Auction 40
Collector Series
Hong Kong through Tonga
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| Lot | Photo | Description | Realized |
Lot 759 |
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o Hong Kong, 1891, Queen Victoria, 50¢ on 48¢ dull purple (Scott 54), light c.d.s., Fine. Scott $300. SG 46; £325 ($440). Yang 43. Estimate $80 - 120. View details and enlarged photo | Unsold |
Lot 760 |
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o New Zealand, 1927, King George V "Admiral", 3s pale mauve (Scott 183), Cowan paper, bold c.d.s., Very Fine. Scott $175. SG 470; £190 ($260). Estimate $60 - 80. View details and enlarged photo | Unsold |
Lot 761 |
 |
 Pitcairn Islands, 1938 (Mar. 18), Radio Communication cover, franked with New Zealand 1d. Kiwi on early Pitcairn Islands cover, with The Voice of the PITC the South Pacific cachet, Fine to Very Fine. Estimate $40 - 60. View details and enlarged photo | Unsold |
Lot 762 |
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o Rhodesia, 1892, Arms, £10 brown (Scott 19), c.d.s. and perfin, Fine to Very Fine. Scott $800. SG 13; £700 ($960). Estimate $200 - 300. View details and enlarged photo | Unsold |
Lot 763 |
 |
( )Suez Canal Co., 1868, 1c black and 5c green (Scott L1-L2), large margins all around, unused without gum, 1¢ is scuffed at top, otherwise Very Fine. Scott $375. SG 1-2; £335 ($460). Estimate $60 - 80. View details and enlarged photo | Unsold |
Lot 764 |
 |
Tonga, 1936, Tin Can Mail cover to New Zealand, legal-size, with numerous cancels and cachets. Cover folded vertically and stained at right, otherwise Fine. Estimate $40 - 60 Tin Can Mail originated in the Niuafo'ou island of Tonga whereby isalnders would use native mulberry poles that were buoyant to assist them in swimming to passing ships holding the mail wrapped in oilcloth and tied onto these spears. The packet was tied to the line and hauled up to the ship and placed in the mailstream at the next port of call. The purser on the ship would place incoming mail to the islands into an empty kerosene or cracker can and toss it overboard for the swimmers to retrieve. Around 1920 a German trader named Walter George Quesell, who worked for Burns Philp and Co., began rubber-stamping his outgoing mail with the mesage "Tin Can Mail". It didn't take long for stamp collectors and tourists to catch on and it became a phenomenon to witness. One fateful day in 1931 or 1932, one of the swimmers was bitten by a shark. The wound was fatal, and, as a result, the Tongan government decreed that swimming for the mail was prohibited. Thereafter, the mail could only be taken to and from ships in outrigger canoes. This, too, was hazardous because of the turgid waters that surround the island of Niuafo'ou (Tin Can Island). But thereafter, the mail was marked "Tin Can-Canoe Mail." It was still a novelty, eagerly sought by stamp collectors all over the world. View details and enlarged photo | Realized $45 |
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