Lot 2377
2377
cover 1859 (31 Aug.) entire letter headed "Bidi Sarawak Singapore", marked "By Southampton" and addressed to Middlesex, showing a superb strike of the double-ring "POST OFFICE/SARAWAK" h.s. with "8/31/59" date in manuscript and bearing India 1856 4a. (left half of stamp missing) indistinctly cancelled, part London c.d.s. in red on reverse; the entire letter with some soiling and other faults though surely one of the finest strikes of this rare handstamp. Photo
cover 1859 (31 Aug.) entire letter headed "Bidi Sarawak Singapore", marked "By Southampton" and addressed to Middlesex, showing a superb strike of the double-ring "POST OFFICE/SARAWAK" h.s. with "8/31/59" date in manuscript and bearing India 1856 4a. (left half of stamp missing) indistinctly cancelled, part London c.d.s. in red on reverse; the entire letter with some soiling and other faults though surely one of the finest strikes of this rare handstamp. Photo

Details
cover 1859 (31 Aug.) entire letter headed "Bidi Sarawak Singapore", marked "By Southampton" and addressed to Middlesex, showing a superb strike of the double-ring "POST OFFICE/SARAWAK" h.s. with "8/31/59" date in manuscript and bearing India 1856 4a. (left half of stamp missing) indistinctly cancelled, part London c.d.s. in red on reverse; the entire letter with some soiling and other faults though surely one of the finest strikes of this rare handstamp. Photo
Provenance
L.H. Shipman, 1980