WRECK MAIL - INDIA/G.B. - "Saved from the wreck/of the Ava" ...

Hammer

£1,700

WRECK MAIL - INDIA/G.B. - "Saved from the wreck/of the Ava" COVER REDIRECTED WITH G.B. 1d RED; Remarkable and colourful 18 May 1858 (London cds date beneath stamp) env. (with unusual red embossed "CONTROLLER/CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT" flap) initially charged "6[d]" (having enclosed an unpaid cover from India that had been saved from the Ava wreck) to Peterborough, but redirected to Cheltenham (after the 6d charge had been paid and crossed out) with a GB 1d Red 'Stars' tied by a fine small "PETERBOROUGH/612" Duplex. The Ava was wrecked off the coast of Ceylon and much of her mails was badly damaged, hence this 'ambulance' envelope provided by the London P.O. which was used to forward one of the letters and so has a very fine strike of the rare "Saved from the wreck/of the Ava" mark nicely placed on the front. Unique(?) example of this Wreck cachet on a cover with a British stamp. Exhibition Quality. Cross Reference: CRASH/WRECK MAIL, INDIA, SPOONS & SIDEWAYS DUPLEXES, ETC., 1854-65 1d REDS