383rd Auction

1856, folded letter, with black St. Thomas double-arc despatch backstamp (1 Oct), carried via London, with red c.d.s. transit backstamp (18 Oct), thence across the Channel  with ANGL AMB CALAIS c.d.s. (18 Oct) and boxed red “COLONIES / ART - 18” on front, “15” (decimes) in black due marking, backstamped Paris A Bordeaux (19 Oct) and Bordeaux (20 Oct), typical filing folds and light wrinkles, an unusual usage to France via London.

The “COLONIES / ART-18” marking is scarce, and is recorded as used only between 1 January and 31 December 1856.

1876, folded cover, docketed “Miragoane, le 8 Aout”, struck with blue oval forwarding agent handstamp of G. Serre & Cie, Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, to Havre, France, endorsed “per Royal Mail Steamer”, carried via St. Thomas with c.d.s. transit backstamp (13 Aug), and London, where struck with black “T/1-10” postage due marking, ANGL. AMB CALAIS (28 Aug) c.d.s. entry mark, Paris Au Havre transit an Le Havre c.d.s. arrival backstamps (29 Aug), “17” (decimes) struck in black indicating amount due from recipient, light filing folds, a scarce unpaid cover from Haiti routed via the British Post Office in St. Thomas.

1850/66, Outgoing Mail, 26 folded entires mostly from St Petersburg, Mitava, Libava or Warsaw to France or Germany, wide-ranging selection of transit and entry marks, postage annotations, etc., together with two official covers to Tiflis; fine to very fine, an excellent study group