~~~SHOW PIECES~~~

Jerusalem I RARITY: 1 Piastre Palestine stamp with 15:14 perforation & setting I overprint (as Kaufman type 17), in deep indigo violet (Ba #21a), MNH with full original gum - Bale unpriced as such (and only 5 used copies known to him). Included in the images is a comparison to a setting II example in indigo (as Kaufmann type 19). Tests negative under UV ultraviolet light....

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...

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...

The Pictorials series high denomination SPECIMENS: unlisted set of 3x 250 mils, 500 mils & £1 stamps (Ba #109-111) on woven paper hand-stamped SPECIMEN diagonally in purple; MNH. Circa. 1 September 1941 per first ever order for these denominations (#1518/1 as listed in the Crown Agents Requisition books), with notation requesting specimens for the General Post Office; these entered use in Jan. 19...

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...

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 letter ...

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 totalling 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 with Fre...

**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 this typ...

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...

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...

TAXI/AIR MAIL groundbreaker: May 1948 era undated mid-late interim period commercial cover on imprinted postal stationary, return addressed to P.O.Box 685 in HAIFA (confirmed as the address of Ata Textiles) & addressed to Express Service Transport in TEL AVIV - franked 10m per period domestic letter postage rate & postmarked in TEL AVIV, with return address subsequently amended in pencil m...

DISCOVERY - True 1st Day ISRAEL 15 MAY 1948 cover + with *INTERIM* postmark: local HAIFA [registered] cover from the AHUZAT SAMUEL town agency to addressee at KIBBUTZ GAATON (next to Nahariya), franked 33 mils for the period registered letter postage rate with extra weight (10m letter + 15m registry + 6m additional weight, with 2m overpaid) using 5x different interim stamps (none of philatelic sig...

Small cover, BIG DISCOVERY: the last known transport of Mandate mail OUT of besieged JERUSALEM - to besieged JAFFA: 24 April 1948 postmarked miniature business-card sized cover with enclosed message of condolences on business card, all in Arabic, from lawyer Johannes Merguerian in JERUSALEM to Magistrates Court judge Daoud Abu-Ghazaleh in JAFFO, franked 10 mils per domestic letter rate using Picto...

SHOWSTOPPER - Latest Known Mandate Mail FROM BESIEGED JERUSALEM: [Wednesday] 5 MAY 1948 office-dated Mandate Governmental mail on Palestine Posts, Telegraphs & Telephones PT.750 postal stationary cover, sent from the P&T Accounts Branch to a business in GOTHENBURG Sweden; franked 60m using a block of 4x 5m + a block of 4x 10m pictorial stamps - uncancelled & backstamped with undocument...

1948 Besieged Jerusalem convoy mail - First Flight airmail abroad: undated air mail cover on imprinted personal postal stationary, return addressed Haredi neighborhood of BATEI UNGARIN & addressed to company in HOOGEZAND Netherlands; franked 40m per period air mail rate to Europe using vertical pair of Mandate 20m pictorial stamps. The cover was properly prepared for international mail (using UPU ...

Earliest known Israeli postage dues cover from Haifa: 16 May 1948 1st day Israel postmarked stampless cover addressed locally in HAIFA; as posted unfranked, it was taxed for twice the deficient postage (2x 10 mils domestic letter rate) & so marked with T taxe mark and Hebrew manuscript "20 mils" + head post office postmark tied to the empty space of the cover - here uniquely charged in this period...

ONLY KNOWN Israeli Registered Letter LATE FEE: applied to 7 Dec 1950 postmarked large 'provisional government' postal stationary printed matter registered air mail envelope, sent from the General Post Office JERUSALEM to BROOKLYN New York, franked 320pr at the FA-2a postage period rate for 65pr base 25g printed matter + 3x 65pr additional 75g weight + 25pr registry fee + 30pr LATE FEE, with 5pr le...

PROOF strike of the rare 1st Israeli JERUSALEM machine-cancel (Nach-289/21; EG-75), 1949: here with Hebrew date of "A Adar 5709" and Latin date of "10 1 1949" (the two don't match). This cancel was used only on morning of 21 Feb 1949 (Kaf-Bet Shvat), a locally manufactured head on a Mandate-era machine - but it broke down and could not be fixed. Considered the rarest of Israel's cancellations....

Confederate States Navy "MERRIMACK" / drop-letter rate mail: MAY 4 [1862] postmarked outer lettersheet (light-blue lined writing paper) to Mrs. H. Ashton Ramsay, Care of D?Arcy Paul, Esq., PETERSBURG [Virginia], franked 5 cents using a single blue CSA 4-2 stamp with large to full margins, affixed with red sealing wax & tied by single strike of local postmark in blue.The postage paid reflects t...

THE HOLY GRAIL OF ISRAELI VINYL RECORDS - original "CHURCHILL'S" ALBUM **TEST PRESSING/PROMO** LP; 1st Israeli "Hed-Arzi" 1969 pressing, BAN #14106 catalogue number + unique matrix This is an original test press / promotional copy of the first pressing of the 1969 first full length, 10-track, album (and only one) recorded by "Churchill's" (also known as "The Churchills"). The cover/jacket is the ...

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 ...

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...

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)...