S.G. #22, 1854 4a Blue and red, 4th Printing, Head Die III, Frame Die II, outstandingly intense colors, good to large margins, showing small pen usage in blue and rhombus "C127" cancellation used at Kircumbady, fine; 2003 Sismondo certificate, signed Rendón; S.G. £2,250. (Image)

Est. $400-500

#203-206, O112A, 1948 Gandhi 1½a to 10r set of four and Officials 1½a Brown, the complete set n.h., the official 1½a in pair and single, each used on fragment with "Governor General Camp P O New Delhi", very fine; Scott $442.25; S.G. £680+. (Image)

Est. $200-300

#203-205, 1948 Gandhi 1½a to 12a, the Anna three values in the set of four, applied on mourning FDC addressed locally, with Bombay pictorial cancellations of August 15, very fine. (Image)

Est. $200-300

#203-206, 1948 Gandhi 1½a to 10r set of four, used on corresponding illustrated registered FDC to England, with Madras pictorial cancellations of August 15, registration label on reverse, airmail label on front, very fine and scarce. (Image)

Est. $750-1,000

1911 Allahabad First Aerial Post, special illustrated postcard with corresponding inscription on reverse, first type "1911" which is scarcer than the second type, addressed to Cawnpore, bearing ½a with a superb strike of "First Aerial Post/1911/U. P. Exhibition Allahabad" illustrated cachet, showing dispatch and Allahabad sorting (22.2) c.d.s.'s with arrival also on front on the 22nd, with the picture side being signed "H. Pequet", some creases and few tears not impinging on the adhesive and the cachet, of very little significance as these postcards are invariably found in poor condition, otherwise fine; only 40 postcards were flown, of which 25 have been reported to exist. (Image)

Est. $1,500-2,000

1911 Allahabad First Aerial Post, special illustrated postcard with corresponding inscription on reverse, second type, addressed to Meerut, bearing ½a tied by "First Aerial Post/1911/U. P. Exhibition Allahabad" illustrated cachet, with dispatch and arrival c.d.s.'s at base, insect holes, creases and small piece missing from lower right corner, nevertheless it is to be considered that these postcards are invariably found in poor condition; only 40 postcards were flown, of which 25 have been reported to exist. (Image)

Est. $300-400

1911 Allahabad First Aerial Post including Henri Pequét letter, February 18, envelope to Zurich, Switzerland, bearing 1906-07 ½a Green and two 1a Carmine, one slightly affixed over the edge at top, neatly tied by very fine strikes of of the corresponding illustrated cachet of the exhibition, with Allahabad and Bombay c.d.s.'s on reverse, including enclosed letter, handwritten and signed by Henri Pequét as "aviator and postman", stating in French this to be the first airmail in India, during the Allahabad exhibition: "Recevez avec mes meilleurs amitiés l'assurance de votre bon souvenir par la première poste aérienne établie aux Indes à l'exposition de Allahabad 1911", the only known example of the Allahabad First Aerial Post with enclosed manuscript letter by Henri Pequét, a very significant rarity of Indian airmails. (Image)

Est. $3,000-4,000

1911 Allahabad First Aerial Post, postcard addressed locally, dated Feb. 18, bearing 3p tied by very fine strike of the illustrated special cachet, showing dispatch and arrival c.d.s.'s alongside, the latter struck one day after, very faint partial vertical crease mentioned for accuracy, very fine. (Image)

Est. $300-400

1911 Allahabad First Aerial Post, envelope to Pachmarhi, dated Feb. 18, franked by two 3p sharing a fine strike of the illustrated special cachet , with dispatch and arrival (20.2) c.d.s.'s on reverse, very fine. (Image)

Est. $300-400

1911 Allahabad First Aerial Post, envelope to Bombay, dated Feb. 18, bearing ½a tied by fine strike of the illustrated special cachet, backstamped on dispatch and arrival (20.2), adhesive slightly toned and with perforation faults. (Image)

Est. $200-300

1911 Allahabad First Aerial Post, envelope addressed locally, dated Feb. 18, franked on reverse by ½a, tied by a faint strike of the illustrated special cachet, showing dispatch and arrival c.d.s.'s also on back, the latter struck one day after, fine. (Image)

Est. $300-400

1911 Allahabad First Aerial Post, registered mail with registration cachet, dated Feb. 18, addressed to England, bearing ½a, 1a, 2a and 3a, all tied by fine strike of the special illustrated cachet, backstamped by Allahabad and London datestamps, few small imperfections, but an unusual registered mail sent to England. (Image)

Est. $750-1,000

1931 Pigeongram, Dec. 31 envelope franked 1/2a, with enclosed missive carried by homing pigeon "Ganga" from Hazaribagh to Calcutta, signed by Stephen H. Smith, very fine. (Image)

Est. $150-200

1933 Pigeongram, Jan. 19 envelope bearing 1/2a., featuring error in the vignette "Massage" instead of "Message", carried by homing pigeon "Joyful Joe" to Calcutta, tied by "Message Transported By/Pigeon,/From H. E. The VIceroy./Park St. P. O. Jan. 19th. 33. Cal." marking, signed by Stephen H. Smith, very fine. (Image)

Est. $100-150

1940-1941 Pigeongrams, Oct. 18 envelope franked with 1937-40 1/2a, including enclosed missives, carried by homing pigeon "Cally" from Chandernagore to Calcutta, signed by Stephen H. Smith, very fine; the other bearing Official 1a3p with enclosed missive and tied by "Kalyan/First Pigeon Missive" cancellation, fine. (Image)

Est. $200-300

1934 Rocket Mail to Saugor Island, December 16 envelope with "Ship to Shore-First Night Firing Rocket Despatch" vignette and 9p additional franking, signed by Stephen H. Smith, very fine; Ellington-Zwisler 5C1. (Image)

Est. $300-400

1934 Rocket Mail to Saugor Island, December 18 envelope with red "Shore to Ship by Rocket" vignette and 9p additional franking, signed by W. Shenton and Stephen H. Smith, very fine; Ellington-Zwisler 7C1. (Image)

Est. $250-300

1935 "Rocket Skin", Quetta Earthquake Relief, card with "Rocket Parcel Despatch/Rocket Fee Rupees 2" vignette overprinted "Quetta Earthquake Relief" in red, tied by Stephen H. Smith signature, bearing part of the rocket "skin" with the handwritten note: "A piece of the skin of my rocket no. 60" signed "Stephen H. Smith", with an additional signature partly covered by the "skin", faint corner crease at lower left mentioned for accuracy only, very fine and without the toning found in other of the few items extant, very scarce and most interesting; Quetta is nowadays in Pakistan; Coopers #10. (Image)

Est. $300-400

1935 Quetta Earthquake stampless cover sent to Karachi, struck by "Quetta Earth Quake P{ostage Free" straight-line postmark, backstamped by dispatch and arrival c.d.s.'s, very fine and scarce. (Image)

Est. $150-200

India mint and used collection, cleanly mounted on printed pages contained in one album, featuring the classic period mainly used to 1888, including 1854 ½a Blue with all shades from Die I to Die III, following the same pattern for the 1a value from Die I to Die III, 1865 issue also with few mint examples, 1866 6a fiscals used, from 1882 in mint condition, 1895 high denominations and some duplicates, the latter used, 1902-11 issue with all denominations except the 15r, 1911-22 issue including 10r to 25r, 1926-33 with 25r missing and high denominations also represented with inverted wmk, exceptionally containing one rare cover to show the 1935 3½a "bird on parapet" variety (S.G. #245a), 1937-40 complete set, additionally enriched with some multiples and gutter pairs, then officials with S.G. #O16 used, onwards mint including 1909 set of rupees values, 1912-13 15r, China Expeditionary Force with 1914-22 set, two 1906-22 incomplete booklets, an interesting selection of unused vignettes of pigeon-, rocket-, and air mails, some of them signed by Stephen H. Smith, generally very fine; viewing recommended.

Est. $2,500-3,000

India Rocket Mail collection comprising 30 items, the great majority signed by Stephen Smith, including two 1934 Saugor Island mails with Lighthouse marking, two 1934 Saugor Island items with "Ship to Shore" black vignette and "Shore to Ship" red vignette, 1935 Sikkim Rocket Experiment Nepal with three items (Oryon R.86, My On R.83 and Chumbi R.88), two 1935 Silver Jubilee envelopes, 1935 Sikkim rocketgram card signed by Tashi Namgyal Chogyal, King of Sikkim, three scarce 1935 Sikkim Durbar Rocket mail Experiment, 1935 1935 live-stock and parcel dispatches with rockets 65 & 66, 1935 Dhakuria firing text, 1937 Coronation rocketgram, 1937 Boomerang rocket flight, 1937 Indian Scouts messages by rocket, two 1937 rocket train "Herbert E. Barber" examples of which one carried by the "Eric-Cyn.", 1938 Garia experiment with "Miss Fortune" vignette, 1938 rocket "Dick Turpin", 1938 Alipore text signed by Smith with two items, two rare 1944 Dimapur and Kohima rocketgrams with Stephen Smith manuscript text "A dreamer's humble..." and numbered "42/68" & "65/78"; very fine, desirable and comprehensive group of Indian rocket mail. (Image)

Est. $4,000-5,000

1927-1934 India airmails, six envelopes including 1927 card from Calcutta carried by the "diminutive aeroplane which won the King's Cup in 1926", 1929 Joan page flight from Dum Dum, 1929 flight bearing "Tenth Anniversary/Flown at/Dum Dum Air Port" marking, three 1934 Earthquake Emergency Flights including the vignettes Muzaffarpur-Darbhangah-Dum Dum, Dum Dum-Darbhangha and the Bihar Earthquake Relief Fund, a very fine group. (Image)

Est. $500-750

India Used Abroad collection comprising few hundreds of stamps and 34 cards/covers, mainly material in the 20th century, featuring Aden with issues from 1854 and postal history from 1901, Afghanistan with very rare military mail, Bahrain incl. 1933-45 n.h. high denominations to 15r and the scarce used stamps, gutter pairs, Bangladesh and British East Africa each with two postal-history usages, Burma with early overprinted regular and official issues used to 5r, four examples with Peacock overprints, and some India, some covers incl. one airmail and early 20th century, Ceylon, Kuwait with early overprinted incl. rare S.G. #47-51 used with the 15r, other better singles such as S.G. #19, one fragment with 1912 India usage in Beira (Mozambique), Nepal represented in two covers, Oman first issue in n.h. blocks of four, Pakistan first set n.h. and earlier issues from India, Persia, Strait Settlements with three items including India S.G. #Z64 and #Z40, Zanzibar with scattered overprinted values, finishing with WWII "Azad Hind" adhesives, mainly very fine, viewing required.

Est. $1,500-2,000

India in WWII postal-history collection, comprising about 60 items, including V-Mail and airgraphs with one scarce example illustrated from India and some of them accompanied by their corresponding envelopes, one satiric illustrated envelope with the heads of of the leaders of the Axis stepped by a boot, military mail from various foreign fronts, censorship, "V" markings, R.A.F. emergency airmail flight, crash mail with "Damaged by Sea Water in Airplane Accident" marking, propaganda leaflets "Britain Delivers the Goods/Thanks to the British Navy", charity labels, POW mail not related with India, and two scarce usages of consular mail from Wahsington with Indian stamps, mainly very fine.

Est. $300-400