Hello Collectors,
Now, the hammer price held by London Stamp Exchange including all expenses, went for over 31,000 £ Sterling about $50,000 US and $65,000 CDN.
The collector, one Eugene Gomberg of Riga, Latvia bought it, over the telephone.
Now, what about this particular postcard commanded a price tag of $65,000 Cdn?
Well, let’s take a giant step back in history, where chaos was brewing over the British Postal System. Our hero, forever changing the world of postal delivery was a Mr. Rowland Hill, a school teacher. So, what did he do?
More later. During the same time period...1840, Mr. Joker (Edward Theodore Hook) of London, with all of his brilliance, and I mean that seriously, was up to another hoax?, comic opera?, a joke? All of those and more.
HOWEVER, the one thing that created a $65,000 sale of postcard went something like this:
On May 6th,1840, Mr Joker stood in line at the Post Office, with thousands of others. Now, on that historic day, the British Postal Service in London issued it’s first adhesive stamp, THE PENNY BLACK.
So what next?
Mr. Hook bought the stamp, then created a caricature sketch of what we know now as the “first ever” postcard 1840. There's more.
Mr. Hook’s sketch also showed post office “scribes” sitting around a giant ink well. (Postcard below). Perhaps a mockery of the postal system or the workers. Now all of you likely know what happened next, or do you? Theodore Hook had the foresight to adhere the Penny Black Stamp (Cameo of Queen Victoria,) and then sent it to Hook himself. (Mr. Joker.)
The question here is.... Eugene Gomberg...what is his next move? I am almost certain that this postcard will not be stuck in some rustic old stamp album.
Further Details:
Mr. Joker (Theodore Hook) Address Fullham, London.
Mr. Best (Samuel Beazley)
Mr. Collector (Eugene Gomberg)
Latvia Mrs. Unlucky (Mrs Tottenham) Mrs. Unlucky Address: 54 Berners Street (The Berners Street Hoax).
Take care,
John