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Auction: 23013 - Stamps and Covers of the World: Featuring Superb Mauritius, the "Claremont" Collection of South West Africa and the Charles Freeland Collection of Virgin Islands
Lot: 1277

(x) India
Airmails
1919 Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force, Basra - Delhi
1919 (11 Jan.) Handley Page stampless envelope to Aligarh, marked "on active service" and showing, on reverse, "postal service m.e.f./aerial post - basrah-delhi/per/handley-page aeroplane" overstruck with "base office/m.e.f." c.d.s. and arrival datestamp (22.1); minor filing creases. B.P.A. Certificate (2021). Very rare, one of seven known airlifted from Basra and only known with a date of posting as 11 January 1919. Photo

Note: From Baghdad the plane deviated from the planned route and made a forced landing at Ahwaz in Persia. The mail was sent by rail from Basra to Ahwaz then flown by "Old Carthusian" to Omara.

Subject to 5% tax on Hammer Price in addition to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium.

Sold for
£8,000

Starting price
£3000