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Auction: 13027 - The Collector's series sale
Lot: 273

Bechuanaland
Covers and Cancellations
1888 2d. on 2d. lilac and black marginal strip of five cancelled by 21 August datestamps of all five of the post offices along the Matabeleland Runner Service route, namely Gubulawayo, Tati, Shoshong, Molepolole and Kanye, all superb strikes applied on the first day of the service and therefore on the first day of use of these five datestamps. A unique strip and highly important item of Bechuanaland and Rhodesian Postal History

Note: In 1888 John Moffat established a runner post service from Mafeking to Bulawayo. The service commenced on 21 August though after this one day the word "Bechuanaland" was excised from the Tati and Gubulawayo datestamps in order to avoid offending the Matabele King Lobangula who had his headquarters at Gubulawayo and claimed the Tati area. These two datestamps therefore occur solely on this one date

provenance:
Spink, March 2002

Estimate
£8,000 to £10,000