Arts and Artists

BERNARD PATRICK O’DOWD, PUBLIC SERVANT, PROMINENT POET, EDITOR & ANARCHIST

This bland cover is addressed to an exciting man, Mr. B. O’Dowd, Supreme Court Library, Melbourne and the pink “ONE PENNY’ stamp of Victoria is cancelled MG 11/ AP 14/ 04/ VICTORIA (Figure 1). The reverse has a roller cancel of MELBOURNE/ AP 15/ 4 30 AM/ 1904/ 2, with a flag-like seven wavy lines, surrounding VICTORIA (Figure 2). Bernard Patrick O’Dowd was born on 11 April 1866 at Beaufort,

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NICHOLAS CHEVALIER, PAINTER/CARTOONIST, of SWISS/RUSSIAN HERITAGE

This battered partial cover was addressed to Louis Chevalier, either the father or brother of Nicholas, care of Mrs Jones & Thomas, 222 Lonsdale St, East, Melbourne, Australia and the stampless envelope was hand-stamped ‘PD’ for ‘Paid’ and it had a routing manuscript ‘Marseille and Overland’, as well as a double ring LUSANNE/ 5/ (?)/ (?)/ SOIR. There was a red unframed reception postmark G.P.O. SHIP LETTER/ FREE/ JY 12/

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HARRY ST. MAUR, COMEDY ACTOR & PRODUCER, AUTHOR & LITERATEUR

This cover is difficult to interpret on several counts, from the name of the ship in which it sailed ‘via Brindisi’ to London, the crossing out of the New York City address, the readdressing, as well as the unusual postmarking of the Victorian stamps. All four were cancelled by a possible large figure ‘1′ as a barred numeral of Melbourne, but this is largely eliminated as they do not resemble any

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WILLIAM FEHON, RAILWAY COMMISSIONER & MARY GAUNT AUTHOR

This One Penny ‘Reading’ post card of 1890-99 (the late version that could also be addressed to New Zealand and Fiji) was postmarked with the double circle MELBOURNE/ AM/ 11/ 30 6 00/ VICTORIA and it was addressed to Wm Fehon Esq, Commission Railways, Sydney (Figure 1). The reverse showed a Sydney reception postmark of July 2 (1900) and was printed with a heading:  ‘Old Colonists’ Association, and the message

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WANDA RADFORD, ACTRESS: WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS CHILD PRODIGY?

This hand-painted postcard shows a young girl, Wanda Radford in a theatrical pose. The card is of German origin, marked ‘Gerlach’ and ‘GG/ CO/ Ser. 277/3 (Figure 1). The reverse is addressed to Misss E. Harmer, C/o Morgan’s Cave, Port Pirie (South Australia). The pink ONE PENNY South Australian stamp is cancelled with the squared circle of GLEN OSMOND/ 2/ DE 1( )/ 0 ( )/ S.A. The manuscript message

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WALLACE REID, DISGRACED MATINEE IDOL & #1 at the BOX OFFICE [USA]

The cover had three single copies of the green ½d KGV plus one brown 1½d KGV head stamps and they were canceled with three PORT ADELAIDE/ 6 OC 20/ STH AUST postmarks. It was addressed to Wallace Reid, c/o Lasky Studios, corner of Vine Street and Selma Avenue, Hollywood, California, America (Figure 1). Wallace Reid was born 15 April 1891 in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Hal Reid, a

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W.S. SPARROW: MEMORIES of LIFE and ART, THROUGH SIXTY YEARS

The air mail cover is addressed to Mrs. W. Shaw-Sparrow 15B Lancaster Grove, Swiss Cottage, Hampstead, London, N.W. 3, England and has a red PASSED BY CENSOR label and a purple PASSED BY CENSOR/ S. 82 handstamp. It has a single purple ‘Hermes’ 1 shilling six pence airmail stamp cancelled by a CREMORNE/ 12.5O PM 1 (–) 40/ N.S.W postmark . The reverse was not seen (Figure 1). The title

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THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, SYDNEY to SMYTHE, THEOSOPHIST, POET, EDITOR [CANADA]

Seven covers appeared on Ebay addressed to Albert E.S. Smythe at several locations in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in the 1920’s and 1930’s, six from Sydney Australia and one from Auckland, New Zealand. The fronts of two of these covers will be shown, as they show that Theosophical Societies existed in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, in addition to many other countries. The first had a roller cancel with

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THE WORLD -FAMED FISK JUBILEE SINGERS, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Only the front of this interesting cover was seen, and it had an advertisement for The World-Famed Fisk Jubilee Singers, Box 1273, G.P.O., Sydney. The envelope was a printed-to-private-order red KGV One Penny stamp [A.S.C. Type 3 E5 issued in 1916] which was cancelled with a MOUNT PALMER/ 10 DEC 17/ WESTN AUSTRALIA postmark, addressed to A.W. Millar Esq, Theatre Royal, Perth. W.A. (Figure 1). This postmark is described as ‘Type

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SIR IVOR ATKINS, FAMOUS WELSH ORGANIST, FRIEND of EDWARD ELGAR

This advertising cover has a fine example of the slogan BRITISH EMPIRE EXHIBITION/ ALWAYS ASK FOR/ AUSTRALIAN PRODUCTS roller cancel combined with the MELBOURNE/ -7 NO-11-P/ 1924 postmark, which cancels the red 1½d KGV stamp. It is addressed to Sir Ivor Atkins, Mus. D.D.R.C.O., College Yard, Worcester, England, and the sender is identified as The Oceanic Trading Co. Pty Ltd., Melbourne (Figure 1). Sir Ivor Algernon Atkins was born on

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