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Well how about this one ....

I listed this one for sale here recently, and it is on its way to Canada as we speak.

Superb 1913 "skeleton" strike from the tiny town Nathalia.

And on the other side of the coin many collectors wonder WHAT the ugly cancels found of many Roos looked like in full piece.

And many liked this crisp tiny Hochkirch strike too, I mailed off to someone here.

Glen,

You are stealing my thunder. I was going to post the Hochkirk pair as a part of the thread. They are a great pair of 4d's with a stunning cancel. Glad I jumped on them.

Tim

A bit of history that pair above tells us.

This cancel was in the middle off WWI, and anti German feeling was running rampant. And any German sounding small town name was doomed.

For instance many of the South Australia Barossa Valley winery towns names were quickly changed from the German originals.

Presumably that is why HOCHKIRCH (High Church) became Tarrington in early 1918, and this lovely crisp unframed cancel was no more!

Anyway, 4d roos are fairly scarce items singly if neat cancelled, and a used pair is not common, and a pair with nice cancels like this is MOST uncommon.
.

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Click HERE to see superb, RARE and unusual stamps, at FIXED low nett prices, high rez photos, and NO buyer fees etc!

Yep ... nice items Glen ... a fascinating piece of history too .. thats what makes this hobby so great .. all the different tangents one gets taken on .. ... Dave

Folks,

Here is another item that fits in very well with Glen's article. A 9d Cof A Roo on a piece. Fairly common I would have thought. He has a nice mate though. Shame the parcel was not complete and its only a piece.

I was speculating with a fellow collect about the number of 5/- bridges were postally used and decided if it was 10% of the issue we would be surprised. This one is a very nice used one as well.

Tim

Had never noriced the 2 different 3's to be honest.

I sold this one below recently which has the OTHER date often seen - think from memory it is APRIL 5 - 13.

Arthur Gray was chasing dealers at one point to complete sets in CTO with both the known dates.

Will check on the 2 x different 3s.

Folks,

Here is my used second watermark page.

Tim

Folks,

Here are the Third Watermarks including two shades of the 5/- and Pound.

What do people think of the two pound? I think the socked on the nose cancel looks great myself.

Tim

Folks,

Here is a better look of the two pound.

Tim

Folks,

Small Mults.

Tim

Folks,

CofA

Tim

Folks,

Unfortunately the Perf OS's get a little thin. I dont think I will ever fill the missing spots on this page. I love the cancel on the halfpenny. The Brisbane cancel on the fourpence is nice too.

Tim

Folks,

I thought I would post this page of penny reds to show the Letraset work that the person who put the album together did.

Glen commented on this in a previous response. The work is amazing.

There are pages like this from halfpenny up to two shillings. A labour of love.

Tim

Folks,

9d First watermark. Nice Government House Queensland cancel

Tim

Folks,

One Shilling First watermark. Great Girranbandi cancel.

Tim

Folks,

One Shilling Second with a very nice Seymour Military Camp cancel.

Can anyone comment on the shades of the other two stamps?

Tim

Folks,

Two shilling first. The Brisbane registered cancel is supburb. The CTO is very nice as well.

Tim

Folks,

Could you get a nicer used two shilling second than this one? Just a great Kalgoorlie cancel.

Tim

Folks,

A very nice pair of two shilling thirds.

Tim

Love those postally used higher values - the only way to collect 'used' copies of them, I think!

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'First I'll steal all the money, then I'll kill everybody, and then I'll go away', Père Ubu

Just a word of thanks to Glen for the outstanding and timely article on "Superb used" Just a great article.

Along the same lines, Glen mentioned how hard it is to find a decent 2/- 3rd wmk roo. I certainly have to agree.

And odd it seems to me too, that with all the zillions issued, so few "clean used" copies survived. Odd indeed! Especially when its (or was...)so cheap!!

Perhaps Glen could shed some light on WHY the 2/- maroon was CTOd so commonly and the Brown issue was not. Another Odd occurence!

Glen, Id swear Ive seen about 2 CTO 2/- Browns (3rd) in the last 15 years on Ebay! Go figure...

This "used-Superb" discussion has been a delight.

Davpot

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david b. potts

davpot .. well don't believe EVERY word you see on ebay stamp write-ups.

We have apparently hinged Roos sold there as "SUPERB MUH" for $US900 (see below) and all kind of other shenanigans, so be careful of who you believe on ebay re "CTO".

http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=7186

99% of ebay sellers are not members of International dealer trade bodies, and essentially can say anything they wish, and are accountable to no-one for doing so.

The 2/- 3rd brown simply did NOT get issued in CTO via the PO. If any ebay sellers tell you it did, do not believe one word of it. They are clueless and/or lying, and selling you a fake corner cancel.

The 1927 2/- 3rd wmk MAROON certainly was isued CTO by PO, (normal and perf "OS") and dealers like myself can supply copies of that for $60 or so.
.

Thanks for the thougtful reply Glen!

I'll take your word for it then, but my assumption was based on the actual pics on the page. I know..I know..who knows??

At any rate, I am looking for the 6d blue 3rd in CTO. I know that does exist as I have one of the grey shades in CTO, but with a thinned corner!! Arghh!!

So Glen, if you have any copies of the bluey, Id sure be interested!

PS: I do believe Ebay has gotten a bit dodgier over the years!!

Davpot

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david b. potts

David the 6d 3rd BLUE had a VERY small number of corner CTO added to the PO packs ... whereas the 6d Brown 3rd is quote commonly seen, both normal and 'OS' perf.

The blue only exists in the later Harrison Die 2B printing. If you have a Grey Blue in "CTO" .. well it was not CTO by the Post Office I am sorry to tell you as that was a Cooke printing!

ACSC says $100 for CTO and $20 for normal used. An absurd price, as the 2nd wmk "CTO" is listed at $750 and the normal stamp FU is $25. So a true CTO 3rd should be at LEAST $200 or so. Phone 10 large dealers - none will have a gummed copy at any price.

I just looked in my stock and I have at least 500 x 6d blue 3rd in all grades, and about 20 of those are VFU/Superb postal used. and just one of them is PO CTO, so they certainly are dead scarce.

I see one each few years. This is a TON scarcer than any 1st watermark CTO value 5/- and under of course, of which I have 100s.

This is very fresh with nice original gum, and has a July 1922 CTO dated cds. (The Harrison was issued July 1921 and the 6d Brown came on stream December 1923, so the Harrison window was very short.)

that is certainly a nice copy and quite rare too Glen. Here is the pic of that "grey" copy I mentioned. Worse case scenerio, it could be "sun bleached!" I could not see if it was a die2b or not (I presume it is) I found this in a group of stamps on E*** after months of looking at various lots!
[IMG:185:248]http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb84/davpot/roo6dcto.jpg[/img]

(Unable to activate this link above - Moderator)

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david b. potts

HEAVILY sun faded I'd say at first glance.

Does it have gum?

Give us a decent size scan, and we can tell you the die very easily.

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Click HERE to see superb, RARE and unusual stamps, at FIXED low nett prices, high rez photos, and NO buyer fees etc!

Beautiful stamp!

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Peter
Hawthorn - AFL Premiers 1961, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 2008.

I've showed this here before, but ... here's my favourite postmark on a roo:



The earliest known 4d roo cover is dated Feb 19, 1913, but for some reason the stamps were sent to Hobart a week before that.

Greg

Hi Tim.......some real mouth watering items there......a lovely collection......thanks for sharing and keep Glen searching

Dieter

Greg,

Thats a great postmark on the 4d. I real ripper.

Thanks Dieter for the complement on the collection. I still have not done my page on the big crack yet though.

Tim

Thanks, Tim.

I love that Arthur Gray didn't have one dated earlier than Feb 19.

Your collection is magnificent. I think it has inspired me to try to pull together something similar.

Greg

When Didge bought the large album off me, I'd already sold off a few nice looking pieces like these above to a client, who had ordered "Superb Used" off my list.

In fact this album had been laying around my "office" for about 10 years gathering dust before I ever touched it.

As the pages had Letraset wording saying "Registered Kalgoorlie JY 25 1915" etc, clearly no other copy would exist to fill that gap with! Same with the lovely 2d and 1/- First above, and some others.

So I needed to go and somehow broker a deal, to get that very happy collector to part with them all, so they could go back into the original album, where they "belonged".

I honestly can't recall who it was, or what it took to get him to part with them, but it was done somehow.

That 2/- 2nd would have to be the finest postal used example existing anywhere - in my view. That tiny little Kalgoorlie "thimble" cds on a parcel post stamp is a gem.

I've now sold it THREE times, as the original buyer got them all from me decades back, and hope they stay for a long time where they are now.

Neither stamp above was terribly expensive, (the 2d was about $10, and 1/- was probably $15, and both would now be worth 5 times that today, to any number of my clients) but as I often say, getting even a TRULY superb postal used ½d roo is just as tough as the £2.

Strikes like these above are truly are 1 in 1000 on the lower value Roos.
.

Yes ... lovely items and a real inspiration to search out more of these fantastically appealing items ... Thanks Glen and Tim for sharing these with us ... ... Dave

Folks,

Thanks for the great comments. What Glen has said is absolutely correct. The three stamps he has identified had been sold to another collector.

Glen contacted him and brought them back of him for the album much to my delight. They would have been totally impossible to replace. Most of the stamps in the album either came with it or have been sourced from Glen over the years.

Some have come from other sources as well but not many. I think it would be very difficult to put together as good a collection today.

I think I was very lucky to get the album from Glen at the time that I did and it would be worth many times what I paid for it today.

Thanks mate.

Tim

Greg,

Yes it must be nice to have something Kangaroo that was not in the Gray collection. The 4d is a ripper.

Tim

Didge,

Thanks for the images. Very nostalgic. It was wonderful seeing some of my old pages and many stamps of my old kangaroo collection.

I often wondered where it ended up after I sold it to Glen.

It was an fun experience chasing the stamps and putting it together one at a time.

It is good to see you have added greatly to what I started. Keep up the good work.

I will always be addicted to the roos but am managing to keep it under control these days. ; ).

I am a rooaholic and have been (mostly) roo sober for 10 years.

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Your wise men don't know how it feels, to be thick as a brick.

Gerard,

Its great to meet you. Even though it is in cyberspace. The collection and all of the work on the album is a credit to you. I am glad that you can enjoy it again here on stampboards. I have tried to add items that will keep within the spirit of what you were trying to do.

Did you have every spot in the collection filled at some stage? I am trying to do that. I dont think the Perf large and small OS first pages will be filled soon though.

How long is it since you parted with the album? As discussed in the thread Glen had sold a few of the unique items to the album and brought them back for me.

Tim

Gerard,

If you ever want to touch base my telephone number is 0419 xxxxxxx or if you would like to post your telephone number and I will give you a call.

Tim

Ummm... I really don't think it is a good idea to post your telephone number in a publicly accessible forum. You might want to edit your post and remove it?

If you include your email address in your profile, people can send an email through the board. A much safer way to operate.

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Peter
Hawthorn - AFL Premiers 1961, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 2008.

Peter,

No worries mate. My email is included so Gerard can contact me if he likes.

Tim

Gerald Bostock - well selling a nice collection is never fun, but as you can see Tim bought it off me 100% complete as you sold it, and has added to it, so that must be far more consoling to know, than had I sold it all off piecemeal all over the place, and tossed away the 100s of hours of work that went into Latraseting the album pages in that lovely green Lighthouse album!

I know you took years rounding up those superb used copies in the first place .. many off me - and to know all your Letraset pages are still being added too makes all that work worthwhile!

I can't recall when exactly you sold it to me, but it must have been well over a decade back I'd imagine? I do know it sat around here for years until I mentioned it to Tim.

Glen

Just a comment that I mentioned to Tim when he bought it.

You'd done the hard Letsaset work on the pages like the ½d and 1d roos plate vars above - noting these flaws existed according to ACSC, but you had not yet located nice VFU copies of them.

So pages like this above were as we see it, when you sold the album to me.
.

Folks,

Gerald Bostock has made contact with me and we had a nice chat about him putting the album together over a number of years. It was nice to get some history of how it all came together.

Tim

Glen,

I remember I sold the collection to you in order to pay the fairly steep joining fees of a golf club. It was difficult to let go.

I think it was about 12 years ago.

There are times when I think I was mad to sell it (especially on Sat mornings, usually at the 2nd hole), however I must have been mad to do all that letraset (talk about obsessive).

It is nice to see it appreciated, at a good home, and expanded. I really thought it would have gone os when the $AU was low.

Good to see it again.

Rod

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Your wise men don't know how it feels, to be thick as a brick.

A good story all round. Nice to see it's still in Oz and to see passion for collecting is something that really never goes away. It is also good to see stamps can be useful in hard times.

I don't think, I could part with it, that's why I never sell stamps.

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Waroff49

The last chapter of the Never_Ending Story is being written.

Folks,

Yes selling is a difficult thing. I try not too unless I really have too.

Tim

Absolutely fantastic collection. A credit to all involved in it's assembly.

However one small problem which I'm sure everyone's noticed.

The CDS on the 1/- First Watermark is actually Dirranbandi, not Girranbandi.

Sorry to be a wet blanket.

Darryl

Well spotted.

Anyone want to buy a Letraset capital D.

(Seriously Tim if you want my half used Letraset sheets to make any additions, alterations, etc, I think I may still have them)

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Your wise men don't know how it feels, to be thick as a brick.