Royal Reels: Gambling

People

EDWIN J. DINGLE, PRECEPTOR EMERITUS, INSTITUTE of MENTAL PHYSICS, L.A.

Perhaps I should start a new category for ‘Unusual People To Whom Australians Write’, for ‘People’ or ‘Miscellaneous’ do not do justice to this man. The cover has an advert for The Grosvenor, the leading Private Hotel, Adelaide, S.A. Opposite Railway Station. The pair of green 1d Q.E. stamps are cancelled with a roller ADELAIDE/ 430AM/ 28 MCH/ 1941/STH AUSTRALIA with the slogan AIR MAIL/ SAVES TIME. It is addressed to

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COVER from SYDNEY to NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, HUBBARD MEMORIAL HALL

The printed registered cover with the pre-printed violet 4½d KGV head stamp (‘A.C.S.C. RE 13′ issued 1925 has been uprated with the red 1½d KGV head stamp and both have been cancelled with a GLEN INNES/ ( — )/ N.S.W postmark. The front also has a transit REGISTERED/ F/ 27 JA 28 B/ SYDNEY N.S.W. as well as a double oval transit NEW YORK, N.Y./2-21/1928/ REGY DIV. postmark. It is

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HAIRENIK, ARMENIAN-AMERICAN NEWSPAPER, BOSTON COVER from MELBOURNE

The registered cover has a red registration label with ‘Commerce House’, a purple hand-stamp ‘REGISTERED’ and it is addressed to The Editor “Hairenik” American Newspaper, 7 Bennet Street, Boston, Mass, U.S.A. The postage is the chestnut 5d KGV head stamp and the green ½d KGV head stamp, with the large multiple watermark. The vendor states that it was posted from Melbourne in April 1918 (Figure 1). The reverse has 2

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DEEBING CREEK ABORIGINAL MISSION, NEAR IPSWICH, QUEENSLAND

The Post Card has single copies of th green ½d QV and the orange ‘Four Corners’ Queensland stamps which are cancelled with a duplex Toowoomba and the numeral ‘626′ dated August 9, 1903. It is addressed to Herrn Adolphe Feige, Bethel bei Bielefeld, Westphalen, Germany. There is a reception postmark of BETHEL/ 14 14 9 03/ bei BIELEFELD (Figure 1). The reverse is dominated by a photo of standing, seated

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DAME MARY GILMORE, WRITER, POET, PACIFIST, SOCIALIST & UTOPIAN

A most unusual illustrated Aboriginal art cover had a strip of six orange ½d Kangaroo stamps postmarked by an indistinct roller cancel from Sydney in 1951, and below the stamps was printed ‘HOP – HOP -HOPPING ALONG’. It was addressed to Dame Mary Gilmore, No 9 Clearmont Flats, 99 Darlinghurst Road, Kings Cross, with a large lizard drawn below (Figure 1). The reverse on the flap had an unusual aboriginal

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CHARLES MEREDITH (1811-1880) & LOUISA ANN MEREDITH (1812-1895)

This cover was found in Freeman & White’s The Numeral Cancellations of Victoria (2001) where it served as an example of a Victorian Barred Numeral. It shows the 2d and 4d Laureates of Victoria cancelled by a duplex of TALBOT/ JN 25/ 72/ VICTORIA with the B.N. 244. The letter is addressed to The Honble Charles Meredith, Malunnah, Orford, Tasmania and there is a manuscript ‘27′ in crayon (Figure 1). Charles Meredith, the

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ARTHUR B. “WIZARD” STONE FLIES HIS BLERIOT PLANE IN AUSTRALIA, 1914

The illustrated postcard shows a flying ‘Bleriot’ monoplane over a bushland scene as well the faces of two men, Wizard Stone, Aviator and P.V. Ryan, Organizer and Manager. The message reads ‘Goulburn , May 22nd 1914 hope “Wizard” Stone succeeds in delivering this card. It is addressed to Sydney and is postmarked on arrival by train (Figure 1). Arthur “Wizard” Stone was born in America in 1874 and came to Australia

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HENRY CONDELL (1797 -1871): FIRST MAYOR of MELBOURNE

This cover was offered by a major Australian auction house with an estimate of AUD 400 and it sold for AUD 300. It had been owned by a gold medal exhibitor and judge, and his description of the ‘outer’, used in the catalogue, left much to be desired. It stated: Postal History of the Port Phillip District Free Mail. 1844 (Aug 12) outer from Sydney to “Henry Condell Esq/ Mayor/

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ROBERT BROUGH SMYTH, SECRETARY OF MINES, MELBOURNE

This folded blue entire was addressed to the above, the postage being paid by a 4d rose pink Victoria ‘Beaded Oval’ stamp postmarked with the barred numeral ‘173′ (Type 1B) of Daylesford and there was a blue boxed ‘TOO LATE’ alongside (Figure 1). The reverse showed a blue unframed oval DAYLESFORD/ JU 12/ 62/ VICTORIA as well as a red MELBOURNE/ 3A/ JU 14/ 62 reception postmark (Figure 2). Robert

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RICHARD G. MEARES & REVETT H. BLAND, BOTH RESIDENTS, YORK, W.A.

This 1849 part-entire to “N.G. Meares Esq., Resident, York” has a fine strike of the [Crown]/ GENERAL/ POST OFFICE/ PERTH and is endorsed with a manuscript ‘Free’. It also has a manuscript R.H. Bland at lower left. The vendor states that it is rare intra-Colonial mail (of the Swan River Colony, Perth) and the content is a piece of rolicking patriotic doggerel that mentions an assassination attempt on Queen Victoria,

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