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Auction: 12013 - The Collector's Series sale
Lot: 2035

Great Britain Postal History 1680-82 Dockwra´s Original Penny Post 1680 (8 May) entire letter addressed "ffor Mr. Edward Hubbald at Sr: Geo: Whartons in the Tower, or at his house next dore but two to ye Crowne Taverne on Tower Hill these", from "Robert Botelere" (Butler), "Sorely wounded and very angry", because of "foule play", writes from "Cliffords Inn", a coffee house listed by Ashton as "Against the Temple, Fleet Street" carried by the Original London Penny Post of William Dockwra, Robert Murray and Dr. Hugh Chamberlen, and endorsed "p 1d post. penny post pd", with on reverse "t./2 3/4", denoting the office and time (Temple, 2.45); Refolded to display the date, and in remarkable condition for its age. Photo Estimate £ 30,000-40,000 William Dockwra´s London Penny Post apparently opened on 27 March 1680, although a notice of 6th. April said that as the receiving Houses were not yet ready, letters could be left at any Coffee House. The earliest triangular postmark is dated 13 December 1680 and is held by the British Museum. The entire letter offered here is the only recorded example in private hands, and the earliest in existence, of a letter carried in the Original London Penny Post, predating the introduction of the triangular "Dockwra" postmarks. Two later examples (dated 18 May and 11 June 1680), endorsed "penny letter house pd" with "T/7 1/2" and "W/5" respectively (donoting Temple, 7.30 and Westminster, 5 oclock), are held in the West Sussex Record Office (See "England´s Postal History" by R.M. Willcocks, page 27). The most remarkable and exciting discovery of a non-institutional item of Great Britain postal history of recent decades. This is even rarer than an original Dockwra handstamp, and it is arguably the most important item of British Postal History in private hands.

Sold for
£21,000