Royal Reels: Gambling

Mourning Covers

REVEREND GEORGE KING & BISHOP WILLIAM GRANT BROUGHTON

The mourning cover (with no insert) has a manuscript ‘On Service” and a rectangular boxed ‘FREE’ and is addressed to the Revd Geo: King, Liverpool Street West, Sydney. The sender signed his name as ‘W: G: Sydney’. There is no date (but the vendor listed the cover as circa 1840’s) and there are no markings on the reverse (Figures 1 & 2). George King (1813-1899) was a Church of England clergyman,

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MOURNING COVER to ARTHUR A. BARTLETT, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND [CANADA]

A mourning cover from Australia led to an exciting story of Nova Scotia stamps remainders. It was addressed to A.A. Bartlett Esq, “The Hill”, Charlottetown, P.E. I. (Prince Edward Island), Canada and it had a manuscript Per SS “Moama” . The red 1d and green ½d Victorian stamps were postmarked MELBOURNE/ PM/ 2 30/ 13 3 00 (Figure 1). The reverse did not show any evidence that it was a

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WASHINGTON H. SOUL & CO. and ALFRED KING, PADDINGTON NSW, CHEMIST

Several letters posted to Arthur King, Chemist have been used as an introduction to the important firm of Washington H. Soul and Company. The first was a mourning cover sent to Arthur King, Chemist, 2 Gurner St., Paddington, Sydney in October 1907 with a pair of 1d red N.S.W. ‘Shield’ stamps, postmarked with an Unanderra N.S.W. and the ‘Rays 292′ (Figure 1). Two other covers were addressed to him at

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WILLIAM HUMBLE WARD, 2ND EARL of DUDLEY & 4TH GOVERNOR GENERAL of AUSTRALIA

This fairly unique mourning cover was sent by William Humble Ward, the 2nd Earl of Dudley when he was Australia’s fourth Governor General from 1908-1911. It was postmarked with a duplex ENGLISH MAIL T.P.O./ JY 3/ 10/ +, with the double ring GOVERNOR GENERAL/ FRANK STAMP/ AUSTRALIA in blue, as well as the oval VICTORIA/ crown/ OFFICIAL PAID in black. It is addressed to a long-standing English Company, Messrs Coutts &

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MOURNING COVER to LORD TENNYSON [ENGLAND]

If ever a cover speaks to you, then this one surely should. The highly experienced UK seller gave a simple description: Australia, 1913 Roo on Cover to UK. This turned out to be a considerable understatement. The mourning cover was addressed to Lord Tennyson, Farringford, Freshwater, Isle of Wight, England and the red 1d kangaroo on a map of Australia stamp was postmarked MT BARKER/ 4 30P 17 DE 13/STH

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MOURNING COVER to ANGUS & ROBERTSON from N.S.W. GOVERNOR, 1899

Well not quite, for there is some doubt about the Governor as well as the actual date, but there is no doubt about the important company of Sydney booksellers. The front of the stampless mourning cover is addressed to Angus & Robertson, 89 Castlereagh St, Sydney. There is a very fine blue GOVERNOR/ [CREST]/ FRANK STAMP/ NEW SOUTH WALES (Figure 1). The cause for the date confusion is on the

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GEORGE ARTHUR CHARLES FANE De SALIS (1851 – 1931)

Over the past five years I have seen at least 5 covers addressed to one of the De Salis family members, but I have not felt that I could do justice to the Australian family members until now. This was not because of insufficient information, of which there is an abundance, but because much of it is difficult to access by way of the internet. However with 2 covers addressed

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BRAIDSWOOD N.S.W. to F. W. H. AARON, YOUBA & TOULUMNE COUNTIES, CALIFORNIA

A series of 22 covers were sent to Francis William Howard Aaron at several addresses in California dated from 1852 to 1877, and the first I consider to be a local Californian cover. This opinion is at variance with that of the vendor who states that the first cover “almost certainly originated in New South Wales.” Most of the other covers were posted by members of his Braidwood N.S.W. family,

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BARONESS de KOENNERITZ of SAINT CLOUD

A single newspaper wrapper is unlikely to excite me, but this one did because of the recipient’s name and her address. There can’t be too many foreign baroness in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, but Rose Bay would be a likely locale for finding one. The wrapper, without any identifier of the sender, is postmarked twice by BENDIGO/ 2/ 6-P/ 20 NO 19/ VIC on the ‘No Inscription’ type ½d

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FRANCIS HUMPHREY WILLIAM WOOLRYCH, ARTIST [USA]

This mourning cover postmarked Croydon/ 14 AP 08 10 30 AM/ N.S.W. on the blue-green ½d (Scott #109) and the blue 2d (Scott #111) stamps and was addressed to F. Humphrey Woolrych Esqre/ Artist/ 3855 Hartford St./ St. Louis Mo/ U.S.A. (Figure 1) The reverse was postmarked with a SYDNEY NSW/ AP 14 2-PM/ 1908 roller cancel (Figure 2). The cover had a somewhat unusual, but helpful, feature in that

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