The ‘On active service’ stampless cover was postmarked with a black A.I. FORCES POSTAGE FREE/ 24 NO.17/ VIC which partially obscured a purple double oval handstamp, (—-) AUSTRALIANHOSPITAL SHIP/ KANOWNA. It was addressed to Mr. D.O. McIntyre, Estate Agent, Ryrie St, Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The reverse was not seen (Figure 1). My first thought was that the cover was addressed to the father by a daughter who was a nurse
A French cover is addressed to Monsieur E. Granville Miller, Launceston, Tasmania. The large purple handstamp identifies that the sender is Charles Roussin/ N. 9 SOULS BARBES N. 9/ and it is dated 30 NOV 86. There are 4 strikes of the double circle PARIS/ 3/ NOV./ 86/ GARE DU NORD, ‘26′ in a circle, a large ‘R’ in a box and a ms. ‘338′. There are five French stamps all with
Two identical Italian postcards for the same Australian soldier came available on eBay addressed to the same unidentified person, Mr. W. Lafranchi, 25 Pender Street, Preston, Victoria. Only one cover was dated in Italy, 22.2.42 (top R.H. corner). The cards were both printed as Poste Italiene Cartolini Postale Per Prigionieri Di Guerra, and both had various Passed by Censor handstamps, most of Italian origin includia a 2-line VERIFICATO/ PER CENSURA.
This cover has a single blue-grey ‘HALF PENNY’ QV and two red ‘Shield’ stamps of New South Wales cancelled with a duplex NORTH SYDNEY/ MR 11/ 12.15 AM / 10/ N.S.W with the barred numeral ‘186′, and it is addressed to Mrs Kenneth Mackay, CO the Hon Kenneth Mackay, The Castle, Cape Town, South Africa. As seen on the reverse the year date of 1910 is definitely incorrect (Figure 1).
The pair of the OS perfined brownish-lake 1½d Parliament House, Canberra stamps are postmarked PARLIAMENT HOUSE/ 9 MY 27/ F.C.T (the date of issue) and it is addressed to Lady Gellibrand, Lindisfarne, Tasmania (Figure 1). The flap on the reverse has a printed blue Australia Coat of Arms, over HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, and note the headless kangaroo (Figure 2). Sir John Gellibrand, soldier and farmer, was born on 5 December
This censored air mail cover sent to New York from a German P.O.W. at Hay has a total postage of 3 shillings and eleven pence (2 shillings Roo, 1 shilling Lyre Bird, 9 pence Platypus and 2 pence Armed Services & Nurse). The stamps are cancelled with a dateless SYDNEY/ 3/ N.S.W. AUST. roller cancel with the slogan USE THE/ POSTAL EXPRESS/ MESSENGER SERVICE. It has a purple PASSED BY
The purple ‘TWO PENCE’ stamp of Victoria was cancelled with a shield enclosing the details of the postmark which was 1/ MILITARY/ FE 11/ (with no year)/ ENCAMPMENT. Note the ‘scalloped’ out perforation at the right hand side of the stamp. The vendor stated that it was used at Langwarrin Camp, Victoria (Figure 1). Another example of the same postmark was seen on a cover addressed to Messrs. Reuters Telegram