South Africa: 1966 cover from Great Britain to South Africa, carried aboard cargo vessel ''Southampton Castle'', a refrigerated cargo ship and at the time of delivery was the fastest cargo ship in the world. Despite this accolade the ship suffered a fire en route for South Africa, cover quite charred with small remains of Wilding 4d, with ''POSMEESTER-POSTMASTER 15 JUNE 1966 SOMERSET WES/WEST'' circular cachet in violet and additional ''Damaged by fire on mail boat'' inscription in m/s, very scarce. (Image)

1924 Harrison 1d Dromedaris essay in blue and green, imperforate on wove paper 70 x 88mm approx. Fresh and rare (Image)

1924 Harrison 1d Dromedaris essay in dark blue and brown, imperforate on thick paper with generous margins. Some thinning on reverse from hinge removal, excellent appearance; rare ? ? For the second design competition, the Harrison essays are the only ones in private hands, taken from the Nederlandsche Rotogravure Archive. The South African Government specified the designs for the essays, the better to compare the work of the different printers (Image)

1923 Harrison 1d Springbok essays. Ungummed, perforated blocks of ten in black and blue, carmine and green and violet and blue, affixed to sample card (ironically with COLLOGRAVURE/ Single Colour on reverse). Fresh (Image)

1923 Harrison 1d Springbok essay, small format in black, unused lower left corner block of twelve without gum, imperforate and unwatermarked. Sheet number on lower margin, vertical fold to left of sheet number passing through stamps #8 and 14, not obtrusively. Each stamp overprinted 'Muster', stamp #3 with constant 'M' different fount ? ? There may only have been one sheet overprinted 'Muster' (Image)

1923 Harrison 1d Springbok essay, small format in carmine, unused lower left corner block of sixteen without gum, perf 14, unwatermarked. Sheet number on lower margin. Each stamp overprinted 'Muster', stamp #3 with constant 'M' different fount (Image)

1923 Harrison 1d Springbok essay, small format in carmine on watermarked paper, perf 14, unused bottom marginal block of twelve without gum. Sheet number on lower margin, which has a central fold (Image)

1923 Harrison 1d Springbok essays, imperforate group. Large format marginal singles in violet (lightly hinged), blue (hinge touch on selvedge), black (lightly hinged) and violet block of four (unmounted, one with wrinkle), these all gummed; and small format gummed in blue and violet, and in black, ungummed, overprinted 'Muster' (Image)

1924 De La Rue ½d Springbok unaccepted design, photographic on glossy card with extensive notations; attractive, and believed to have been a strong contender for issue (Image)

1924 Department of Public Works essays, enlarged designs for 2d (Union buildings) and 3d (Table Mountain) values on large piece, 330 x 210mm. 'Amended designs', showing further amendments with colour swatches added (mauve and blue and sage-green and blue respectively). Vertical folds, not through the design images. An important part of the design story (Image)

1926 Waterlow ½d Springbok plate proof block of two pairs in red and black on thick paper, imperforate. For SG 30 (Image)

1926 Waterlow ½d group with top and bottom two rows showing the marginal markings, the stamps unmounted o.g., the bottom rows with central fold. Also central sheet marking blocks of two pairs, top and bottom, and side arrow blocks of four pairs (one with natural bends); and two marginal blocks, one with R20/9 extended 'A', the other (block of twelve pairs, natural bends at left) R8/6 retouch; all the stamps unmounted. SG 30 (Image)

1926 Waterlow ½d and 1d blocks of two pairs, o.g., overprinted SPECIMEN diagonally in violet on each stamp. From booklet panes (ex B6) in voucher copies of the booklet given to advertisers. The ½d block with straight edge at base. SG 30s-31s (Image)

1926 Waterlow ½d and 1d singles and 6d horizontal pair, and the 1926 4d triangular (inscribed in English), each with receiving 'Specimen' handstamp in violet (the 6d pair sharing a single inverted handstamp). The handstamp is Rhodesia Samuel Type R4. O.g., the Waterlow values unmounted. Also a single unmounted 1d, handstamped COLONIAS in violet. SG 30s-33s (Image)

1926 Waterlow ½d and 1d coil leaders, suitably folded for display, and 1d coil end. Shows printing on the leaders in green for the ½d and red for the 1d (Handbook erroneously states the printing was in black). Few known. SG 30-1 (Image)

1926 Waterlow 1d set of four corner blocks of two pairs, plus the side arrow blocks, all unmounted o.g. Some natural bends, otherwise fine and not easy to assemble. SG 31 (Image)

1926 Waterlow 1d 3x2 lower left corner block of six o.g. (top row hinged), showing a fold-over resulting in misplaced perfs on the selvedge. SG 31 (Image)

1926 Waterlow 1d plate proof blocks of two pairs each. Top marginal blocks in black of frame only and vignette only, and complete design in red and black.. For SG 31 (Image)

1926 Waterlow 6d plate proof block of four in grey and range-red, imperforate, on stout paper, ungummed and unwatermarked. Fine. For SG 32 (Image)

1926 Waterlow 6d corner blocks of two pairs, o.g. Top left with stamps unmounted, lower right with bottom pair unmounted, and the lower left corner block is a block of eight pairs with watermark inverted, unmounted o.g. with some faint natural bends. SG 32, w (Image)

1926 4d Triangular collection on outsize exhibition leaves with singles and pairs, empty packets of 60 (wrinkled) as supplied to PO counters (Bradbury wax seal on reverse of each), pair on cover paying 1d postage, 4d registration and 3d advice of reception, half pane of 60 (English), letter from SG decrying a shortage of their orders for this stamp, and a privately rouletted used single (scarce). SG 33 (Image)

1926 4d Triangular Colour Trial inscribed in Afrikaans, in a delicate shade of violet, gummed with some hinge remainder; very attractive. For SG 32 (Image)

1927-30 Bradbury Wilkinson 2d Colour Trial in purple and black (Afrikaans inscription), perforated SPECIMEN Type B1, fine. For SG 34 (Image)

1927 original Bradbury Wilkinson set of seven pairs handstamped SPECIMEN (Type SA6) affixed to the Daybook record sheet from the Bradbury Wilkinson archives, the page spilt in two; contemporary ink annotations. SG 34s-39s (Image)

1927-30 Bradbury Wilkinson printings of the 2d to 1/- Pictorials. Top marginal blocks of four pairs from the centre of the sheets with interpanneau margin, all annotated in ink with requisition numbers and printing dates; all printings are represented. Without gum as they came from the BW Archive. 2d (5), 3d (5), 4d (4) and 1/- (5). SG 34-36a ? ? Note that the 2/6d, 5/- and 10/- values were also printed in double panes, but these were separated by guillotine at the printing works; this also applied to the stamps taken by Bradbury Wilkinson for their archives. Thus the values here are complete for this format (Image)