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Auction: 24028 - Stamps and Covers of British Africa
Lot: 1002

(x) Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902
The Steven Walske Collection of the Boer War Sieges
Siege of Mafeking: 13 October 1899 to 17 May 1900
Early Mail, 13 October 1899 to 23 March 1900
The Earliest Mafeking Siege Cover Recorded
1899 (Oct.) envelope (opened-out for display with "mafeking club" imprint on flap, endorsed "Oct: 18 All right-" by a physician on Baden-Powell's staff, addressed to Dublin, bearing Cape 1d. cancelled by "kuruman/bechuanaland" c.d.s. (25.10), upon arrival redirected to Skerries and with "rathmines d.d. dublin" c.d.s. (5.8). One of only two recorded covers out of Mafeking via Kuruman and, more importantly, the earliest known Mafeking siege cover. Additionally, a remarkable item involving two towns besieged by the Boers. Photo

Note: Edward Ross's diary of the Mafeking Siege records that some letters were sent out by special runner via Kuruman, 190 miles west of Mafeking, during October 1899. This letter was trapped in the November 13, 1899 to June 24, 1900 Kuruman siege and Boer occupation, and it was finally forwarded to Cape Town, where it left on July 18 aboard the Union Castle Line’s "Carisbrook Castle".

provenance:
"Goodyear", Christie's Robson Lowe, June 1993
Harry Birkhead, March 2014

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

Estimate
£2,500 to £3,000

Starting price
£2000