Mining

LETTER to the MAYOR of St. KILDA, VICTORIA 1904

This cover as a single folded sheet has a Victorian 1d red ‘Postage’ stamp postmarked with St KILDA/ B/ JA 11/ 04/ VIC and a reception roller postmark of MELBOURNE / 11 JAN/ 3 15 PM/ 1904/ VICTORIA. It was addressed ‘To His Worship, The Mayor of St Kilda, Town Hall, St Kilda (Figure 1). The full letter reads: MarinaBeaconsfield ParadeSt Kilda To the, Mayor of St. Kilda, Dear SirI

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LAWRENCE ADAMSON, HEADMASTER of WESLEY COLLEGE, MELBOURNE

The orange brown One Penny ‘Reading’ postcard on yellow stock was cancelled with a duplex MELBOURNE/ 16 S/ JE 10/ 91 with a VICTORIA obliterator, and it was addressed to L.A. Adamson Esq, Wesley College, Prahran (Figure 1). The reverse had a printed heading of EDLINGTON FOOTBALL CLUB and the following manuscript message:Auburn, June 10, 1891 L.A. Adamson Esq      Dear Sir    We will be on your ground nextSaturday a

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JOSEPH ROWE’s AMERICAN CIRCUS in MELBOURNE in the 1850’s

This 1855 letter was addressed to a circus but unclaimed by the addressee and it was accompanied by a Post Office List which was advertised in the Melbourne Morning Herald of March 10, 1855. The letter had an orange-yellow 6d ‘woodblock’ stamp of Victoria postmarked with a barred oval ‘2 over V’ of Geelong and alongside there was a red butterfly cancel ‘14 over V’ . It was addressed to Mr. Jones,

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VISIONS OF EARLY AUSTRALIA: POSTCARDS, COVERS & MEMORABILIA

This paper provides me with the opportunity to highlight items, many of which have been  already used in several other papers that have intrigued me. The aim is to make this a ‘living’ picture for it will provide me with an avenue to add individual scans which would not warrant the production of a separate paper. This paper will be a veritable melange of items, which fits the category of Miscellaneous. 

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VINCENT PATRICK TAYLOR a.k.a. CAPTAIN TAYLOR PENFOLD

A postcard was sent on July 2nd 1910 from Sydney to the Minister of Defence and the contents were as follows: “Dear Sir, Kindly advise me if final time has closed, for entering a machine for the Commonwealth Aerial Prize. To oblige, truly yours, Captain Penfold, The Australian Aeronaut, Box 1564, G.P.O.” There is a blue double ringed DEFENCE ( )/PM-1 16 OC 10 mark applied top centre – the

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TINY TOWN & ZEYNARD’S AMAZING MIDGET CIRCUS

The present postcard cannot be called postal history as my card has not been through the post. It shows a group of longitudinally challenged individuals in fine formal ware, five ladies and six gentlemen. The group are described as Zeynard’s Amazing Midget Circus. Tiny-Town. The Big Show and the reverse simply has Post Card, without any identification as to the maker or country. (Figure 1). Information on the group is

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THE SIMPLIFIED SPELLING BOARD, NEW YORK & PROF. THOMAS G. TUCKER

This intriguing On His Majesty’s Service cover has a blue-green ‘Bantam’ ½d and a pair of OS perfined pink ‘ONE PENNY’ stamps of Victoria canceled with a duplex CANTERBURY/ MY 5/ 12/ VICTORIA with the barred numeral ‘722′. The printed address at lower left identifies that it originated from the Education Department, Melbourne, 1. It was addressed to The Secretary, Simplified Spelling Board, No. 1. Madison Avenue, New York, U.S. America. The

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THE CHARITY STAMPS of NEW SOUTH WALES

The Post Office in New South Wales was responsible for several innovations in the philatelic area, and the two Charity Stamps of June 1897 influenced other countries to issue similar items. This included the two Charity stamps of Victoria which were issued in October 1897. The 1990 issue of the Australasian Stamp Catalogue (A.S.C.) gives the best historical information of these stamps which were designed by C. Turner and typographed

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THE HAWKEYE PEARL BUTTON CO., MUSCATINE, IOWA

This unpretentious cover was sent by William Lewis, Sydney to the Hawkeye Pearl Button Co., Muscatine, Iowa, U.S.A., and it has quite a story behind it. The blue 2½ d Roo on map of Australia stamp is postmarked with a roller cancel, SYDNEY/ DE 19/ 1917/ NOON/ N.S.W. (Figure 1). The making of buttons from mother of pearl was introduced into the United States about 1855, but at that time

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TELEGRAMS: EARLY COLONIAL COMMUNICATIONS ACROSS AUSTRALIA

This ‘TELEGRAM, IMMEDIATE’ cover was postmarked CUMNOCK/ AP 4/1878/ N.S.W. and was addressed to A.E. Anderson, C/o G(eorge) or his son S(age) Bruce, Loombah (N.S.W.) The CHARGES TO PAY ‘Message’ and ‘Porterage’ were not filled in. There was a ms. ‘N.M.’ at top left, the meaning of which is uncertain (Figure 1). The reverse had a blue oval on the flap, with the print ‘NEW SOUTH WALES/ ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH’ (Figure

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