Public Auction #188 - South Australia

(April 18) cover to "Altona by Hamburg" endorsed "Pr John Bartlett via London" with superb strike of the unframed 'GPO/[crown]/AP+18/1850/SOUTH AUSTRALIA' cds & rated "6" in red, London transit b/s of 3JY3/1850 in red & rated "8" for inwards shipletter, double-circle 'P.A./8 7 50/ALTONA' arrival cds on the face, rated "1/2" in black & "19" in blue, minor soiling.

South Australia boasts a large Lutheran community descended from Germans who emigrated to escape religious persecution in their homeland. The first group arrived in 1838. Despite the influx of German immigrants, mail to Germany is rare, probably because whole families made the journey, leaving behind few people with whom they wished to remain in contact. The rarity of mail to Germany is highlighted by the paucity of such items in major collections: Jack Beresford (1958) had only one, an 1858 entire newspaper (!); Rev James Mursell (1964) had none; Henry Frenkle (1979) had only one, of 1879; John Griffiths (1992) had only one, of 1880; and Harry Lower (2007) had two, of 1858 and 1863. This may well be the earliest recorded cover from South Australia to any part of Germany, being more than 5 years earlier than a July 1855 cover to Hannover that is otherwise the earliest recorded by us.