Ascension 1900 (DE 9) piece with 1887-92 GB 2d green and carmine and 1900 GB ½d blue-green, horizontal pairs, tied by individual strikes of type Z2 circular date stamps (22m, code 'A'), SGZ10/19.

The 2d pair with double strikes of the circular date stamps. Fine and very scarce.

Provenance: Ex John Leonard.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £1,020+.

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Australia Tasmania 1857 (JY 25) entire letter from Hobart to 'Campbell Town', franked at 4d inland rate by 1856-57 2d dull emerald-green on thin white paper (no watermark), SG20.

The two examples have lovely fresh colour with mostly good margins, tied by very fine '62' numeral, with red 'PRE-PAID' despatch circular date stamp below.

Light filing fold at foot, the stamps lifted for inspection (by Purves) and replaced, and the left stamp with unobtrusive vertical crease, nevertheless a choice and very rare cover, one of only five recorded with this stamp - unique with this franking and the earliest known usage.

A very important piece of early Australian postal history.

The island of Tasmania just off south-eastern Australia was one of the six British colonies that merged to form the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901.

Originally called Van Diemen’s Land, in 1812, British convicts were sent to the island as a “prison without walls”.

Van Diemen’s Land changed its name to Tasmania in 1856.

Accompanied with a British Philatelic Association (BPA) certificate of authenticity (2014), not mentioning the crease.

Other points worthy of note:

• Tasmania was among the first Australian colonies to issue its own stamps, beginning in 1853.

• The lack of a watermark made early Tasmanian issues more vulnerable to counterfeiting, hence why watermarking was soon introduced. Very few unwatermarked examples remain.

• The fact that this item travelled from Hobart to Campbell Town reflects the growing infrastructure in mid-19th century Tasmania.

• Items inspected and endorsed by J.R.W. Purves, one of Australia's foremost philatelic scholars, creates additional prestige and validation of authenticity.

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Australia Postage Due 1902-04 10s dull green, type D3, perforations 11, SGD43.

A brilliant quality example with large part original gum. Despite a trace of a bend, this is still a very attractive example of this key stamp, which is very hard to find mint and in this quality.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £2,200.

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Australia 1934-48 "Hermes" Airmail 1s6d dull purple, no watermark, perforations 11, interpane block of 4 with 'JOHN ASH' imprint, upper left stamp showing variety 'Retouched shading to top left of right hand globe', SG153/var.

A very fine and fresh positional block with original gum, (the lower pair are unmounted mint). Some minor gum wrinkles which are inconsequential and of very fine appearance.

A particularly scarce block including the rare variety.

Australia Specialised Catalogue No: 161za

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Australia 1966-73 5c deep blue, horizontal strip of 10, the left pair ERROR IMPERFORATE, SG386c/cb.

A very fine unmounted mint strip with full original gum and a wonderful showpiece.

A spectacular modern rarity. Only 20 strips existed, from two sheets discovered.

These were the first stamps issued following the decimalisation of Australian currency on February 14, 1966.

Stanley Gibbons catalogue value: £3,000 in a horizontal strip of three.

Get Market Data for [Australia 386] Visual Pricing Guide Sample Census

Australia 1975 45c 'wild flowers' ERROR YELLOW-GREEN (TWIGS) OMITTED lower left corner block of 10 (2x5), middle row showing error, SG609b.

A stunning superb positional block of this very visual error of missing colour, all unmounted mint with full original gum.

Very rare with only 20-30 examples recorded.

Stanley Gibbons catalogue value: £500 for a single example of the error.

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Australia 1979 National Parks 20c 'Girraween' and 'Mount Field', SG713a/ab, lower right corner block of 8 comprising four se-tenant horizontal pairs, THE RIGHT HAND BLOCK OF 4 ERROR IMPERFORATE (except at left).

A spectacular and rare positional multiple, unmounted mint with full original gum.

One of the major rarities of modern Australian stamp errors being one of just two such positional multiples known.

Stanley Gibbons catalogue value for an imperforate pair is £900.

Get Market Data for [Australia 713] Visual Pricing Guide Sample Census

Australia 1984 (18 Jun) 'Maximum card' franked with 55c Nudibranch showing ERROR NEW BLUE 'BENNETS NUDIBRANCH' OMITTED, tied by commemorative Gladstone first day circular date stamp, SG930a.

An attractive, rare and unusual error.

Only about 10 examples recorded, all used on similar cards.

The Pierron catalogue value is £1,650.

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Bahamas 1919 (14 July) 'WAR TAX' (type 14 overprint by De La Rue) ½d green, 1d carmine and 1s grey-black and carmine, IMPERFORATE PROOFS on gummed watermarked paper, SG102/4.

Very fine mint condition, the ½d in horizontal pair, the 1d and 1s in blocks of four, fresh with large part original gum. The lower pairs of blocks are unmounted.

A unique and spectacular group of printer proofs with excellent provenance, from the original blocks of 6. Ex Ludington (Spink Nov 1999, lots 1353, 1354, 1356, where it realised £3277 + VAT, 21 years ago).

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Bahamas 1942 'Columbus' ½d bluish green, upper right corner block of 12 (4x3) showing sheet number '0428', third stamp of top row (R1/5) showing 'Accent' flaw, SG162c.

Commemorative stamp issue on the 450th anniversary of the landing of Columbus in New World.

A brilliant quality unmounted mint example with full original gum of this rare multiple.

Extremely scarce, and especially desirable in this positional form.

Stanley Gibbons catalogue value for a single example of the error is £550.

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Bahrain 1955-60 2r on 2s6d black-brown, De La Rue printing, type III surcharge, complete folded sheet of 40 (4x10), left pane with guide mark in left margin, SG94b.

A fine unmounted mint complete sheet with ful original gum. Unobtrusive crease in left margin just affecting one stamp.

An impressive philatelic piece of this British stamp overprinted "BAHRAIN" and rare in this intact form.

Stanley Gibbons catalogue value: £1,400+.

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Bahrain 1955-60 10r on 10s ultramarine, De La Rue printing, type II surcharge, complete folded sheet of 40 (4x10), left pane with guide-mark in left margin, SG96ab.

A very fine unmounted mint complete sheet with full original gum.

A stunning showpiece of the famous British "Castles" stamp issue overprinted "BAHRAIN".

Spectacular and rare in this intact form.

Stanley Gibbons catalogue value: £4,000++.

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Barbados 1935 Silver Jubilee 1d deep blue and scarlet, from vignette plate "1" showing variety "Damaged turret" (R5/6), SG241j.

Fresh appearance mint example with large part original gum, which is fractionally yellowish in colour.

Spectacular quality and a rare variety of this important stamp issue.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £700.

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Barbados 1938-47 ½d yellow-bistre, SG248c/ca, perforations 13½x13, block of 28 (7x4) from left margin with part centre guide (R3-6/1-7 on the sheet), showing WATERMARK ERROR 'A' OF 'CA' MISSING on R4/6.

Brilliant and vibrant mint quality multiple with original gum. The block severed and rejoined between columns 4 and 5, with minor separations elsewhere, but, most importantly, the error is very fine and unmounted.

A rare, beautiful and desirable positional multiple.

The SG catalogue value for the error as a single example is £1,100.

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Batum British Occupation 1920 (21 Feb) 25r on 5k brown-lilac, surcharge as type 6 in blue, BLOCK OF TEN (5x2) from upper right corner of a pane, SG29a.

A fine and fresh unmounted mint positional block with full original gum. The top left stamp has a short perforation, and unimportant creasing in the top margin, but quite remarkable quality for this issue.

A rare stamp as only 1,900 were originally issued with the blue surcharge and particularly rare as a multiple.

After the Treaty of Versailles, stamps of Batum were issued for the short period between 1918-20 under the occupation of the British. It then became an autonomous republic of the Georgian SSR in 1921.

Stanley Gibbons catalogue value: £550++.

 

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Batum British Occupation 1920 (30 Jan) 50r on 3k carmine-red, imperforate, type 6 surcharge, SG39.

A very fine used example, neatly cancelled by part circular date stamp showing date '13 2(.20)'. Very fine and rare, especially in used condition.

A scarce surcharged stamp issue as only 359 were originally issued.

Provenance: Kosack handstamp on reverse.

Stanley Gibbons catalogue value: £650.

Batumi (formerly Batum) is a city on the Black Sea coast and capital of Adjara, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia. The city was under Russian rule at the beginning of World War I, but local unrest led to Turkey entering the city in April 1918, followed by the British in December, who stayed until July 1920.

During the British occupation, the stock of postage stamps started to run out, and so in February 1919 the administration produced its own stamps. These were imperforate, depicted an aloe tree and were inscribed БАТУМСКАЯ ПОЧТА (BATUMSKAYA POCHTA), or "Batum Post."

The British later overprinted these with "BRITISH OCCUPATION", and surcharged the remaining Russian stamps in a variety of styles. Inflation also took hold, and by 1920, the tree stamps, which had been as little as 5 kopecks, had to be reprinted in denominations up to 50 rubles.

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Batum British Occupation 1920 (17 June) registered "Lauber" cover to Switzerland, franked by 1919 (13 Apr) 10r on 3k carmine-red and 10r on 10 on 7k deep blue with type 2 surcharges, tied by individual strikes of "17 6.20" circular date stamps, with red registration cachet at lower left and Bern arrival backstamp (14 VII 20).

Only 3,600 and 314 respectively issued, with the 10r on 10 on 7k very rare on cover.

A choice quality piece of rare postal history.

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 Bechuanaland 1913-24 original set of 8 to 1s (lacking later 1½d), watermark Simple Cypher, overprinted 'SPECIMEN' (type GB23), blocks of 4 (marginal except for ½d, 2d), SG73/82s.

Very fine and fresh set, unmounted mint with full original gum.

A rare set, the ½d to 6d not distributed by the (Universal Postal Union) UPU, with less than a single pane (120 stamps) of each value released by the British Philatelic Museum Archives (BPMA.)

Although the 1s value was distributed by the UPU with the same 'SPECIMEN' overprint, no blocks could exist from that source.

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Bechuanaland 1913-24 5s bright carmine, "King George V Seahorses" SG87, De La Rue printing, upper left corner block of 6 (2x3).

Very fine unmounted mint with full original gum, (characteristic slightly patchy gum). Odd minor tone marks, mostly apparent on upper right stamp, still a fine multiple.

The left frame line shows 'doubling' mimicking the effect of a re-entry, particularly at R1/1.

Such was the success and popularity of the famous Seahorses stamp issue in Great Britain that it was overprinted and used in other countries in the British Empire including Morocco, Offices in the Turkish Empire, Bechuanaland and Ireland. The stamp is considered a miniature piece of propaganda in response to the German threat posed to Britain at sea on the eve of World War I. The Seahorses boldly claimed Britain’s naval domination and reputation of being "ruler of the seas".

A rare and spectacular multiple.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £1,800+.

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Get Market Data for [Bermuda F1] Visual Pricing Guide Sample Census

Bermuda 1938-53 2s deep purple and ultramarine/grey-blue, SG116bc, perforations 14¼ (line) from May 1941 printing (200 sheets), showing the prominent and important variety 'lower right scroll with broken tail' (R2/10).

Fine quality example with lovely fresh colour and original gum. One shortish perforation, immaterial to its overall quality, which is far above average for this rarity.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £4,000.

Get Market Data for [Bermuda 116] Visual Pricing Guide Sample Census

Bermuda 1938-53 2s6d black and red/grey-blue, perforations 14¼ line from May 1941 printing, variety 'Broken top right scroll' (R5/11), SG117ad.

Very fine mint example with original gum, (barest trace of hingeing).

Only 200 sheets printed, with a high rate of commercial usage. A splendid quality example of this rare King George VI variety.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £2,750.

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Bermuda 1938-53 5s bronze-green and carmine-red/pale yellow, ordinary paper, perforations 14, SG118c.

A fresh and fine mint example with original gum and only the barest trace of previous hinge, if at all).

From the November 1941 printing, which is extremely scarce as the vast majority of the printing was postally used.

Stanley Gibbons catalogue value: £1,500.

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Bermuda 1938-53 5s pale bluish green and carmine-red/pale yellow, lower right corner horizontal pair with plate number '1'. The right stamp (R5/12) shows variety 'Broken lower right scroll', SG118d/de.

A brilliant quality mint pair with original gum and, most importantly, the high value printing variety is unmounted mint.

From the 5/3/43 fifth printing, which comprised only 246 sheets.

A splendid positional piece, particularly rare in such quality.

Stanley Gibbons catalogue value: £1,210+.

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