halfway across the Tasman Sea - the starboard propeller was damaged and the engine had to be shut down. The crew was forced to turn back, and jettisoned most of the mail to lighten the load after the port engine began overheating. Navigator PG Taylor climbed outside the aircraft six times to transfer oil in a thermos flask case from the dead starboard engine to cool the port engine, and the aircraft landed safely back at Mascot at 4pm the same day. He received the Empire Gallantry Medal (now the George Cross) for this act of bravery. After landing, seven small mailbags containing around 1200 covers (mostly from Queensland) were discovered to still be on board, and were forwarded by ship to New Zealand. Items intended for the return flight to Australia were forwarded from New Zealand by ship to Sydney and sent on to destination. For images of all items and copies of the exhibit telling the entire story of the flight, the postal arrangements leading up to it and subsequent to its abandonment and a summary of the mail orgins & destinations, see our website.
(70 items) (Image1)
Estimate AU$2,500
Opening AU$ 2,200.00
Sold...AU$ 2,200.00
Closed..Nov-09-2022, 18:00:00 EST
Sold For 2200
Sale No: 249
Lot No: 2221
Symbol: C
1935 Australia - New Zealand Silver Jubilee Flight unofficial cover per Charles Kingsford Smith in the 'Southern Cross' AAMC #500 with Silver Jubilee 2d tied 'ENMORE/14MY35/NSW' and uncancelled New Zealand 1d Admiral alongside, signed "C Kingsford Smith", "PG Taylor" & "John BW Stannage" on the face, endorsed on the reverse in red ink "Jubilee Mail Flight / Placed on board the Southern X at Richmond May 14, 1935 & reclaimed when machine returned to Mascot with broken propeller May 15, 1935 / J Percival Flight Manager", very fine condition, Cat $575. [Only 6 such covers carried; the AAMC gives the number as "10", but EA Crome unequivocally stated that "... six envelopes given to Smithy at Richmond as a personal memento, and carried in his pocket, came back to me, suitably endorsed by Flight Organiser, Jack Percival". Ex Tom Frommer; sold at our auction of 11.9.2016 for $1140]
