Postal history performed very strongly in the July Philatelic Auction at Warwick & Warwick, which featured over 300 lots in a range of categories.
Lot 6, Balkans postal history, including covers and cards from Serbia, Yugoslavia as well as a collection of local issues from the Russian Zemstvos achieved a very satisfactory £650. From the same vendor, Lot 82, Burma postal history sold for £875 and Lot 125, Macedonia postal history, sold for £525.
In terms of mixed lots, Lot 32 was of particular interest to bidders in the auction. With over 170+ covers, there was quite a bit to look through, noting an 1899 China to GB I.P.O. (Imperial Post Office) cover front to Devon, a group of three covers and one card sent during the US occupation of Vera Cruz and a 1921 Dutch East Indies underpaid local cover bearing the scarce 'POST / KANTOOR / BATAVIA / De Kantoorchef' 2½c provisional cachet (the letter rate had increased effective Feb 1921 from 10c to 12½c, with a minimum 2½c levied for missing postage, leading to a shortage of the 2½c value). With an initial estimate of £200, enthusiastic bidding brought the final hammer price up to £975.
Lot 93, a Hong Kong postal history collection, featured an unusual and attractive uprated franking on a 4d postal stationary card used in Shanghai, as well as a few other interesting items from Macao and Shanghai - noting a couple of 1910 Macao bisect covers and a 1945 Shanghai to GB internee cover bearing an 'Internee mail free / of postage / Shanghai PO' boxed cachet. Even with slight condition faults noted across the collection, the lot still sold for a very strong £1,300.
On the topic of the unusual, Lot 97, a 1916 Long Island ½d typewritten on thin wove paper achieved £100 despite some notable condition faults. Just 114 of this value were issued. Lot 102, a 1923 Transjordan 20p pale-grey with variety 'overprint double one gold, one black, the latter inverted' with a B.P.A. certificate sold for £100 as well. Both results are a clear indication of a strong market for the more unusual items.
We look forward to you all joining us for our next auction live on easyliveauction.com on Wednesday 6th August 2025. For sale updates and sneak previews, please follow our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages.
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