Worldwide Stamps and Postal History continued...

A fine quality cover. There are some minor blemishes with the envelope being lightly folded at the left and a few perforation tones. Regardless, it is still a most attractive and rare cover.

Following the Japanese surrender, elements of the British Military Administration reached Kuching on 11 September 1945. On the return of the allies, a previous stamp issue was re-issued but with B.M.A. overprints. The design of these stamps is most appealing featuring Sir Charles Vyner Brooke with stunning oriental columns on either side. Sir Charles was the third and last white Rajah of Sarawak.

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Fine and fresh unmounted mint examples with full original gum, and very scarce in this quality.

The Victory stamps were issued in 1946 to celebrate the return to peace at the end of World War II. The designs feature a view of the Thames River in London, with a view of the Parliament buildings in the distance.

These "SPECIMEN" examples were used solely by postal administrations for reference purposes to help spot any attempted forgeries.

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A fine and attractive quality mint example with original gum. A fine example of this scarce printing variety, difficult to find in this quality.

The total printing 1,798 sheets, from ten (!) vignette plates.

Stanley Gibbons catalogue value: £450.

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A fine unmounted mint positional block of four with full original gum. Much fresher than usually found, and rare in this positional form.

This stamp comes from the first King George VI set issued by the Seychelles and deviated from the tradition of previous stamps which merely portrayed the British monarch. Furthermore, the traditional use of the words "POSTAGE" were not included in this issue.

Instead, the first set of stamps issued for King George VI's reign provided vivid photographic vignettes of home. This marked the beginning of a new preference for pictorial stamps and the golden era of wonderful stamp designs, bringing the world to life.

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Fine and fresh mint examples with original gum, and scarce in this quality.

The Victory stamps were issued in 1946 to celebrate the return to peace at the end of World War II. The designs feature a view of the Thames River in London, with a view of the Parliament buildings in the distance.

These "SPECIMEN" examples were used solely by postal administrations for reference purposes to help spot any attempted forgeries.

Get Market Data for [Seychelles 150s/1s] Visual Pricing Guide Sample Census

A fresh and very fine unmounted mint example with full original gum.

A scarce stamp in such pristine condition.

This stamp comes from the first King George VI set issued by the Seychelles and deviated from the tradition of previous stamps which merely portrayed the British monarch. Furthermore, the traditional use of the words "POSTAGE" were not included in this issue.

Instead, the first set of stamps issued for King George VI's reign provided vivid photographic vignettes of home. This marked the beginning of a new preference for pictorial stamps and the golden era of wonderful stamp designs, bringing the world to life.

Get Market Data for [Seychelles 145] Visual Pricing Guide Sample Census

A lovely fresh positional block, unmounted mint with full original gum. There is minor perforation separation at top, and odd wrinkles, but much fresher than usually found.

Very scarce and attractive in this positional form.

This was the first King George VI set issued by the Seychelles and deviated from the tradition of previous stamps which merely portrayed the British monarch. Furthermore, the traditional use of the words "POSTAGE" were not included in this issue.

Instead, the first set of stamps issued for King George VI's reign provided vivid photographic vignettes of home. This marked the beginning of a new preference for pictorial stamps and the golden era of wonderful stamp designs, bringing the world to life.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £180+.

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A fresh and fine unmounted mint example with full original gum.

This was the first King George VI set issued by the Seychelles and deviated from the tradition of previous stamps which merely portrayed the British monarch. Furthermore, the traditional use of the words "POSTAGE" were not included in this issue.

Instead, the first set of stamps issued for King George VI's reign provided vivid photographic vignettes of home. This marked the beginning of a new preference for pictorial stamps and the golden era of wonderful stamp designs, bringing the world to life.

Get Market Data for [Seychelles 140] Visual Pricing Guide Sample Census

A fine and attractive quality mint example with large part original gum. The gum is slightly yellowish in colour, although this does not detract from what is a fine example of a very scarce variety.

The total printing 1,798 sheets, from ten (!) vignette plates.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £450.

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A very fine unmounted mint block with full original gum.

A very scarce block with the watermark error present, particularly in such pristine unmounted mint condition.

This was the first King George VI set issued by the Seychelles and deviated from the tradition of previous stamps which merely portrayed the British monarch. Furthermore, the traditional use of the words "POSTAGE" were not included in this issue.

Instead, the first set of stamps issued for King George VI's reign provided vivid photographic vignettes of home. This marked the beginning of a new preference for pictorial stamps and the golden era of wonderful stamp designs, bringing the world to life.

Get Market Data for [Seychelles 166/b] Visual Pricing Guide Sample Census

A fine and fresh positional block with original gum, (the lower pair being unmounted mint). The upper pair show minor separation (sensibly reinforced) and still a very fine piece.

Extremely scarce in this positional form.

This stamp comes from the first King George VI set issued by the Seychelles and deviated from the tradition of previous stamps which merely portrayed the British monarch. Furthermore, the traditional use of the words "POSTAGE" were not included in this issue.

Instead, the first set of stamps issued for King George VI's reign provided vivid photographic vignettes of home. This marked the beginning of a new preference for pictorial stamps and the golden era of wonderful stamp designs, bringing the world to life.

Get Market Data for [Seychelles 139] Visual Pricing Guide Sample Census

A very fine used example with a most attractive example of the "VICTORIA" circular date stamp.

A very scarce King George V stamp more commonly found unused and fine quality used examples are much more challenging to find .

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A brilliant quality unmounted mint sheet with full original gum (except right column !). Minor perforation folding and trivial marginal separation at centre, which is normal for a sheet of this size. Overall, in remarkably fine condition.

Further shows badly printed surcharge on many stamps in the right pane (especially in the third to fifth columns) with partially missing numerals and letters.

Very scarce in a multiple of this size and type.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £570+.

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A very fine unmounted mint sheet with full original gum.

Rare in this intact form and very attractive philatelic piece.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £887+.

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A very fine unmounted mint marginal pair with full original gum.

A scarce watermark error.

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A stunning unmounted mint positional piece with full original gun.

Very scarce, and desirable in this pristine quality.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £660+.

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A fresh and fine unmounted mint positional block with full original gum. The upper left stamp shows small wrinkles, which does not detract from what is a scarce and highly attractive quality positional piece.

This stamp comes from the first King George VI set issued by the Seychelles and deviated from the tradition of previous stamps which merely portrayed the British monarch. Furthermore, the traditional use of the words "POSTAGE" were not included in this issue.

Instead, the first set of stamps issued for King George VI's reign provided vivid photographic vignettes of home. This marked the beginning of a new preference for pictorial stamps and the golden era of wonderful stamp designs, bringing the world to life.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £200+.

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A very fine unmounted mint example with full original gum. Rarely seen in such pristine unmounted mint condition.

A scarce variety from a total printing of only 1,163 sheets, from six vignette plates.

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A lovely fresh mint example with large part original gum.

The total printing was only 1,163 sheets, from six vignette plates, with this variety not yet found present in the large first printing of 575 sheets.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £425.

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A fine used example with part 'JA 7 08' circular date stamp.

A scarce printing variety.

This King Edward VII stamp was the first issued after the Seychelles became a separate crown colony by Letters Patent dated 31 August 1903.

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A very fine mint example of stunning appearance and with original gum.

This King Edward VII stamp was the first issued after the Seychelles became a separate crown colony by Letters Patent dated 31 August 1903.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £130.

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A fine and fresh mint pair with original gum. The normal stamp with tiny corner crease, which is inconsequential as the variety is very fine and rarely seen as such.

A scarce printing variety as only a maximum of 200 possible, and very scarce in this se-tenant form.

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A fine mint example with original gum. There are a few slightly shortish perforations and normal gum wrinkles, but particularly fine quality for this colour variety and a major rarity, which is only known to exist with Specimen overprint.

Accompanied with a fine mint example of the normal 10c ultramarine and brown for comparison.

Seychelles was administered as a dependency of Mauritius from 1810 until 1903. The first post office was opened at Victoria on Mahé on 11 December 1861. The stamps of Mauritius were initially used until 1890. These were the first stamps issued by the Seychelles.

Referenced as footnote in Stanley Gibbons British Commonwealth & Empire catalogue after SG14.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value for the rare colour variety is £800 and £18 for the normal stamp.

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A fine unmounted mint example with full original gum. Traces of gum toning as nearly always seen for this issue and still very fine quality for this key rarity.

Only 540 were originally issued in celebration of the second year of independence, most of which were used.

Provenance: Signed "AL" (= well respected philatelist and stamp dealer, Allan Leverton) in pencil on reverse.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £850.

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A very fine and fresh unmounted mint example with full original gum.

A scarce King Edward VII high value stamp in such pristine condition.

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