NAPOLEONIC WARS AFTERMATH - UNIQUE (?) "Chelsea-Pensioners/P...

Hammer

£1,400

NAPOLEONIC WARS AFTERMATH - UNIQUE (?) "Chelsea-Pensioners/Pay-Office" FREE COVER TO KILMAINHAM HOSPITAL; 26 Dec. 1818 EL (slight internal edge faults) from "Schwarzburg" (affidavit ref. a Kilmainham Pensioner's residence) addressed (in error; Kilmainham Hospital is in Dublin!) to the "Paymaster to the Kilmainham Pensioners at Chelsea, London", and posted from "HANNOVER" (boxed 11 Jan. 1819 d.s.) with a very fine larger 2nd-Type "Chelsea-Pensioners/Pay-Office" mark on the front, but redirected (on the reverse) to "War Office, Dublin" with boxed "POSTAGE NOT PAID/TO LONDON" and varied London d.s.'s, with the "2/-" charge cancelled and a fair red London crowned "FREE" cds on the front, so clearly sent entirely free all the way to Dublin. Spectacular and rare Exhibition Item - franked mail from the German States is very rare. [Ex Frank Bottomley, Cavendish May 2010, lot 1324, realised £483; illustrated in FSPO, 1988, p.144.]Cross Reference: FREE MAIL, IRELAND PRE-1922 - POSTAL HISTORY, MILITARY - NAPOLEONIC WAR, FREES