UNIQUE(?) RED BOXED "PAID at DERRY/S D/British…[0-5]/Foreig...

Hammer

£2,200

UNIQUE(?) RED BOXED "PAID at DERRY/S D/British…[0-5]/Foreign…[0-5]/[=] 0-10" MARK ON COVER TO FRANCE; Colourful 29 Nov. 1843 small env. from London/Derry in the north of Ireland to Boulogne with a superb strike of the otherwise unrecorded red framed "PAID at DERRY/S D/British…[0-5]/Foreign…[0-5]/[=] 0-10" Handstruck mark nicely positioned at top left alongside the red oval-framed London "P[aid to the] D[estination]" and tombstone-framed "PAID" datestamp (2 Dec.) which is overlapped by a faint black "ANGL./1 BOULOGNE 1" arrival mark (3 Dec.), There are backstamps of Derry, Belfast and Boulogne. It is most peculiar that this spectacular mark was so little-used; perhaps it was not authorised by Dublin and therefore soon withdrawn. Unique 1840s Handstruck routing and 'split-rates' mark. Superb Exhibition Quality Gem. [Ex Pat Stilwell-Walker, June 2028, lot 708; realised £1,810.]Cross Reference: POSTAGE DUE MARKS, OVERSEAS DESTINATIONS, FRANCE