The Charity stamps of Colonial Australia.

The 1900 Patriotic Fund issue of Victoria - 1d (1/-) stamp on cover.

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• 1897 NSW
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• 1897 Victoria
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  • 1d (1/-) stamp
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  • 2½d (2/6) on cover
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• 1900 Victoria
  • Background
  • Essay and Proofs
  • 1d (1/-) stamp
  • 1d (1/-) on cover
  • 2d (2/-) stamp
  • 2d (2/-) on cover
  • Other frankings
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• 1900 Queensland
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  • Colour Trials
    • Trials for 1d (6d)
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  • 1d (6d) stamp
  • 1d (6d) on cover
  • 2d (1/-) stamp
  • 2d (1/-) on cover
  • Other frankings
  • Specimen and CTO

Genuine use of either of the 1900 Patriotic Fund stamps is extremely difficult to locate. A number of covers bear one of the stamps or both but do not pay the correct rate. There are however some covers which, although perhaps fabricated to some extent, still pay correct rates and also appear to have been through the appropriate postal procedures.

• There is only one cover recorded with a single Victorian 1d (1/-) Patriotic Fund stamp franking.
• There are no covers recorded with a multiple franking of the 1d (1/-).

The covers shown below are grouped as follows:

1. First Day Cover;
2. franking with a single stamp;
3. mixed frankings of the 1d Victorian 1900 Charity stamp;
4. combination frankings of both the Victorian 1900 Charity stamps;
5. mixed frankings of both the Victorian 1900 Charity stamps with another issue.

There is only one cover in which a joined pair of the 1d (1/-) has been used on a cover:

• the Melbourne-Sydney cover of 6 June 1900;

1. First Day Cover.

Matthew Bennett February 2003 Lot 579; Prestige Philately May 2007 Lot 577 and April 2011 Lot 522.

1d (1/-) stamp on First Day Cover (22 May 1900). There is only one set of First Day Covers recorded. They were prepared by Mr. William Rundell who worked in the General Post Office building.   The 2d FDC is shown elsewhere.

 

2. Covers with a single franking of the 1d (1/-) stamp.

There are only two covers with a single 1d (1/-) stamp affixed - and hence used to pay the local letter rate correctly.

Wodonga to Albury (across the River). 29 May1900. The 1d (1/-) stamp paid the special rate for border towns which was the same as the local letter rate.

 

Summary of known covers with a single franking of the 1d (1/-) Victoria Cross design.

Date	From	To	Seller/Reference & Date (lot)
22 May 1900 (FDI)	Melbourne	Melbourne	See above.
29 May 1900	Wodonga	Albury	Corinphila June 2024 Lot 40387

 

Covers with a mixed franking of the 1d (1/-) stamp..

Both of the covers shown below have their counterparts with the 2d (2/-) stamp attached.

Prestige Philately May 2004 Lot 1073. Prestige Philately June 2010 Lot 690.	Melbourne to Perth. 11 July 1900. 5d inter-colonial registered letter rate. Illustrated advertising cover front.   This cover - and its companion with the 2d (2/-) Boer War stamp - advertised Alcock & Co., Billiard Table Manufacturers of 212 Russell Street, Melbourne. Alcock is credited with bringing the game of billiards to its high level of popularity in Australia during the 1800s.
Prestige Philately June 2010 Lot 687.	Brunswick to Auckland, NZ. 25 June 1900. 5d inter-colonial registered letter rate. Registered cover front - so no arrival backstamp.

These are the only recorded covers of the 1d (1/-) stamp in a mixed franking.