Lot no. 4

1840, Mulready 1d. black envelope, stereo A158, a used example cancelled by neat red Maltese Cross,  with London Twopenny Post 'T.P. / Chapel St.' handstamp at right, addressed to Dorchester with reverse showing clear  "C / MY-6 / 1840" First Day of Issue circular datestamp of the London Chief Office in red. Listed in 'May Dates' by Mike Jackson FRPSL on page 243. Superb content, a delightful and rare First Day usage, Certificate Karl Louis BPP (2016) (SG ME2) Note: Fascinating contents addressed to Miss Augusta Hardy in Portisham, Dorchester (the younger sister of Admiral Thomas  Masterman Hardy who commanded HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar) stating: "My Dear Aunt, I thought you might like  to receive one of these strange new postage, which may have the advantage of oddity perhaps to recommend them if nothing  else. Everybody is so disappointed that I think they must be altered & it seems that the difficulty of forgery & imitation lies not so  much in the little figures of Men and Elephants etc., as in the coloured lines on the other side of the envelopes, so that in fact  Britannia and all the rest of it might have been spared....".