Finally I got hold of this very rare and quite expensive UK FDC. UK commemorated the UK and world Centenary of the Salvation Army in 1965. Issued 09 Aug. This is a Philcover handpainted Blood and Fire cachet. Remark: Standard cat. value with London EC postmark is £ 35. A similar Philcover FDC was sold on Ebay July 2017 at £97. Rare cachets like this will typically sell massively above catalogue prices.
Two new UK covers were just discovered. They were issued to the Salvation Army Centenary in 1965 and the cachets picture the young Queen Elisabeth. I’ve not seen these before and they are unlisted in the SA FDC catalogue. One of the covers have even a prestamped 3d on it.
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The Salvation Army Centenary stamps in the UK (and the world) was issued 09 August 1965. The cachet maker Holmes Tolley made a special designed cover with a Salvationists / banner – illustration to the issue. Covers with 4 blocks are not often seen, at least with this rare cover design!
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This unlisted cover was just observed on a UK FDC seller’s site. It’s a business cover on a British Legion / Beeston Branch official cachet with set of Salvation Army stamps attached. I’ve not seen this cover before. Probably issued in a very limited edition.
UK Lawrence A Grech FDC with set of Salvation Army stamps. Limited quantity. Rarely seen on Ebay. Catalogue value £25 – but covers with set are sold massively above catalogue value, due to the scarcity. Estimated £80+ (a similar cover was sold for > £200 on Ebay, October 2017).
The international Salvation Army Centenary was commemorated on these UK stamps. Between 1962 – 67, UK stamps were printed with & without phosphor bands (ref.: Bradbury catalogue). Covers with both sets of stamps are rare. I’m a bit uncertain about cat. value, but have seen £60 mentioned (combined value of FDC with & without phosphor; £25 + £35). Estimated value (expected salesprice on Ebay) is £25 – £30 and probably much more if the cachet is rare.
A very unusual cachet of the SA 5 was obtained: a prestamped letter card (QE 4d) with Express tag . With set of the UK centenary stamps (and the international centenary of the Salvation Army) The PM was from a little village in Northern Ireland – Antrim.
UK FDC 9th August 1965 Salvation Army, North Herts Stamp Club FDC, Hitchin Herts cds. Cachet: North Herts triangle and centenary text in silver color + tricolor banner. Scarce and sought after cover design. This cachet has obtained high prices on Ebay due to scarcity, it was for example sold for £237 on Ebay.co.uk May 2017.
Some rare Salvation Army FDCs from the UK sell for very high prices on Ebay. Due to their scarcity, also national collectors are very keen to have them. Sometimes it’s about a rare cachet (e.g., the Portsmouth Philatelic Society cachet – SA 5.9 – cat. price £100, BFDC 2014). Ideally, pristine cachets should have a typewritten address, but the Porthmouths cachet mostly comes with a handwritten address. They should also have a set of the two SA stamps attached. My item is not FDC (second day), but is an illustration of the cachet.
Other times it’s because some PM’s have higher catalogue prices. As Nottingham was William Booth’s birthplace, cachet with this PM has catalogue value £85 (BFDC 2014). The same is true for the Porthsmouth Phil Society PM on other cachets than the Porthmouth cachet above; the catalogue price is then £125 (with set of stamps attached).
Other high priced cachets are those with both the phosphor and non-phosphor set attached. Typically they sell for £ 50 – 100 on Ebay, or even more. In the SA catalogue, non-phospor cachets are numbered as a, phosphor cachets as b and those with both sets as c.
High value UK FDC due to the relevant PM. Nottingham was William Booth’s birthplace and picture FDCs with this PM has catalogue value £100 (BFDC 2018). Extra value for rare cachet.
Very rare handpainted UK FDC, catalogue no. SA 5.13 (Chalmers/Riches). Uncommon UK FDCs typically sell massively above catalogue prices (Cat. value = ordinary FDC £25 & phosphor £35, BFDC 2014).