Worldwide Stamps and Postal History continued...

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VERY FINE. A RARE POSTALLY USED EXAMPLE OF THE 1895 £10 UNWATERMARKED ISSUE.

Signed on the back by Robson Lowe as postally used. With 1972 R.P.S. certificate. SG £4,500 (Image)

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VERY FINE APPEARANCE. AN IMMENSELY RARE EXAMPLE OF THE BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA ONE-PENCE ERROR WITHOUT OVAL IN A PAIR WITH A NORMAL STAMP. THIS IS ACTUALLY OFFERED WITH MUCH LESS FREQUENCY THAN THE MORE FAMOUS INVERTED OVAL ERROR. A PHENOMENAL RARITY.

According to Robson Lowe's Encyclopedia, in 1891 the Imperial Post opened its first post office, and in 1893 the post was greatly expanded. The first issues were those of Rhodesia overprinted "B.C.A.", which were followed by British Central Africa stamps printed by De La Rue & Co. in England. In a monograph by Fred J. Melville, the author refers to the theft of a case of stamps containing several denominations that disappeared en route from England. The theft occurred about January 25, 1898, and it was claimed that the case was lost overboard. The stamps were eventually found about a year later. In response to this theft, on March 11 the Post Office issued a notice requiring that all mail addressed to places within the British Central Africa Protectorate be paid in cash rather than stamps, and that new stamps (called "tokens" in the notice) would be affixed to indicate payment. The new stamps were printed locally at Blantyre (now Malawi) which was a major center for colonial trade. A new supply of stamps was received in November and use of the local stamps was discontinued.

It is believed only twenty such errors were produced. However, in our review of important British Commonwealth auctions, we notice this error is almost always missing, and in a couple cases exists only as a single and not in this desirable se-tenant format with a normal stamp.

Ex Hind and Preston. 1939 R.P.S. certificate no longer accompanies. With clear 2011 R.P.S. certificate. The Stanley Gibbons catalog lists the oval omitted error as No. 55d, the Pale Ultramarine color. This is probably an error, as it is suggested these all emanated from the same printing. We believe the SG value of £30,000 refers to this stamp (Image)

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VERY FINE APPEARANCE. A RARE EXAMPLE OF THE BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA ONE-PENNY "CHEQUE STAMP" WITH THE OVAL INVERTED. ONLY FIFTEEN IN TOTAL WERE PRINTED AND NO MORE THAN THIRTEEN EXAMPLES CAN EXIST IN PRIVATE HANDS. THIS COPY IS ONE OF THE FINEST KNOWN. A GREAT RARITY OF BRITISH AFRICA.

According to Robson Lowe's Encyclopedia, in 1891 the Imperial Post opened its first post office, and in 1893 the post was greatly expanded. The first issues were those of Rhodesia overprinted "B.C.A.", which were followed by British Central Africa stamps printed by De La Rue & Co. in England. In a monograph by Fred J. Melville, the author refers to the theft of a case of stamps containing several denominations that disappeared en route from England. The theft occurred about January 25, 1898, and it was claimed that the case was lost overboard. The stamps were eventually found about a year later. In response to this theft, on March 11 the Post Office issued a notice requiring that all mail addressed to places within the British Central Africa Protectorate be paid in cash rather than stamps, and that new stamps (called "tokens" in the notice) would be affixed to indicate payment. The new stamps were printed locally at Blantyre (now Malawi) which was a major center for colonial trade. A new supply of stamps was received in November and use of the local stamps was discontinued.

The stamps were printed in sheets of 30 comprising two horizontal rows of fifteen. For the first setting, the blue portion of the design was printed in two operations. This resulted in the top row of one sheet printed with the oval inverted. Of the fifteen printed, a pair (Positions 11-12) is in the Royal Collection and another pair (Positions 14-15) is also known. Of the remaining eleven singles, many have not been seen for some time and nearly all have faults much more severe than the example offered here.

Ex Pack. With clear 2011 R.P.S. certificate. SG £30,000. (Image)

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