Stamps and Postal History of Snark

Here is a cover addressed to the author Charles Dodgson from the Snark Expeditionary Force of 1874. 

The cover is franked by Wonderland stamps (types 26 and 27 with colours changed) surcharged and overprinted with the outline of a ship and the letters SEF. 

The cancellation is that of HMV Snarkfinder and dated Sept 9 1874.  It was Feb 1875 before the letter arrived in Southampton and then Guildford three days later.

Enjoy!

Keith

And here are some postcards:

Nice Postal Cards

After looking at them for a couple of minutes, I was prompted to go to my Unitrade Canada Specialized Cataogue because I thought that the 1/2 Penny 'ship' card was the same design as the 10 cents Newfoundland stamp # 59, picturing a schooner. After comparing them, I am 90% convinced that this is the design used on the Postal Card of Snark.

There are very strong similarities between the two.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Speaking of Canada (if you'll excuse me for digressing my own thread!) here are a couple of interesting things from the same source.

Here is Unitrade 3.  The 12d black of 1851 used alone on cover, 4 margins.  And it's a first day cover of 14 June.  On the reverse is a boxed two line Liverpool/Ship Lre.  If this were genuine I would be rich.  Used on cover it was catalogued at $200,000 Canadian in 2005.  The first day cover could make it worth anything - even in these poor, miserable, times

And here is a proof pair on laid paper.  A mint single with original gum was $180,000 Canadian in 2005.  Anyone able to hazard a guess at a value if genuine so that I can daydream?

Keith

I have, at last, been able to make a start on the Snark Island postal history and the first page can be found here. 

I have a lot of background information from Gerald that I'll try to include if I can.  In the meantime get reading the book - short and easily obtainable free on the interweb as it is long out of copywrite.  You'll need to have read it if you want to understand all the references on the covers.  Anyway, its great fun.

For me the covers in this series are the absolute pinnacle of the cinderella cover-maker's art.  They merge the fiction of the Snark story into the real postal history of the times (for instance the Dutch East India company ships and dates used for carriage to the UK are all real and all accurate) in a quite brilliant way.  Real genius.

Keith