UNRECORDED BLUE HANDSTRUCK "4" OF THURSO ON UNPAID DOUBLE-RA...

Hammer

£420

UNRECORDED BLUE HANDSTRUCK "4" OF THURSO ON UNPAID DOUBLE-RATE COVER: Fine long 21 Sept. 1857 env. (fine black wax seal) from "MEY" (fine rare small green boxed village mark on the flap) signed by the sender "[14th Earl of] Caithness"on the front and addressed "O.H.M.S." to "The Lord Panmure, War Office, Pall Mall, London" (Panmure was the Secretary of State for War) but sent unpaid and so with three mainly very fine strikes of a distinctive blue-black Handstruck "4" on the front (two strikes inverted and so cancelled by mainly fine black Thurso "324" Numerals. This Handstruck "4" mark is not recorded by Auckland/Stables or anywhere else that we can trace; it has all the characteristics of a mark made for use in the brief 1839/40 Uniform 4d Postage Period, but it is undoubtedly very rare, and a significant addition to the record of Highland Scottish Postal History. Exhibition Quality. (Page 105 of Chadwick) [ex Cavendish sale 785 lot 1642.] Cross Reference: SCOTLAND, CAITHNESS