£320
SAILOR's 1d CONCESSION RATE COVER EX "H.M.S. RODNEY, MALTA" ORIGINALLY WITH 1d COIN SEWN ON; 4 July 1847 letter written (to his sister) by Thomas Brown, Seaman on Board H.M.S. Rodney, Malta and sent at the 1d Concessionary Rate from Malta to Yorkshire. In the space left at the left-hand side of the address, one can still see the circle of needle-holes that fits a 1d coin of the time [a life-size photo of an 1846 1d is hinged in place to show this]. The coin was originally sewn onto the letter (the holes pass right through every folded part of the letter) to ensure that it reached the Malta Post Office with the coin and was then treated correctly as a prepaid Concessionary Rate letter. The coin was removed at the Malta P.O. and a red manuscript 1[d] added with the black [MALTA]/PAID c.d.s. alongside. Only a handful of such Sewn On Penny covers have been recorded including only two others sent from Malta (dated in the 1840s). The letter notes that the writer had told his sister to send letters to Portsmouth or elsewhere, but now asks her to send them to him on Board of H.M. Ship Rodney, Malta or elsewhere. He says that; We have been cruising about the Mediterranean Sea this last 7 or 8 months. [Ex Victory 2010, lot 3115, £300+BP.] Cross Reference: COMBINATION COVERS, COINS, NAVAL MAIL
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