Stamp & Coin Mart - April 2016_

66 APRIL 2016

http://www.stampandcoin.co.uk

Ed Fletcher outlines the postal history of the Cape of Good Hope, a popular philatelic destination

for collectors, and enlightens beginners on why those classic triangulars were introduced in 1853

Collecting the Empire

postage stamps and covers since our

hobby taught us enough geography to

find our own ways to the Cape.

At Table Bay, Britons, Portuguese,

Dutch, French and several other

trading nations rubbed shoulders and

shared the primitive postal facilities

during much of the 17th century –

cairns of stones beneath which letters

were left for crews of other vessels to

pick up if sailing to an appropriate

destination. The earliest known

inscribed stone, dated 1619, carried

the message: ‘ROBT ADAMS COMdr

Classic triangulars and more

N

ext time you grind

a pepper mill over a

favourite main course;

or sniff appreciatively

at the aroma of

nutmeg on a sweet pudding, hold

this thought for a moment: within

a space of six years two courageous

15th-century European explorers

launched themselves and their crews

into the unknown on dangerous quests

to find swifter routes to the sources of

those very spices. One was Christopher

Columbus, who sailed west across

the Atlantic Ocean; the other was

Bartholomew Dias, who sailed south

then east across the Indian Ocean.

Dias holds the greater interest for

stamp collectors because during his

voyage down Africa’s western coast he

touched on, or sighted, more than a

dozen locations destined to feature in

our albums centuries later. And after

rounding the continent’s southern tip, he

further endeared himself to philatelists

by naming it Cabo da boa Esperanze, or

‘Cape of Good Hope’ to anglophones.

We have enthusiastically collected its

Triangular pairs; 1d and

4d; 1863-1864

An 1853 1d brick-red on slightly blued paper, used on a 1859 cover to England.

The reverse has oval ‘GRAHAMS TOWN’ date stamp, unframed ‘PLYMOUTH/

PACKET LETTER’ CDS. The ‘fi ne and rare’ cover sold for £2,500 in 2015

A 1855-63 1d rose block of four with 4d deep blue and 1s bright yellow-green, used together on a 1859

registered entire sent from Worcester to Cape Town. The repaired cover, with all but one 1d cut into,

realised £520 in a 2015 auction

p66 Empire.indd 66 01/03/2016 11:38