Abacus Auctions in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | Auction house

Abacus Auctions

Locality: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Phone: +61 3 8513 0595

Address: 29 Hardner Road, Mount Waverley 3149 Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Website: http://www.abacusauctions.com.au

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23.01.2022 KING GEORGE VI IN COVID LOCKDOWN 1951 Definitives KGVI 3d dark green interpanneau block of 6 (3x2), the fifth unit with transient Covid-19 Mask flaw, well centered, unmounted. Just a quicky, as New South Wales prepares to lock-down its border with Victoria. [Note, we didnt do that to them over the Ruby Princess fiasco. Good job Gladys!]... Seems the Royals were ahead of the curve, apparently stocking up on PPE (personal protective equipment) way back in the 1950s. Lockdown in Windsor Castle would have been pretty tough: only 2000 acres of manicured gardens and woodlands for walking the Corgis, social distancing of 50 square metres per Royal, and no Uber Eats! This dramatic inking flaw is from the Tillie Mitchell Collection and will be offered in our Public Auction at the end of August 2020. To receive our Newsletters and be notified of all upcoming auctions, please email [email protected]

23.01.2022 Abacus Auctions Online Sale 11th & 12th July. This Sale offers 1600+ single lots, sets & small groups including strong sections of Asia with 60+ lots of China, British Commonwealth & Europe, as well as Australia & Colonies, New Zealand, New Guinea & Papua, and other Pacific Islands. In addition to stamps, this sale also includes hundreds of lots of Postal History, Postal Stationery, Airmail Covers featuring the Art Groten collection of early Australian airmail etiquettes, Pos...tmarks featuring selections from the Ken Killeen collections of South Australia & Western Australia, Picture Postcards including a lovely range of Trans-Australian Railway real photo cards, as well as an extensive section of Philatelic Literature with estimates starting from as little as A$50. This is a hybrid sale with viewing, room bidding and pick-up facilities available (subject to government restrictions). There is no hard-copy catalogue for this sale. However, all lots are fully described and illustrated on our website, with a PDF catalogue available for browsing and download in whole or part. Absentee bids may be submitted by mail, phone, email and via our website. On auction days, bids may be placed in the room, by phone (on request) and by live internet bidding via our website. Please refer to the Auctions & Bidding section on the top menu for instructions on using our new online & live bidding functions, and contact us for assistance if required. Viewing is available from Monday 29 June to Friday 10 July with limited viewing facilities on auction days; please contact us to make an appointment to view. We wish you good luck with your bidding.

23.01.2022 Final Auction of the Year-Available for browsing on the Website now. Friday 20 October from 11am Lots 1 - 666 General Collectables, Militaria, Coins & Banknotes Geology, Fossils & Meteorites including the largest Australian ‘Moon Rock’; Australian History including ephemera, documents, photographs & postcards; Autographs, Movie Memorabilia, Posters & Toys; followed by Militaria & Medals, Tokens, Coins & Banknotes featuring gold sovereigns, early English coins, trav...ellers’ cheques, banking instruments, etc. Saturday 21 November from 11am Lots 667 - 1320 Sporting Memorabilia Cricket including a fine 1882 Australian Test XI photograph & Allan Connolly’s ‘Baggy Green’ cap, Australian Rules Football with runs of ‘Footy Records’, Horse Racing including ‘Rising Fast’ silks and a range of photographs, postcards and Race Books, also Olympics, Boxing, Golf, Rugby, etc, plus an extensive section of Cigarette & Trade Cards. Sunday 22 November from 11am Lots 2001 - 2668 Australia & Colonies Stamps & Postal History Collections, Accumulations & Box Lots followed by Kangaroos, KGV Heads including Novocastrian Penny Reds, Pre-Decimals featuring further items from the Tillie Mitchell collection, Postal Stationery, Flight & First Day Covers, plus an extensive section of Postal History including Military, Censor & Destination Mail; then Picture Postcards and the first part of Colonies - New South Wales, Queensland & South Australia. Monday 23 November from 11am Lots 2669 - 2898 Australian Colonies Stamps & Postal History (cont’d) The Colonies continue with Tasmania featuring 150+ lots from the Owen Ingles collection, Victoria & WA to be followed after lunch by Lots 2899 - 3494 Rest of the World Stamps & Postal History Collections, Accumulations & Box Lots followed by A-Z countries with Great Britain & Commonwealth, New Zealand (including Picture Postcards, Exhibitions & TPOs ), New Guinea (with GRI & NWPI overprints), Papua, etc; also many fine Postal History items from China, Germany, Gilbert & Ellice Islands, etc; plus Postal Stationery including commercially used aerogrammes from around the world highlighted by an outstanding offering of rarely-seen Arabian Gulf items. www.abacusauctions.com.au

22.01.2022 A DUAL CURRENCY GEM 1966 (Feb 14; Valentine's Day) commercial airmail Special Delivery cover to Sydney with very scarce Dual Currency franking of pre-decimal QEII 5d plus Decimals 2c QEII & 10c Fish tied by Melbourne cds. A rare usage with payment for the express fee. If you were at school in the mid-1960s you would have been confronted with the arithmetical challenge of turning 12 into 10, without a calculator or mobile phone to assist you. We were on the verge of introduci...ng decimal currency and the conversion of 120 pence (or ten shillings) into 100 cents (or one dollar) was something that had adult and child alike flummoxed. Fortunately, the Reserve Bank introduced us to an animated little chap named Dollar Bill, who taught us all that 1d = 1c and 2d = 2c but 3d also = 2c, and so on. All we knew for sure that the decimal system was going to be much easier to use than the cumbersome pounds shillings and pence that were a cumbersome vestige of British Rule in the 19th century. When it came to postal rates, the PMG’s Department accepted that it would take time for everyone to come to grips with the new currency. For the next two years it was permissible to use up the old sd stamps. You could even use them in combination with the new decimal values. This was the framework in which our subject cover was created. It was 14th February 1966, the very first day of the decimal era. The postal clerk at Monahan-Dayman Advertising (which, twenty years later, merged with MoJo Advertising) needed to send a letter to Sydney by Special Delivery, what we more usually call Express Mail. He or she - it could well have been either - trotted off to the GPO in Elizabeth Street, three city blocks away. The letter was already stamped with the ‘old’ 5d red stamp that the clerk knew would get the letter to Sydney by air. But the express fee was apparently a mystery. It had been 1/3d but was it now 13c, or 12c, or something else? The GPO clerk, enjoying the misery of so many of his customers that day, might well have made a big deal of showing off his superior knowledge, relentlessly drilled into him over the course of the previous six months and, with an exaggerated flourish, produced two of the new stamps to satisfy the additional 12c fee. One can only hope that the office clerk remembered the lesson and never again had to enquire about the cost of sending a letter by Special Delivery. As postal historians, we can all be glad that on the auspicious 14th day of February 1966 that piece of knowledge was not at hand and a marvellous dual currency cover was created. In our opinion, this is one of the very best Pre-Decimal/Decimal covers we have seen. The stamps themselves are worth a pittance; FDCs bearing the 2c and 10c are a dime a dozen; but the combination of factors found here make our subject cover an object of beauty and a joy to behold. This cover sold in Abacus Auctions Sale Online 2 as Lot 539 for $190.

22.01.2022 1919 Ross Smith vignette with margins AAMC #27b, exceptional centring, expertising marks on the reverse of Kessler, Raybaudi & Enzo Diena otherwise unmounted & superb, AAMC Cat $20,000 for mounted mint. Enzo Diena (1988, in English: "...it has intact original gum and is in perfect condition") & Chris Ceremuga ("Extremely rare in unmounted condition") Certificates. With "The Ross Smith Stamp [sic] & its Postal History" by Tom Frommer (2011) in which the author illustrates every recorded cover, piece, and loose example. He was able to identify only 36 examples with the margins intact, of which this example is #C28, and a further 16 from which the margins have been removed. It is believed that at least half of the 'miniature sheets' are held by institutions. From Auction 231 Lot 410

20.01.2022 Watch Abacus Auction Sale 239 Part 2 online now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC2mC1yeJFY

20.01.2022 Aeropex 2019, 6th-8th December, Adelaide.

19.01.2022 GETTING FREIGHT TO THE TOP OF THE WORLD TERRITORY OF NEW GUINEA: 1932 real photo postcards with captions on the reverse "...our little township (Bulolo)...the store on the drome is the one that caught fire", "...the dredge which is very nearly completed" (the first of eight), a Junkers J31 "...the shaft that is getting hauled out...weighs 3 tons", seven native boys outside a grass hut "...they do not go to school" and "...the Hydo Electric Power house...getting constructed.... The tunnel on top of the house runs 900ft through the mountain. A marvellous group of great social interest. Gold. It’s a commodity with a long history of causing people to do irrational things. Take the alluvial gold deposits of the Edie Creek in the New Guinea Highlands. Fine if you could motor there, load up the day’s finds, and drive back to Lae. A different story if the only practical way in was by air. Commercial quantities of gold were discovered in the Edie Creek/Wau/Bulolo area in 1926. There were no proper roads and the trek from Lae was an exhausting six-hour grind...on a good day. 1927 saw the opening of an airfield and the arrival of the first planes. Over the next 14 years, until the Japanese ruined the party, there was more air freight moved in New Guinea than in any other part of the world! If you wanted to be serious about your hunt for alluvial gold, you needed to do it on an industrial scale. Eight massive dredges were assembled on the field. Every piece had to be flown to the site. Photographs exist showing whole trucks and other major equipment being craned out of the bellies of the aeroplanes. The shaft weighing 3 Imperial tons pictured on the first of our subject postcards was relatively small potatoes. Many postcard collectors are like many stamp collectors: they are primarily interested in acquiring the material and take little if any interest in the subject matter. In other words, they are missing out on the most important elements of their collecting. What are the items all about, and what is the story behind them? In both cases, without context, they are just pieces of paper. Add the story, understand how the postcard or stamp came into being, appreciate the context of the times, and you can bring your collection to life. The more interesting the item, the bigger the story, the larger the life you can breathe into it.

17.01.2022 AUSTRALIA - UNISSUED STAMPS 1976 Scenic Postal Cards 18c complete set in red packet unused, including the 16 views that were substituted, nine for relatively minor technical reasons, the other seven because it was claimed - not always with justification - that the actual photographs needed to be replaced. Have you seen this stamp before? Im sure it looks at least vaguely familiar. However, unless you collect Australian postal stationery you may not know much, if any...thing, about it, In 1976, the reintroduction of Postal Cards, after a hiatus of 19 years, was accompanied by both great fanfare and one of the greatest production snafus ever created by the Post Office. It is debatable if most of the selection/technical "problems" identified required rectification. Several of the substituted views are artistically inferior to those they replaced. However, Port Macquarie (NSW) had not moved to Coolangatta (Qld)! The example shown here, of Surfers Paradise (Qld) was ditched because some senior bureaucrat didnt like the skyscrapers shadow intruding on the beach. Virtually all of the original sets were destroyed & very few - perhaps as few as 12 - were actually distributed. The importance of all this is that the stamp impressions were the same as the views, meaning that Australia Post issued seven error stamps in miniscule proportions. If these were adhesive stamps, the seven withdrawn designs would each be worth thousands of dollars. Some years ago, we sold the 1913 unissued engraved stamps featuring King George V (2d) and a Black Swan (1/-) for $152,500. If you have a set of these 1976 cards in the el cheapo red velour packet, it might well be worth checking if you have chanced upon the original printing with the seven unissued decimal stamps. The complete set of cards, plus a normal set for comparison, will be offered in our Stamps, Postal History & Picture Postcards Public Auction in August 2020. To receive our Newsletters and be notified of all upcoming auctions, please email [email protected].

17.01.2022 Just under 30 minutes till kickoff!

17.01.2022 Don't forget to get your bids in for this extended weekend's Auction, Sale 242. Good luck with all your bidding. Register to bid at:... https://www.abacusauctions.com.au/ See more

16.01.2022 SWITZERLAND - BASEL: 1845 2r carmine black & blue Dove Michel 1 (Gibbons B1), small corner fault at lower-right and some thinning, red cancellation, Cat 13,000 (20,000). One of the most technically important of all Classic issues. Pascal Scheller Certificate (2010) as Yvert No 8. Todays fun fact is that the Basel Dove was designed by an architect, Herr Melchior Berri. (We could tell you that Berri in South Australia is named after him, but that would be news to the loc...al aborigines!) Berri was first engaged by the Basel postmaster, Johannes Bernoulli, to create distinctive letterboxes for the towns postal service: see our second image. They are still in use today! The postmaster liked them so much that he commissioned a stamp based on the same design. Voila! the Basel Dove. We wouldnt usually highlight a stamp with faults. However, despite its shortcomings, this is an attractive and collectable example of the world's first embossedfirst tricolouredand first 'Bird' stamp. And it will be offered at a very conservative estimate. The Swiss Cantonal stamps, produced between 1843 and 1848 before Switzerland issued stamps for the whole country, are among the most popular collecting fields in Classic (that is, pre-1860) philately. The Basel Dove is among the most popular of the Swiss Cantonals, and the only stamp issued for that city (a complete country in one stamp!). As the worlds first stamp featuring a bird, it is a favourite of thematic collectors and a must-have for anyone pursuing the Best in Birds. It is printed in three colours - black, red and blue - in a period when multicolour printing was in its infancy. Even more interesting is that the central motif was produced in colourless embossing. The thematic interest goes beyond Birds. Look closely and you will see that the dove has an envelope in its beak. This qualifies it also, for a collection of letter carriers or postmen. What we have here is not just a pretty little piece of paper thats getting on for 200 years old. We also have a great story that underlines our catch cry: We Sell History! Thanks to Wikipedia, and especially to the Postcrossing Blog, which you can access by clicking on this link https://www.postcrossing.com//06/the-basel-dove-letterboxes. This item will be offered in our Stamps, Postal History & Picture Postcards Public Auction in July / August 2020.

16.01.2022 STEVE WAUGH:"BAGGY GREEN" AUSTRALIAN TEST CAP, signed inside "To Keith, Many Thanks, Steve Waugh", green wool, embroidered Australian Coat-of-Arms on front. Superb condition. Ex Keith Attree, a former policeman who looked after the visiting teams at the WACA in Perth. Steve Waugh played 168 Tests 1985-2004, and is considered the most successful Test captain in cricket history.... He was the most capped Test cricket player in history until Sachin Tendulkar broke this record in 2010. From Auction 241 Lot 141

15.01.2022 TUSCANY: 1860 Coat of Arms 3L yellow-ochre Mi 23, margins just clear to close, strong colour, straight-line '[PER CO]NSEGNA' cancellation, Cat 70,000. George Buhler Certificate (1993) states "echt und in feiner Erhaltung!...eine Weltseltenheit!" is genuine in very fine condition...a World rarity). The certificate also says - translated - "has margins on all sides and deep colour...only very few remain in existence". Subesequently additional certificates were obtained from the Italian experts Enzo Diena (1994) who stated "it is genuine & a great rarity", and Georgio Cossa Asinelli (2009) who echoed his predecessors. From Auction 231 Lot 1104.

15.01.2022 25 minutes to go till kickoff of our Online Auction 1.

14.01.2022 LUNAR METEORITE, NWA 11273, Lunar (Feldspathic Breccia), found in April 2017 near Tindouf, Algeria, and obtained by a consortium of meteorite dealers, 641g, about 16x8x7cm. This piece represents about 22% of the original find and is believed to be the largest chunk of the Moon in Australia. [A type specimen was sent for analysis to confirm that it originated from the Moon. It was officially accepted as a Lunar Feldspathic Breccia Meteorite in October 2017. A total of 2808 gr...ams of the meteorite were excavated from the location] A lunar meteorite is a meteorite that is known to have originated on the Moon. The first lunar meteorites were found in Antarctica in 1979 & 1982. As of July 2019, 371 lunar meteorites have been discovered, perhaps representing more than 30 separate meteorite falls (i.e. many of the stones are paired fragments of the same meteoroid. All lunar meteorites have been found in deserts; most have been found in Antarctica, northern Africa, and the Sultanate of Oman. Lunar origin is established by comparing the mineralogy, the chemical composition, and the isotopic composition between meteorites and samples from the Moon collected by Apollo missions. Most lunar meteorites are launched from the Moon by impacts making lunar craters up to a few kilometres in diameter. Lunar meteorites collected in Africa and Oman are, for all practical purposes, the only source of moon rocks available for private ownership. This item will be offered an upcoming Sporting Memorabilia & General Collectables sale. To receive our Newsletters and be notified of all upcoming auctions, please email [email protected]

14.01.2022 Abacus Auctions Sale 239 catalogue is online now: http://www.prestigephilately.com/index.php

14.01.2022 Nick Anning displaying our stand at the Adelaide Coin Show on the 16th and 17th November.

14.01.2022 AUSTRALIA - BUNDLEWARE The late Peter Johnstone from Australian Philatelic Wholesalers (APW) started trading part-time while still a schoolboy. His specialty was Australian kiloware and bundleware. Back in the 1970s, I well remember driving from Melton to Oakleigh at every opportunity to buy bundles of KGV 2d oranges. Peter seemed to have a never-ending supply and they proved to be a fantastic source for my then-passion, postmarks. Peter also offered a buy-back facility...: you selected what you wanted, reconstructed bundles of 100 and sold them back to Peter for something like half your original cost. Those were the days! In modern times, large quantities of stamps occasionally appear at auction and inspire bidding battles between a new crop of collectors of postmarks or varieties. Such a hoard has recently been unearthed from the estate of another former Melbourne dealer. As can be seen from our illustration of the KGV bundles, many of them were secured by small rubber bands that appear to be almost as old as the stamps themselves. This does not guarantee that the material has not been picked-over but it certainly indicates that the stamps have been off the market for decades. In fact, our assessment is that perhaps half the bundles in the hoard were prepared before World War II. And we know that the entire hoard has been untouched for at least 40 years. This exciting new find is strongest in the KGV period, not just the Heads but all the 1d and 2d Commemoratives as well. There are also significant quantities of bundled Kangaroos, plus countless thousands of KGVI and earlier QEII issues. Most of the earlier values are offered separately for the benefit of single-issue researchers and this is a wonderful opportunity for anyone who wishes to dip a toe into those waters. Be bold: tentative bidders are likely to be overwhelmed. If you acquire material from this holding, let us know of any major finds such as rare inverted or sideways watermarks, d Single-Line Perfs, or obscure but rare plate flaws, etc. It is the thrill of the chase that will motivate you, and the joy of discovery that will reward your labours. The hoard will be offered in our Stamps, Postal History & Picture Postcards Public Auction in July / August 2020. To receive our Newsletters and be notified of all upcoming auctions, please email [email protected].

12.01.2022 WESTERN AUSTRALIA - A NEW DISCOVERY 25mm 'BULLA BULLING/JU29/96/[W.A]' datestamp, a very fine strike on 1d pink. A new discovery: not recorded in Postal Markings Illustrated (PMI). A couple of years ago, one of our clients bought an old-time stamp album in England. It contained a small piece of white paper with a colourless embossing that didnt even look like a stamp. However, our friend obtained a certificate of genuineness stating that his find was indeed an extremely... rare Russian local stamp. He sold it for a fortune. One of the joys of collecting is the possibility of finding something that nobody else has ever seen before, perhaps an item of which the existence has not even been imagined. Its the thrill of the chase and the excitement of discovery that inspires thousands around the world to pursue their hobby with enthusiasm. Our featured item may not look like much, but it is a Western Australian postmark from a tiny settlement in the scruband its been hiding from view for 124 years. You might think that Bulla Bulling itself has been hiding. If youve never heard of it, I expect youre not alone. According to Wikipedia, Bullabulling (one word from 1944) is some 526km east of Perth, about 30km west of Coolgardie. The post office is recorded as having opened on 1st January 1896 at what was a new mining settlement on the Coolgardie Gold Field. Two years later, in 1898, the population had swelled to 160, only 20 of them women, and the town was officially gazetted. Thirty years later, it was a ghost town, and the post office had been closed since 1924. PMI is an extremely good reference work. A key feature is that every Western Australian numeral and datestamp is illustrated. Four markings are recorded for Bulla Bulling. Two are rubber datestamps, the earlier recorded c.1896 and generally accepted as the first postmark for the town. There are two steel datestamps recorded, with diameters of 21mm (1897-1914) or 28mm (1924 only). There can be no doubt that the marking illustrated here is a new type. In addition to being 25mm across, it doesnt have the hyphen found on the 21mm implement. Was this datestamp lost, stolen, destroyed? Whatever happened, it was probably in service for a very short time before being replaced by the 21mm BULLA-BULLING cds. Its not worth a fortune but it is an exciting new discovery for postmark enthusiasts. This unique postmark will be offered in our Stamps, Postal History & Picture Postcards Public Auction in August 2020. To receive our Newsletters and be notified of all upcoming auctions, please email [email protected]

12.01.2022 Abacus Auctions Sale 240 catalogue available online now. http://www.prestigephilately.com/

11.01.2022 Viewing Times For Sale 239. Lots for the Auctions can be viewed at Abacus Auctions -19A Hampshire Road, Glen Waverley, Victoria on :... Saturday 23th November 10am - 5pm Sunday 24th November 10am - 5pm Monday 25th November 10am - 5pm Tuesday 26th November 10am - 5pm Wednesday 27th November 10am - 5pm Thursday 28th November 10am - 5pm Friday 29th November 10am - 5pm

10.01.2022 Reminder for this weekends Auction: Stamps, Postal History & Picture Postcards from 3pm Saturday 29 February and 11am Sunday 1 March. ... With viewing currently underway and now available during the auction, in our new offices at 29 Hardner Road, Mount Waverley. If you are in Melbourne drop on by!

10.01.2022 PANDEMIC IN PARADISE SAMOA 1948 (Dec 15) commercial usage of 'NZ AIR MAIL/LETTER CARD' from a teacher at Apia to family in Auckland with '3d' on 1d Chief paying the concessional inter-island rate tied by 'APIA' cds, readdressed on arrival, central vertical fold & minor blemishes that may be related to disinfection. The all-too-topical letter speaks of the poliomyelitis epidemic that hit Samoa in late-1948: "...The Samoans are terrified of the paralysis and have had the is...land well and truly isolated. We have not had a plane in for a month...all connection between here and Pago has been prohibited...a plane coming in tomorrow bringing two or three doctors [who] are to go into strict quarantine for a fortnight and our mail must all be fumigated..." This pandemic aerogramme will be offered in our Stamps, Postal History & Picture Postcards Online Auction in November 2020. To receive our Newsletters and be notified of all upcoming auctions, please email [email protected]

07.01.2022 Abacus Auctions Sale 241 25th & 26th July The standout section of the Auction 241 is the Australian Rules Football collection from Graham Polly Farmer, unquestionably one of the greatest players of all time. We are delighted to be offering Pollys extraordinary collection including his three Sandover Medals (the WA equivalent of the Brownlow Medal), four Simpson Medals, ten club Best & Fairest Medals, and a never-before-offered Tassie Medal. Even before we started adverti...sing the collection, great interest had been created just from word-of-mouth contact. The Cricket section is full of choice material with just on 200 lots including four Baggy Greens, very rare 19th century artifacts, the aboriginal player Eddie Gilberts autograph (twice!), cigarette cards, etc etc. An attractive range of golf trophies, an extensive Horse Racing section, one of Alan Jones F1 Grand Prix trophies, and a fascinating array of Olympics memorabilia also contribute to one of the best sporting offerings we have had. In the Collectables section, we are pleased to present an extensive range of Comic Art & Vintage Toys from the collections formed by Mick Stone. In the Numismatic sections, we are offering a veritable Aladdins Cave of gold coins, from ancients to a magnificent 1855 Sydney Sovereign, and a high-grade Adelaide Pound. The Copper and Silver includes a number of rare proof coins. Highlights of the Australian Banknotes are a 1932 10 Riddle/Sheehan along with a further selection of material from the Dr Alan Nicholson collection.

05.01.2022 VICTORIA - REVENUES: post-1900 Stamp Duty Perf 11 10 dull claret, light vertical crease at left otherwise superb with full unmounted o.g. At first glance, readers might think this stamp is one of the great rarities of Victorian Postal Fiscals. The 1884-96 series does, indeed, go all the way up to a Ten Pounds denomination, and it is printed in shades of mauve or lilac. There are two variants, SG 264/a and SG 279/a with slightly different V/Crown watermarks, each catalogu...ed at 18,000 (currently about $A33,600). When our vendor submitted this stamp, he included the note Seems too good to be true! In a sense, he was right. What we have here is a stamp of the same design but Perf 11, not the Perf 12 of SG 264/a, or the Perf 13 of SG 279/a. And, boy, does that make a difference. From 1st January 1884 until 30th June 1901, all Victorian stamps could be used for postage or revenue purposes. Of course, there were no postal rates that allowed for use of the high value stamps on mail, but they were technically valid for that purpose. [It is worth noting that not a single example of a genuine postally used stamp above the 2 blue has been recorded. If you think you have one or more, we'd love to see scans.] From 1st July 1901, all the so-called Postal Fiscals were demonetised and only stamps inscribed POSTAGE could be used for mail from that date. The Stamp Duty designs continued but all later printings were perforated 11. These were available for revenue purposes only, for affixing to court documents, transfers of land, etc, and as such are outside the scope of the major postage stamp catalogues. They are therefore neither as popular, nor as valuable, as the earlier printings. Of course, if you are a revenues collector, you should still be excited to see an unused example of the Ten Pounds, especially one with full original gum that has never been hinged. Regardless of its status, this is a rare stamp. Fiscally used examples - usually seen with pen-cancellations - are very common and inexpensive. Mint examples are a whole different kettle of fish. This item will be offered in our first Online Auction in June 2020. To receive our newsletters and be notified of all upcoming auctions, please email [email protected]

05.01.2022 King Edward VII AFRICA GENERAL SERVICE MEDAL Silver (36mm), SOMALILAND 1902-04 clasp, portrait of King Edward VII facing right, reverse showing Britannia standing holding trident and Palm frond beside British Lion, AFRICA below in exergue. Awarded to John Lightfoot, Engine Room Artificer 3rd class, HMS Cossack, Royal Navy. The Africa General Service Medal (AGSM) was in use from 1902 to 1956 and is the longest running British service medal. Clasps were issued for minor cam...paigns in Africa of which there are 45 different types, 34 being issued during the reign of Edward VII. Up to six clasps are known on one medal. The medal itself is common and was not issued without a clasp, however, forming a complete AGSM collection with each campaign clasp could prove to be a challenge, especially where different forces are concerned. For example, a Gambia clasp awarded to an African or Indian regiment would be relatively easy to obtain compared to one awarded to Royal Navy personnel. The Somaliland 1920 clasp was also awarded to mostly African and Indian regiments, less so to the Royal Navy and only 225 have been awarded to RAF personnel. Medals were issued to combatants in silver, but a few bronze medals were issued during operations in Northern Nigeria and Somaliland to transport personnel, these are very rare and sought after as is any AGSM awarded to a war correspondent. There have been six ships with the name HMS Cossack in the Royal Navy with little information available on the first four. John Lightfoot served on the third ship to bear the name. Commissioned in 1889 and sold in 1905, she saw much of her service in East Africa including the Vitu Expedition in 1890 and Somaliland. The Somaliland Campaign, also known as the Dervish War, was a series of British military expeditions that took place between 1900 and 1920 in the Horn of Africa. Somaliland clasps represent participation in several actions against rebels led by Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, nicknamed the Mad Mullah by the British, although he was apparently neither mad nor a Mullah. The Jiballi clasp, always given with the Somaliland 1902-04 clasp, was awarded to those involved in the action that led to Hassans defeat on 10 January 1904. This item will be offered in our Sporting Memorabilia & General Collectables On-Line Auction in July 2020.

05.01.2022 https://www.abc.net.au//graham-polly-farmer-footb/12414854

05.01.2022 Stamps, Postal History & Picture Postcards Public Auction May/June 2020 We have been overwhelmed by the support (and consignments) we have received for our first auction to be held under COVID-19 restrictions, and extend our thanks & best wishes to you all. This auction was originally intended to be online-only with a limited selection of lots, but with the material already on hand, it has grown into a fully-fledged public auction of single items, sets and small groups of...Continue reading

05.01.2022 'WINCHESTER REPEATING RIFLES, SHOTGUNS AND SINGLE SHOT RIFLES' 1904 advertising envelope for S Hoffnung & Co for showing the repeating rifle for which the manufacturer is famous and a Buffalo Bill-type hunter, with New South Wales Arms 1d 'SH/&Co' commercial perfin tied Sydney duplex cancel, 'SINGLETON' arrival b/s, a few edge faults & minor blemishes. Very attractive; especially so with local Australian sales agent prominently mentioned [Similar covers with or without agents...' names are found used from throughout the USA and around the world]. Sigmond Hoffnung (1830-1904) was born in Kalisz, Poland, moved with his family to England in 1836, and emigrated to Sydney in 1852, where he set up as a wholesale merchant in Wynyard Square. The business flourished, supplying goods to settlers, manufacturing saddlery and harnesses, and importing American canned foods and jams, watches, glasses and china, ironmongery, rocking horses, firearms, iron safes, and patent medicines, as well as being the first opal cutters in Australia. In the 1870s S Hoffnung & Co established branches throughout Australia, in New Zealand, Fiji and other Pacific Islands. Hoffnung was prominent in Jewish activities in Sydney until his return to England in 1877. In 1889 he retired from the firm, which became a public company in 1902. In 1904 the year this envelope was posted Hoffnung died in London and was buried in the Golders Green cemetery. The firm continued successfully until taken over by Burns Philp & Co in 1980. The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was founded in 1866 as the successor to the New Haven Arms Co, which had made its reputation with the Henry Rifle used by Union forces during the American Civil War. The iconic Winchester Lever-Action Repeating Rifle illustrated on this envelope became commonly known as The Gun That Won The West. The Perfin [perforated initials] punched into the stamp was a common practice at the time to mark stamps as owned by a particular firm and thereby prevent pilfering for private use. This item will be offered in our Stamps, Postal History & Picture Postcards Online Auction in June 2020. To receive our Newsletters and be notified of all upcoming auctions, please email [email protected]

05.01.2022 https://pff.com.au/

04.01.2022 AUSTRALIA - OFFICIAL WRAPPERS: 1919 KGV 1d red with Solid-'OS'-in-the-Die ACSC WO2 for Deputy Commissioner of Maternity Allowances, Sydney machine cancel of AP26/1922, Cat $1250. Very scarce. Male-dominated legislatures have only in recent decades been seen to give single women the same privileges as those who are married. It will thus be a surprise to many to learn that when the Australian Federal government introduced the Maternity (or Motherhood) Allowance, the same lum...p sum amount was paid to both married and single women. The year was 1912. Australian women had held the right to vote for a decade and were being seen as an increasingly important section of the electorate. Womens issues were therefore taken seriously by governments of the day. One such issue was the high mortality rates among new-born babies. In an effort to reduce the number of deaths, the government of Andrew Fisher made it law that every woman who gave birth would receive a payment of 5 to be put towards medical expenses and other costs. At the time, 5 was equivalent to about two weeks wages for an unskilled workers family. In what was a very conservative society, the payment of the Maternity Allowance to unmarried women caused great controversy, being seen as encouraging fornication out of wedlock and as an insult to women of virtue! What wasnt as contentious was the indisputable fact that that the Maternity Allowance directly supported the pervasive White Australia policy. Indigenous women and those of Asian or Pacific Island descent were ineligible. A false claim, including from those judged to be non-white, was punishable with a fine of 100 or a year in jail! Between 1918 and 1922, a series of Maternity Allowances wrappers were used to communicate with new mothers. These had the letter OS for Official Service as part of the stamp design. The earliest type was an O S-of-Dots, soon replaced by a solid O S, as shown here. The recorded issues all bore a KGV Sideface stamp in denominations of 1d red, 1d black-brown (known unused only), 1d red-brown or 1d violet. They are all scarce to rare, priced between $750 and $1250 in the Australian Commonwealth Specialists Catalogue. This item will be offered in our Stamps, Postal History & Picture Postcards Public Auction in July / August 2020. To receive our Newsletters and be notified of all upcoming auctions, please email [email protected]

04.01.2022 Public Auction 242 offers some 1700+ lots with total estimates of over $1.5 Million comprising The Tillie Mitchell Commonwealth of Australia Lots 1-624 (29th August). Australian & Worldwide Stamps, Postal History & Picture Postcards Lots 1001-2078 (30th & 31st August).... The Tillie Mitchell sale commences with the most extensive array of Kangaroo covers ever to appear at auction, highlighted by the unique 2/- plate proof pair on California Clipper cover, along with scarce listed varieties and the best offering of Commonwealth/States combination frankings since the sale of Rod Perrys collection. This is followed by a wonderful range of KGV Engraved & Commemorative issues and KGVI stamps with the emphasis on quality, featuring brilliant singles, large blocks, the only known complete sheet of the Engraved 6d Kookaburra, errors, freaks & oddities, plate numbers, SPECIMEN overprints and top-end FDCs & postal history. Both catalogues are available for viewing and download on our website now.

02.01.2022 SOUTH AUSTRALIA - BULLSEYE! 1908 Postal Cards 1d Scenic Issue 'CHAMPION/SHORTHORN' (bull) in purple-brown used at Adelaide with message from a sick child "...Doctor was wheeling me on the path...I tumbled out and hurt my foot..." Tourism is a hot subject at present, what with closed State borders and virtual bans on both domestic and international flights. But theres nothing new about tourism, for which aeroplanes are but a relatively recent means of flitting about to vis...it the distant and the exotic. But what on earth does our illustrated item have to do with attracting tourists? Well, more than 100 years ago, agriculture and primary industry were big drawcards. The new Australian States were all vying to entice tourists from other parts of Australia and from around the globe. Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania had all issued pictorial postal stationery before the turn of the 20th century with the express purpose of luring visitors. Queensland, in particular, promoted its primary industries. Somewhat belatedly, in 1908, South Australia followed suit with a series of scenic 1d Postal Cards. The subjects included city buildings, schools, animalsand primary production. There were 28 different views produced in a wide variety of colours/shades. There were two distinct printings, firstly in Adelaide and later in Melbourne after the printer JB Cooke was enticed to the nations capital. (No, not Canberra: nothing much happened there until 1927.) It might be thought that examples of the views would exist in equal numbers but that certainly is not the case. Most views, such as KOOKABURRAS, CLARENDON and BANK OF ADELAIDE are very common. Others including PRIZE MERINO RAM, PHOSPHATE QUARRY and 160,000 BAGS OF WHEAT are very scarce. CHAMPION SHORTHORN is so rare that only five examples have been recorded. This is only the second copy that we have handled in almost 40 years. Indeed, CHAMPION SHORTHORN is rightly considered the Holy Grail for collectors of South Australian postal stationery, or of world illustrated stationery. The Angas Stud bull named Connaught 33rd was awarded the blue ribbon at Adelaides Livestock Show in 1908. Clearly an impressive animal, the postal authorities obviously thought that people would flock to South Australia to sight the handsome beast. It might have helped if they had printed more cards with his likeness! This rare card will be offered in our Stamps, Postal History & Picture Postcards Public Auction in August 2020. To receive our Newsletters and be notified of all upcoming auctions, please email [email protected]

01.01.2022 NSW:1882-97 Wmk '40' 8d yellow Perf 10 SG 236 marginal block of 9 from the left of the sheet, rich colour & extremely fresh, light bend across the upper units, large-part o.g. with four units being unmounted, Cat 2250++ (for mounted singles). A spectacular multiple!, believed to be the largest extant. BPA Certificate (2019). Ex 'Besancon' (III). Lot 1588 Sale 239

01.01.2022 Our new home-29 Hardner Road, Mount Waverley. We look forward to moving in!

01.01.2022 Viewing for Sale Online 3 is currently underway by appointment. Phone the office on 03 85130595 to make a booking.

01.01.2022 Chinese Propaganda with Living Heroine of the Revolution In 1948, a school in a small rural village in China offered a course to train tractor drivers. Liang Jun was the only female among its 70 students, enrolling despite school officials trying to talk her out of it. Liang persisted, cutting her hair short and sharing a wide bed with her classmates in a dormitory.... Her ability behind the wheel soon earned her nationwide recognition when the party took control of China in 1949 and began promoting model workers as part of the regimes propaganda. In 1950 she met with party leader Mao Zedong and after appearing in a news report in 1959, Liangs image was printed on the 1 Yuan banknote issued in 1962. Born in 1930 in the far-north province of Heilongjiang - then part of Manchuria under Japanese Occupation and known as Manchukuo - Liang Jun was sold by her parents as a child bride to a wealthy landlord. According to state media she was freed after the Communist party took control of the province in 1945. After joining the Chinese Communist Party, she was sent to a school in Beijing to learn more about agricultural machinery. She returned to Heilongjiang upon finishing her studies and was posted to work in the Agricultural Research Institute. In 1990, she retired from her position as chief engineer of the Harbin Municipal Bureau of Agricultural Machines. She died on 14 January 2020, aged 89. The 1 Yuan banknote was withdrawn from circulation in 1996. Earlier issues are printed on watermarked paper and the later versions on unwatermarked paper. There are also varieties of intaglio (recess) and lithographed printings, as well as serial prefixes with one or two Roman numerals. The above banknote is included in a large group of Renminbi issues, Ex Dr Alan Nicholson, to be offered as Lot 1041 in Abacus Auction #241, scheduled for August this year.