Bdr. Firth, #9 Batry. E. Div. Royal Arty.+5/GIB--Paper, "Answers," UK/1889/10-C.

Description: This is a neat, red, 1-Penny, Gibraltar postal stationery card(in pretty good condition, but w/ some slightly rounded corners, creases in the left and bottom sides(best seen from the reverse), and a tear in its bottom) revalued to 10-Centimos. Intriguingly, it was sent from Gibraltar(a nice, but slightly light, "A26," bar numeral duplex!) to the proprietors of the newspaper, "Answers," London, England, on November 23, 1889, by a Bombardier W. P. Firth, of Number 9 Battery, Eastern Division, Royal Artillery! Mysteriously, there is a rather large amount of money(for that time!) written twice in the message, 1,033,566 British Pounds! And, the names of five, other members of that same military unit are written below Bombardier Firth's name, accompanied by the word, "witness!" It would seem that Bombardier Firth was possibly stating his intention to invest in that newspaper, or was answering some kind of trivia contest that, "Answers," was sponsoring. It's an enigma! At any rate, noted imperfections aside, this is still a really nifty piece of British military postal history, with a connection to a little-known(today) London newspaper that had only started operations in 1888! It had been started by a gentleman by the name of Alfred Harmsworth. Fascinatingly, Alfred Harmsworth would become so successful in the newspaper industry, that he would eventually be given the title of Lord Northcliffe by Queen Victoria!

Price: 11.04 USD

Location: Kitakyushu City

End Time: 2024-12-15T08:25:51.000Z

Shipping Cost: 4.9 USD