SOERABAJA - WWII - VERY RARE 1941 25G ON COMMERCIAL AIRMAIL ...

Hammer

£1,400

SOERABAJA - WWII - VERY RARE 1941 25G ON COMMERCIAL AIRMAIL COVER CARRIED ON LAST FLIGHT BEFORE JAPANESE OCCUPATION; Superb 4 Feb. 1942 medium-size linen env. (printed address to a firm in Uckfield) registered by Airmail to GB with the very rare Ned. Indies 1941 25G (minor wrinkles but clear profile) with 2G+1G+25c all tied by two light "SOERABAJA" cds's, having a blue airmail label and red Soerabaja "R" label (also tied by cds) on the front. Endorsed "AIRMAIL COVER No.226 BY KLM/BOAC/PAA via CAIRO" on the front. Dutch and British censor labels. It was carried on what was to be the last flight out of Batavia before the Japanese Occupation. It went via Palembang, Calcutta, Lydda, Cairo, Lagos, Natal (Brazil), Bermuda, Lisbon and Bristol to London (19 Apr. 1942 backstamp; delayed for 10 weeks due to large overload of mail in Lagos at the time). Plus 1941 pair of censored covers ex Holland to US (one marked via Lisbon). Only 5 or 6 examples of this 25 Gulden stamp have been recorded on covers, and the others are mostly on much larger unwieldy envelopes; this example fits on an album-page. Superb Exhibition Item. (3 covers) [Ex Gavin Fryer.] Cross Reference: MILITARY - WWII, AIR MAIL COVERS, MILITARY - CENSORED MAIL, NIGERIA - LAGOS