Auction 265th - 273rd - Day 3

1856 (April 23): France 1853 20 c. blue imperforate, used example with ragged but near complete margins all round, on 1856 entire letter written from Malta to Paris tied by superb strike of the Malta "Wavy Lines" handstamp applied at Valletta in black. Double arc despatch datestamp (April 23) displaying well on the reverse in black, 'Poss. Angl. / Marseille' entry marking in red (April 28) and Paris arrival (April 29) on reverse. Taxed as unpaid with '8' décimes charge marking, double the correct 40 centimes rate and not taking into account the prepayment. One of the the most important items of Maltese, French and Mediterranean Postal History. A wonderful and extremely rare entire, the sole recorded usage of this handstamp on an adhesive of any country other than Great Britain and a unique usage on letter. Cert. J. Robineau & V. Pothion.rnNote: The British Administration of the Malta Post Office commenced, somewhat unsuccessfully from late August 1857. Prior to this date all letters posted with adhesive stamps in Malta were those carried there by the sender.rnProvenance: Collection Dubus, Druout, Paris, 6-7 Oct 1988, lot 179.