The World’s First Postal Order

On January 1st 1881 Great Britain became the first country in the world to issue Postal Orders. Ten different denominations were issued and they were serially numbered at each of the issuing Money Order Offices. This initial issue was the only one to be numbered in this manner, subsequent issues being numbered nationally. The 1881 issue was also different in shape to subsequent issues, being longer and not having a counterfoil. It contained the watermark, “POSTAL ORDER / ONE SHILLING” as a counter forgery device. Victorian postal orders are rare and the first issue is particularly scarce.

Our February 2010 Collectables auction contained an example of the 1881 one shilling Postal Order, issued on the first day and bearing the serial number 000001, of Lombard Street Money Order Office. Our vendor’s great grandfather queued up to buy it on January 1st 1881 and retained it in his family as a souvenir.

After contacting the Postal Order Society we established that only 5 other 1881 postal orders bearing the serial number 000001 are known to have survived, this one not having been recorded previously. The others known are also of one shilling denomination. This important find was offered on February 10th, estimated at £2,500. Much interest was shown in it and the final realisation was £4,485.

Forgotten Gold Medal Collection to be Auctioned

Probably the world’s best collection of the Kingdom of Poland goes under the Warwick and Warwick hammer on May 5th 2010. The collection, formed by Vladimir von Rachmanoff (Wladimir Rachmonow in Polish) is without doubt the very finest ever formed of The Kingdom of Poland. It far exceeds in importance those formed by Philipp La Renotière von Ferrary, Agathon Fabergé or even M. A. Bojanowicz.

Wladimir Rachmanow served on the Grand Jury at Gdansk in 1929 and Berlin in 1930. His collections were awarded many high honours such as at the exhibitions in Cassel 1914, Anvers 1930, Bruxelles 1935 and Warszawa 1938; though the greatest accolade was a Gold Medal at FIPEX New York in 1956. This was an international exhibition and only collections of high status could garner such a prestigious award. He was also awarded the “Académie de Philatélie” (16 January 1929) medal. Membership of a number of philatelic societies included the Polonus Philatelic Society of Chicago. In 1935 Rachmanow updated W. Polanski’s 1920 handbook on Poland no. 1, based on his own collection and in 1952 he published “Poland No. 1”, which continued to be the standard work of reference on this issue until M.A. Bojanowicz published his handbook in 1979.

Rachmanow died in New York in 1968 and since then his collection has remained locked in a safe by his family and has not seen the light of day for more than 40 years. By now it is quite likely that there are no collectors alive who had access to, or had ever seen, this remarkable holding. Indeed, when writing the Bojanowicz handbook published in 1979 it is clear that the author had not had access to the Rachmanow collection, and could only make reference to it from information in previous publications. Its existence has been largely forgotten by the collectors and the sale will represent the first opportunity to acquire exhibition class items since the Bojanowicz sale 10 years ago.

The collection is to be offered after the general philatelic sale on Wednesday May 5th and printed copies of the fully illustrated catalogue will be sent to subscribers together with the general catalogue. The complete catalogue, with scans of every lot will be uploaded to the website approximately 3 weeks before the sale.

For details of the gems of the Rachmanow collection please click here to visit our Stamps page

New Powerpoint Presentations

Are you a secretary of a society looking for a speaker for your meetings programme? Then Warwick and Warwick can help you.

Joe Cottriall, one of our senior philatelic valuers, with over 20 years experience, has put together a Powerpoint presentation, on philatelic topics, entitled “The View from the Rostrum”.

Director Colin Such has put together two different Powerpoint presentations, on his favourite topic of postcards, one entitled “Thirty years on the Rostrum”, being a general talk about postcards Warwick and Warwick have sold over the years and the other entitled “A Disastrous Talk”, a title which hopefully describes the subject matter rather than Colin’s presentation skills!

Joe and Colin come fully equipped and will present anywhere in the U.K., at no cost, to any society. If you are a secretary please email Joseph Cottriall or Colin Such or phone them on 01926 499031.