THE UNIQUE(?) 1850 COVER WITH 1d REDS & GENUINE LONDON CROWN...

Estimate

£550 - £750

THE UNIQUE(?) 1850 COVER WITH 1d REDS & GENUINE LONDON CROWNED "FREE" DATESTAMPS CORRECTLY USED; 2 June 1850 giant EL (c.12x4 ins. as now folded round at each end) containing a scroll-like manuscript Petition to Parliament seeking protection for the "Independent Order of Odd Fellows" from impending legislation, with 183 different signatures) posted from "STOCKPORT" (fair blue cds on reverse) to an M.P. in London endorsed "Petition to Parliament", but oddly franked by four Imperf. 1d Reds (almost 4 margins; affected by light folds) tied by blurred Numerals and endorsed "Above 2 Ozs" and "4d" with fine London encircled "MORE TO PAY/A TO L" on the front. However, 3 days later (6 June), these charges were cancelled and two very fine strikes of the very rare London red crowned "FREE" cds (Lovegrove R6, light folds; recorded in the GPO Proof Books as having been issued on 17 Jan. 1850) of which Lovegrove only records one other example (the Petition dated Dec. 1852 illustrated in Lovegrove, 2nd ed., p.82) applied at each end of the address panel. This cover was the first of this genuine post-1840 "FREE" mark to be discovered (in 1974) and it seems clear that the mark was issued in 1850 precisely for this rare category of mail which has always been allowed Free of postage. Important Free Mail Exhibition item and a Unique(?) usage with postage stamps and Postage Due marks. [Ex Douglas Markwick; RL PH auction, March 1986, lot 423a; realised £529. Ex Frank Bottomley, Cavendish Mar. 2012, lot 2829; realised £1,200+BP.] [Illustrated in BPPP, p.66.] Cross Reference: CHESHIRE, FREE MAIL, PARLIAMENTARY MAIL, POSTAGE DUE MARKS