This website is designed to show interesting or colourful covers of the whole world. We try to add about 25 to 30 new items each week. Many countries are included but there is particular strength in GB, the French Group & the German Group, as well as world-wide Wartime Censorship in WW1 & WW2, Postage Dues, Mis-routed mail, Special Services, Registered Mail and Airmails.

A new development is the recent addition of a separate section of Postmarks on detached stamps. Click on the ‘Postmarks’ link to see the new material. Purchases of either covers or postmarks will be grouped together on the same payment page.


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4 x 10c Palma portrait + 4 pictorials cancelled Havana (December?) 1941; on envelope sent by airmail; h/s 'Transatlantic Air-Mail'; sealed with Censor’s tape 'Opened by Examiner 1004'; no b/s, a colourful cover

Reference: 1258

Presidents issue 1c and 4c cancelled White Plains, NY, 28 Nov 1944 to Dublin; British censor tape 'Opened by Examiner 6815'; boxed Irish bilingual censor 'Released by Censor'; no b/s

Reference: 1257

Portrait head definitives 30, 10, 0.25 din (SG 333, 330, 320) + 0.50 (SG 415) and 2 x 2 dinar fiscals; cancelled Zagreb, 8 August 1940; s/r Graz transit d/s 9 August (to Goppingen labour camp); fair boxed h/s 'Nachgebühr'; German 'Eagle' censor cachet; b/s Ulm (Donau) No. 6(?)

Reference: 1256

Gibraltar QE2 3d pictorial + US 8d Liberty definitive, cancelled USS Salem warship 21 May 1954; also with USS Saratoga cachet; on reverse 2 line h/s Algiers/North Africa and New York slogan d/s; probably sent during the production of 'The Battle of the River Plate', when USS Salem played the Graf Spee in the film

Reference: 1255

KE7 1d pink on grey PS card upgraded with ½d & 1d definitives, cancelled Potchefstroom (?) 21 December 1909 in the Walfish Bay enclave in German SW Africa (Now Namibia); no b/s

Reference: 1253

Letter sent during the GB postal strike, 10 Feb 1971; franked with France 0.50 Bequet, cancelled Le Havre slogan d/s; large 'Rowland Hill' Export Letter Service yellow label cancelled with red h/s 'By Export Letter Service Southampton' and tied with d/r cds 'The Great Post Office Strike' Jan 20

Reference: 1251

Letter sent during the GB postal strike, 15 Feb 1971; franked with France 0.50 Bequet, cancelled Calais; 15p red and 20p green 'Export Letter Service' labels; tied with boxed h/s 'Flown by Hovercraft, Ramsgate'; partial m/c b/s

Reference: 1250

A Rhodesian stamp in the UDI era; cancelled 14 April 1970; stamp not valid, thus 1/2d postage due charged; GB postage due stamps 4d, 4 x 2d, 2 x 1d; cancelled Kenilworth 9 May 1970; front only but useful item

Reference: 1249

GB 1d lilac 16 dots cancelled FPO BO British South Africa 8 August 1900; s/r cds MODDER RIVER 7 Aug 1900 the d/s of origin; on patriotic Boer War card; a good scarce postmark

Reference: 1248

Large commercial envelope with label for 'The Harem Monthly" from Lahore to Nottingham; Pakistan pictorials 10p, 7p; m/s "not known at this address", Nottingham cds 13 June 1975; on reverse 'received in London June 1975'; from MV 'Nordwind', trapped in the Suez Canal after the Six Day War

Reference: 1246

VF RP postcard 'Italian War Demonstration, London May 27th 1915' also with placard 'Czechs Greet Italy and her Allies; Down with Austria'; on reverse a red patriotic label 'For the Independence of the Czech Nation'; cancelled by roller m/c d/s 16 June 1915; sent across London from Notting Hill to Holloway Road; a superb rare patriotic card of the period

Reference: 1245

Italy 10c PS card cancelled 'Posta Militare No 97' 10 March 1918, from Genoa (?) to Switzerland ; b/s black Censor's h/s '37 Verificato Per Censura' & red h/s 'Milano Posta Estera'; from a soldier in the 10th battalion (?); a nice combination

Reference: 1240

Post-war provisional issues 2+4 zt x 3, & 3 x 5 zt (SG 528-9, 522a) all cancelled with m/s endorsement 'Kosow-Lacki’; m/s hand drawn registration box with m/s entry 'Kosow-Lacki'; pink Exprès label; b/s Warsaw 22 September 1945, New York January 1946; Chicago 15 Jan 1946

Reference: 1239

Allied (Soviet) zone issue 7 x 24 pfg, 20, 2 x12, 2 x 10, 8 pfg; the 'zehnfach frankatur' (10 x rate) introduced 21-23 June 1948 as part of the currency reform tariff; used for longer in the Russian Zone; Dresden cancellation to Cologne; 240 pfg = 24 pfg new rate; some stains and wear but a spectacular franking; (see Stich handbook p105)

Reference: 1238

Rhein-Main Flugpost card from Frankfurt to Marburg, 12 June 1912, with 5 pfg Germania and 20 pfg vignette cancelled with the special h/s; very clean example; highly priced in Michel flugpost catalogue.

Reference: 1237

Letter from Mazamet (then in Vichy France) to Ilford Limited, London, via Lisbon; 4fr & 2fr Pétain issue; censored twice in UK, marked 'condemned' then 'released' h/s; cancelled 13 Jul 1942; b/s Lisbon Central 20 Jul 1942, London EC 23 Feb 1946;  held and delivered after the war, most unusual, ex CWE Coles collection

Reference: 1236

Letter from St Etienne, 17 Aug 1942, to the British Red Cross; 2 x 3fr Pétain cancelled St Etienne Préfecture; m/s "par Lisbonnne, Portugal"; British censor tape "Opened by Examiner 4327", a good cover of the period

Reference: 1235

Selection of values on pictorial PS card with a 14f 50 rate including pictorials and re-rated issues, cancelled s/r cds 24 Dec 1941 Tournay, to Droitwich; m/s 'Par Avion' crossed out (possibly no service?); red 'tombstone' censor h/s; b/s Marseille Gare 25(?) Dec 1941

Reference: 1234

Montpellier C  Hexagon d/s on 3fr Cérès + 50c & 25c Mercury, cancelled 28 Oct 1940; airmail "via Lisbonne"; British Censor's tape "Opened by Examiner 2260"; to a convent; early in World War II; ex CWE Coles cllection

Reference: 1233

5 x 50c/90c 'Peace' + 1f 'Iris' & 25c 'Mercury' for 3fr 75 airmail rate; from a Hotel in Cannes to London 23 June 1941, censored twice 'via Lisbon',  b/s C in small double circle h/s; a nice franking ex CWE Coles collection

Reference: 1232

Independent UDI Rhodesia 2 x 10c + 2 x 5c pictorials, Salisbury to Gloucester 15 April 1970; stamps not considered valid in GB; green 'To Pay'/'I.S.' (inland service) boxed h/s: red label added indicating unrecognised issues; GB postage due 2 x 1/- + 2 x 2/6 (2 applications): a fine example of this period

Reference: 1231

KUT 1/- and 30c on OHMS envelope with OHMS crossed out, cancelled Dar es Salaam l6 July 1944 to Dublin, opened by censor and sealed with label 'Opened by Examiner R/6' : boxed red Irish bilingual censor cachet  'released by censor'; no b/s; a nice cover

Reference: 1230

Selection of 9 commemoratives on registered airmail envelope: De Ruyter, Red Cross, Europa issues; all cancelled Amsterdam-Postjesweg 6 Nov 1957;  faint b/s Brunei 11 November ; m/s 'via Singapore'

Reference: 1229

Selection of 11 commemoratives on registered airmail envelope + 5 on reverse: Culture fund, Liberation, Anti-Cancer fund, Child Welfare (stamps cat £60+); all cancelled Amsterdam-Borgerstraat 1 December 1955; faint arrival b/s Brunei; a spectacular franking

Reference: 1228

Christchurch Air Race, 5 Red Cross issues (50c) SG769-773 plus 25c airmail and 10c definitive; illustrated cover for 8 Oct 1953 with VF race cachet in violet; cancelled Rotterdam 23 September 1953; b/s Christchurch 11 Oct 1953

Reference: 1227
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