U.S. & Worldwide Stamps & Postal History

1868 1sh orange, horizontal bisect used as 6p, tied to 1868 cover by barred oval cancel, Cape of Good Hope 4p blue also tied at right, Colesberg backstamp, Somerset arrival on front, addressee's name excised. As per regulations, covers to the Cape had to have 6p in Free State and 4p in Cape postage. To accomplish this, the sender pinned a 1sh stamp at the top left corner of the envelope and had the cover carried to the postmaster at Phillipolis, who bisected the stamp and replaced the top half in the corner with the pin and canceled it after noting "1/2 Shilling/APJvdP" below, the Cape stamp was then affixed and canceled by a different barred oval, the cover arriving at Somerset East on June 3, 1868; a truly remarkable and unique cover, probably the greatest rarity of the Orange River Colony (originally described in 1956 by Douglas Roth in "The South African Philatelist" (article enclosed), accompanied by 1956 Philatelic Federation of Southern Africa and 1985 Royal Philatelic Society certificates, ex-Gilbert (SG 9var)
Estimate: $2500