POSTAL HISTORY: World War II Civilian covers including 1939-40 registered to Australia x2 & Canada and a beautiful cover from Yugoslavia, the earliest of AU29/39 with large 'Passed by/Censor.' label tied by the rare vertical oval 'POST OFFICE/[arms]/MALTA' impressed in red wax (LTM rated 10), the others with fine to superb impressions of the 'POSTAL/CENSOR' device in red wax (rated 9); 1941 (Apr 29) to Wales "By Special Air Mail" with 2½d blue & '[flags] - MALTA IS GRATEFUL/TO THE ROYAL NAVY/...' label plus #22 censor label (rated 10); and a batch of 30 with virtually all-different censor labels mostly rated 7 to 9 & including LTM #6B (rated 10) with an array of censor handstamps again with many being highly rated including #9c (rated 10) and two unlisted types with numbers 872 & 1768, four with Boy Scout numbers 2 5 10 & 12; Military with Navy x10 including two of 1940 with straight-line 'PASSED BY CENSOR.' seriffed h/s in blue or black) & ½d rate local cover with the rare straight-line 'PASSED BY CENSOR.' sans-serif h/s & 'SLIEMA BO/25SP/39/MALTA' arrival b/s (the WWII Handbook records usage on OC--/39 only); Air Force x18 with various RAF censor cachets including the boxed #R2 (recorded 3 months only) 'No 5' & 'No 90' x2 (only one date recorded); 1944 double-censored with pentagonal #R15 '237' & '353', 1944 airgraph with Return to Sender label because it had been posted, several with oval 'HEADQUARTERS RAF/MEDITERRANEAN, MALTA' d/s on reverse; and Army mostly OAS x51 including a very fine Cigarettes Parcel 'thank you' card, FPO 570 - used from 21DE/44 only - on three 1945 covers, various censor devices including 1941 cover to South Africa double-censored with civilian censor label '.../EXAMINER 15/MALTA' label, seven covers with various military censor labels including straight-line 'EXAMINED BY BASE CENSOR' (unlisted in the WWII Handbook), seven covers with various military censor labels including straight-line 'EXAMINED BY BASE CENSOR' (unrecorded in the WWII Handbook), etc; also a few from GB with Forces addresses; also Registration Envelopes QV to post-Independence mostly G-size issues with about a dozen larger almost all used with a variety of registration labels & cachets, some better upratings & destinations including Australia Canada & Guernsey, some commercial airmails, a few Express or Insured articles, fascinating modern group including Surcharges & Obliterations, condition variable but most are fine to very fine. [Our vendor has asked us to slash the estimate. Now at a mere $5 per item!!]   (185) (Image1)

Estimate AU$1,000