Highlights & Special Items

Palestine Jerusalem I overprint EXTREME RARITY: 1 Piastre stamp in deep indigo violet (Ba #21a) with 15:14 perforation & setting I type 17 overprint (complete Arabic overprint; Arabic "S" slightly raised; vertical stem on Hebrew "Lamed"; vertical letter alignments as documented in Bale 2001 & 2010), Mint Never Hinged with full original gum - Bale unpriced as such (and only 5 used copies known to h...

SUPREME RARITY - 2 mils coil stamp of the Pictorials series (Ba #90), in grey-blue on thick vertically ribbed paper, perforated 14 x 15; used, tied by 30 March 1930 dated JERUSALEM postmark; exhibiting the classic hallmarks of a machine-vended stamp, with 'shark teeth' deformity at the bottom resulting from the manner in which these stamps were dispensed and detached from vending machines ("grippe...

THE EARLIEST KNOWN USED BOOKLET SHEET STAMP: 28 OCT 1929 postmarked commercial cover on imprinted business postal stationary, sent from TIBERIAS to SAFED & franked 8m for the period postage rate for extra weight inland letter (5m initial 20g letter weight + 3m additional 20g weight), using pictorial series 3m single & 5m single with half-cropped left gutter (both on thick vertically ribbed paper) ...

GROUNDBREAKING experimental coil paste-up DISCOVERY: vertical pair of 5m Mandate Pictorials assembled as a "paste-up" in a roll of coiled stamps for use in stamp vending machines, where the top stamp here is printed on vertically ribbed thin semi-transparent paper, perforated 13¼:14½ (13.25 x 14.5) and the bottom stamp is printed on thick woven un-ribbed paper, perforated 13½:14...

EARTHQUAKE: the 1st documented example of a 20 mils Pictorial COIL STAMP, here as a vertical pair bottom-fed coil leader on woven paper, serving as 40m airmail postage on 8 JAN 1948 postmarked cover from HAIFA to PARIS (the year looks like "1946" but the rate paid entered use 15 May 1947, so the"6" is an "8"); torn open at top but complete + vertical fold.The coil leader exhibits all of the classi...

Egypt rarity - 1st issue 1866 10 piastre stamp in blue-slate with 13x13 perforation & upright watermark with 9 rays in the sun (SG #7d/w); possibly used as without gum, but not tied by postal markings. This is not a re-perforated imperforate proof stamp, among other reasons, because the paper is watermarked with the correct design (documented with 9 or 10 visible sun rays) & the paper is rough and...

HALASA 1 (Halutza/Khalasa) - Major Rarity: 2x strikes of the PM1 postmark dated 1 Oct 1917 tied to uprated 1914-issue Ottoman 20 Para imprinted postal stationary envelope (Ba #799) addressed to officer at telegraph station in DIYARBAKIR (southern Turkey), written by a sender at the local roadside inn (manuscript at bottom right); 3x stamps are visibly missing, constituting the postage for an overs...

Taxed French post office Holyland mail + discovery: 27 Aug 1906 postmarked picture postcard (Jerusalem - Mosque of Omar; Hermann Striemann) with 25 Aug. dated message numbering 5 words, sent from JERUSALEM to DRESDEN Germany & franked 5c for the printed matter rate (as bearing 5 words or less); likely deposited into a letter box and subsequently postmarked - but also marked for postage dues with t...

EXTRAORDINARY WWI postal link - Austria-Hungary via British Censor to Ottoman Palestine (Central Powers mail facilitated by Britain): 24 Sept 1914 postmarked uprated postal card (stamp missing) bearing message in Hebrew-written Yiddish, sent from BUDAPEST to JERUSALEM & tied by local machine cancel (with offset imprint on reverse); subsequently tied by boxed violet handstamp FORWARED BY BRITISH CE...

Mandate EARLIEST recorded LATE FEE on VERY EARLY printed matter mail sent abroad applied to 2 Aug 1918 postmarked minature cover, sent from Army Post Office APO SZ44 (JERUSALEM) to officer at #14th Australian General Hospital (Abbassia Barracks in CAIRO, Egypt); as not endorsed "on active service" (OAS) the sender was likely a civilian & the cover liable for postage - here a very early instance of...

MAJOR RARITY - Registered letter LATE FEE: 20 Dec 1938 postmarked small Registered Letter postal stationary air mail cover with imprinted 13m stamp, sent from HAIFA to tiny locale BURES Britain, uprated & franked 43 mils for 13m registry fee + 10m base letter postage rate for "All Up" airmail service to the UK (flat air mail postage rate anywhere within the British Empire) + 20m registered let...

EXTRAORDINARY WWII German postal link via PALESTINE: 12 JULY 1941 postmarked registered surface mail cover on imprinted bank postal stationary with teleprinted address, sent from BERLIN to TEHRAN Iran & franked 55pf; with manuscript routing "via Istanbul-Erzurum" + stamped with boxed customs-declaration cachet "foreign exchange bank, contents - no goods"; the cover was opened & sealed by t...

LEGENDARY - "Small Packet" cover as WWII AIRMAIL: 26 Nov 1939 postmarked registered air mail cover sent from TEL AVIV to RICHMOND (LONDON); the cover is endorsed "Imperial" Airways & bears franking totaling 153 mils, with a few stamps clearly missing & tied by 3x strikes of the oval REGISTERED TEL AVIV postmark on front + 2x on back; affixed on lower front with green customs label PT 539 w...

EXTRAORDINARY VERY LAST WWII (wartime) MAIL FROM GERMANY TO PALESTINE: Sunday 3 SEPT 1939 postmarked registered airmail cover with 16:00 time-stamp, sent from BERLIN-CHARLOTTENBURG to HAIFA & franked 75pf per period rate using 3x Hindenburg medallion definitives stamps + tied by single strike of the local postmark; backstamped 10 SEPT 1939 TEL AVIV transit-arrival, 12 SEPT HAIFA transit and 15 SEP...

UNIQUE World War II DISPATCHED & RETURNED wartime civilian mail to Nazi Germany: Sept-Oct 1939 era postmarked cover on Jerusalem 'Etz Hayim Yeshiva' imprinted postal stationary (marked "return postage guaranteed"), sent from JERUSALEM to SILUTE "Lithuania"; likely franked 15 mils (Ba #108) now missing, for overseas surface mail & tied by a strike of the single-circle canceller of the sorting offic...

EXTRAORDINARY & IMPOSSIBLE once-in-a-wartime postal link: 27 Sept 1941 postmarked cover from VIENNA (GERMANY) to addressee "J. Davidai" (i.e. Jewish name) at Kibbutz "GINNEGAR [via] Afula Palestine via ANKARA Turkey", franked 25pf per period rate for overseas surface mail (other than to Hungary & former Czechoslovakia) using a Hindenburg medallion single adhesive stamp & tied by single strike of l...

Two-way contact with "the heart of darkness" via Red Cross: stampless British Red Cross/Order of St. John "Postal Message Scheme" contact form with German message of under 25 words, dated 8 DEC 1941, from HAIFA to TARNOW "Occupied Poland", inquiring about condition of sender's parents.Passed HAIFA censor H17 (Sach-Q23, 1 month before his earliest known date of use) on way to overseas dispatch thro...

EXTRAORDINARY WWII postal link - ROMANIA (don't they know there's a war on?): 13 MAY 1942 postmarked 12 Lei postal card, with German message dated 11 April sent from Nataly Cremnitzer in BUCHAREST to father Dr. Mayer Ebner in TEL AVIV; tied by local machine cancel & CENZURA EXTERNA censor machine cancel (of a type used on mail to & from Turkey, Hungary and Germany between Dec. 1941 and March 1943)...

Landmark Palestine WWII military mail - New earliest known WWII British army postal concession in Palestine: 22 July 1940 postmarked stampless surface mail cover sent from Field Post Office FPO 122 (TULKARM) to a Lieutenant-Colonel A. L. Hadow in KEMSING Britain, tied by single strike of the FPO postmark & boxed censor mark #1168 with officer's endorsement signature (it's actually the sender's own...

Extremely rare 'Small Packet' mail: 20 Jan 1946 postmarked registered cover, return addressed KIRYAT BINYAMIN (in KIRYAT ATA) and addressed to LONDON; couriered to HAIFA where posted at the Hadar HaCarmel branch office; affixed with PT 538 customs declaration label describing the contents as "chain with souvenir". Franked 55 mils for the 15m registry fee + 40m airmail postage - but as a "small pac...

**VERY LAST MANDATE AIRMAIL OUT OF PALESTINE**: [Sunday] 18 April 1948 postmarked commercial air mail cover on Spinneys Ltd business postal stationary, from HAIFA to business in MITCHAM United Kingdom, franked 25m per period rate to the UK & tied by single strike of the local postmark; backstamped office receipt [Monday] 26 April 1948 with 8:45 time stamp - a rare and critical proving date for thi...

LATEST RECORDED INCOMING Mandate / 1948 War 'Destinaire Parti' Arab air mail: 1 APR 1948 registered [airmail] cover on "Imperial" stationary from BAINO (BEINO) Lebanon to HAIFA, addressed in Arabic to "His Excellency Iskandar Kurdush" (return addressed to the sending locale in Akkar, Lebanon), franked 55p using horizontal pair 25p + 'orphan' 5p - for the period 25p registered airmail rate + 25p do...

Holocaust-era Nazi report on the Warsaw Ghetto: June 1942 dated 6-page mimeographed survey with green cover and official title plate entitled "Der Judische Wohnbezirk in Warschau (Zahlen und tatsachen)" (The Jewish residential district in Warsaw, numbers and facts). In graphs and statistics the report covers demographics, work-occupations, economy & general conditions, schooling, police, post, hea...

POSTAL HISTORY GOLD - Groundbreaking interim TAXI MAIL & Haifa HPO Discoveries: 6 May 1948 postmarked commercial cover sent from HAIFA to TEL AVIV, franked 10 mils for the domestic base letter postage rate using an interim Hebrew Technion stamp with the black Haifa DOAR overprint (Ba #14c) & tied by Mandate-era machine cancel of the Haifa head post office - here an initial proving cover that contr...