2659

Sale number: 115

Stefan Heijtz Saint Helena: The First Post Office 1815-21: 1815 Ship Letter entire headed from ''H.M.S. Northumberland/St. Helena Oct. 22nd 1815'', the vessel which had just brought Napoleon Bonaparte to Saint Helena, to Middlesex showing framed ''FALMOUTH/SHIP LETTER'' and oval ''10 o'Clock/DE 5/1815 F.N.B.'' in red, with ms. rating ''1/8'', being 1s. inland rate + 8d. ship rate, this having being increased in 1815. Some faded lettering reinforced but a fascinating interesting letter from ''this most horrible place which, if you could see, you would suppose all the rocks in the world had gathered together and made themselves into an island. We have put your friend Napoleon there'', promising a further account of their famous guest and sight of around 50 of Napoleon's hairs, acquired through bribery of a valet as ''Boney has very little hair on his head and disliked it to be given away very much''. Ex Art Groten. Photo.

Price Realised £1400

2660

Sale number: 115

Stefan Heijtz Saint Helena: The First Post Office 1815-21: 1816 'Bootleg' mail entire letter to Middlesex, headed ''H M Ship Northumberland/April 19th 1816 at/St. Helena'' privately carried to Portsmouth with June 20 datestamp and red oval ''10 o'Clock/JU 21/1816 F.N.B.'', rated ''8'' for inland postage only. The sender reports on Napoleon's well-being on the island and confirms to his cousin that he has acquired the former Emperor's handkerchief as requested. Ex Art Groten. Photo.

Price Realised £580

2661

Sale number: 115

Stefan Heijtz Saint Helena: The First Post Office 1815-21: Early Inland Letter, 1817 entire letter headed from ''Prospect Hall, St. Helena/March 14th 1817'' addressed to Sir Thomas Reed, Adjutant to the Governor Sir Hudson Lowe and handcarried by messenger, the letter written by Mr. J. Legg containing a riposte to his reported conversation with Napoleon reported in the ''Observer'' and providing his own full account of his family's meeting with Bonaparte. Ex Art Groten. Photo.

Price Realised £680

2662

Sale number: 115

Stefan Heijtz Saint Helena: The First Post Office 1815-21: The ''ST. HELENA/PACKET-LETTER'' Marking, 1817 (Mar. 29) a fine strike of this rare mark on Packet Letter entire to Fareham, Hampshire, rated ''4/2'' being 8d. inland rate + 3s.6d. packet charge and with ''C/26MY26/1817'' receiving c.d.s. in red on reverse. The letter is headed ''Briars, St. Helena March 26th 17'', Napoleon's first home on the island whilst Longwood House was prepared. Only fourteen letters are known with the rare first marking, most of the other examples being from the 'Dunlop' correspondence. Ex Art Groten. Photo.

Price Realised £3000

2663

Sale number: 115

Stefan Heijtz Saint Helena: The First Post Office 1815-21: THE LATEST RECORDED EXAMPLE OF THE ''ST. HELENA/PACKET-LETTER'' MARKING ON A PACKET LETTER, 1819 (Apr. 2) Packet Letter entire from the 'Dunlop' correspondence to Edinburgh showing good strike, June 7 and 10 receiving c.d.s's, ms. rating ''4/7'' for 1s.1d. inland rate + 3s.6d. packet fee with framed additional ''1/2'' for border carriage toll alongside, the letter dated Mar. 29. Surgeon George Dunlop had arrived with the 2nd Battalion of 66th Foot Regiment in Saint Helena in 1816 as part of the guard for Napoleon and left the island in Sept. 1819. The Packet service was suspended on 12 July 1819, the Post Office virtually closed and there was no further need for the Packet Letter handstamp. In its place the India Letter service was introduced and the Ship Letter system remained. Photo.

Price Realised UNSOLD

2664

Sale number: 115

Stefan Heijtz Saint Helena: The First Post Office 1815-21: Soldiers Concessionary Mail, 1819 incoming entire letter sent from Paisley, Scotland to Quartermaster Sergeant James Rayside of the 66th Foot Regt. at the concessionary 1d. letter rate, showing ms. ''P1'' (Paid 1d.) in red, faint boxed Paisley despatch, Glasgow ''27/APR/1819'' c.d.s. (on reverse), red Paid tombstone of ''30AP30/1819'', same day crowned ''INDIA PACKET LETTER/GPO/LONDON''. If sent at full packet rate the cost of this letter would have been 4s.8d. Photo.

Price Realised £750

2665

Sale number: 115

Stefan Heijtz Saint Helena: The First Post Office 1815-21: Soldiers Mail, 1819 incoming entire letter from Paisley, Scotland to Quartermaster Sergeant James Rayside of the 66th Foot Regt. sent by Ship Letter due to unavailability of Packets, consequently showing ms. ''P1/11'' (Paid 1s.1d.) in red being half normal Packet rate of 3s.9d. (1s.2d. Paisley to London internal postage + 2s.7d. packet rate from London), with faint boxed Paisley despatch, Glasgow ''21/AUG/1819'' c.d.s. (on reverse), red Paid tombstone and circular ''PAID SHIP LETTER/(crown)/23AU23/1819''. Photo.

Price Realised UNSOLD

1270

Sale number: 120

Stefan Heijtz Saint Helena: The First Post Office 1815-21: Packet Mail, double rate entire headed ''St. Helena 23rd May 1816'' from the 'Dunlop' correspondence, written by Lt. George Dunlop to his father in Scotland, showing crowned ''INDIA PACKET LETTER/22JY22/1816/G.P.O./LONDON'', boxed ''Addl./1/2'' and Glasgow transit datestamp, rated ''9/4'' at twice 3s.6d. packet rate, 1s.2d. inland rate and 1/2d. cross-border toll. A most interesting letter reporting that ''Napoleon is quite well and to all appearance bears his fate and exile very well. He has everything he can wish for (that money will provide) except his liberty''. Surgeon George Dunlop had arrived with the 2nd Battalion of 66th Foot Regiment in Saint Helena in 1816 as part of the guard for Napoleon and left the island in Sept. 1819. The packet service had been introduced on July 11 1815 as a fast, relatively secure, but also expensive means of communication with Britain. The Packet service was suspended on 12 July 1819. Ex Art Groten and George Montrose. Photo.

Price Realised £750

1271

Sale number: 120

Stefan Heijtz Saint Helena: The First Post Office 1815-21: 1817 ship letter from merchant/agent Philip Ammidon (1778-1837) to his company Messrs. Brown & Ives in Providence, Rhode Island, headed ''On board ship O'Cain, April 9th 1817/in sight of St. Helena'' with postscript added on arrival in Falmouth on June 7 with red straight line ''FALMOUTH'', rated ''Pd 1/3'', the packet rate to U.S.A. and ''181/2'' (being the 121/2c. inland rate added to 6c. ship rate), arriving on Aug. 15. Photo.

Price Realised UNSOLD

1272

Sale number: 120

Stefan Heijtz Saint Helena: The First Post Office 1815-21: 1819, outer sheet of double rate ship letter to London endorsed ''St. Helena - 17th June 1819'', showing framed ''SHIP LETTER/DEAL'' and charged ''2/8'' representing double the 8d. ship rate to England and 8d. inland rate from Deal to London. Ex Art Groten and George Montrose. Photo.

Price Realised £400

1273

Sale number: 120

Stefan Heijtz Saint Helena: The First Post Office 1815-21: Inland official mail, letter with red wax seal carried by messenger headed ''St. Helena 27th August 1819'' and addressed ''On His Majestys Service/To/Dr. Verling/Longwood'' and endorsed from ''G. Nicholls/Dy. Judge Advocate''. The letter formally requests Verling's attendance at the court martial on H.M.S. ''Conqueror'' of surgeon John Stokoe (1775-1852) who had attended Napoleon on five occasions between Jan. 17 and Jan. 21 1819, diagnosing a chronic infection of the liver. Stokoe had refused the instructions of Governor Sir Hudson Lowe to spy on the former emperor and was accused of several breaches of conduct in dealing with the French party. As a result of the court martial Stokoe was dismissed from the Navy having been convicted, among other charges, of having communicated to Napoleon that he heard from Napoleon's former doctor, Barry O'Meara (earlier dismissed by Lowe) that the Governor had encouraged O'Meara to ''put an end to the existence of General Bonaparte.''. Capt. George Nicholls (1781-1865) of the 66th Regiment, a veteran of the Peninsular War, served as Orderly Officer at Longwood from Sept. 5 1818 to to Feb. 9 1820 as well as fulfilling the role of Deputy Judge Advocate. Dr. James Roche Verling (1787-1858), a fellow veteran, had sailed to the island as a fellow passenger in the ''Northumberland'' with Napoleon and resided at Longwood from Aug. 1818 to provide medical assistance if required. However Napoleon, enraged at Stokoe's treatment, refused the future services of any British doctor until Apr. 1821, a few weeks before his death. The competence of the Corsican doctor, François Antommarchi, who had been engaged in the meantime, was regularly questioned, not least by Napoleon himself. Photo.

Price Realised £600

1274

Sale number: 120

Stefan Heijtz Saint Helena: The First Post Office 1815-21: THE ''ST. HELENA/PACKET-LETTER'' MARKING, 1820 (Mar. 2) entire to George Hodson at the Missionary Rooms in London, written by midshipman John Harper on Feb. 25 earnestly appealing for £1 worth of religious tracts to be sent to the schoolmaster, Mr. Daniel on the island, a fine strike of the mark with straight line ''SHIP LETTER'' alongside, charged at ''1/6'' (being 8d. ship rate + 10d. inland rate), carried on the ''Lord Wellington'' departing this day and with ms. receiving note of May 3. John Harper (1800-1862) later fulfilled his obvious destiny, becoming a schoolmaster and 'assistant missionary' in New South Wales. An exceptional and unique item, the only known Packet Letter strike after suspension of the service in 1819. Only fourteen letters are known with the rare first marking, most of the other examples being from the 'Dunlop' correspondence. Ex Art Groten. Photo.

Price Realised UNSOLD