Lot no. 21040

1939 / 1940 / 1944 – Osborne, Harry: Great Britain Twopence Plate Nine. A Study of the Plate and Its Repairs (1939), 93 + 1 pages incl. 12 photo plates, bound in dark red cloth (Balacron/vinyl) with gold title imprint on front and spine. – PLUS 1940: Curle, J. H. / Basden, A. E.: Transvaal Postage Stamps (1940), 154 pages incl. 15 photo pages + 12 photo plates (8 in colour), bound in blue cloth with gold title imprint on spine, publ. under the auspices of the RPSL; – PLUS 1944 – Jurgens, A. A. (Adrian Albert): The Handstruck Letter Stamps of the Cape of Good Hope from 1792 to 1853 and the Postmarks from 1853 to 1910 (1943), 140 pages, 2 maps, 2 photo plates, bound in red cloth with black title imprint on front and spine. A list of 132 subscribers is given in pp. 139/140.  

A short biographical note: In 1940 A. A. Jurgens was given permission by the South African Museum in Cape Town to make some reprints of the 1861 Cape of Good Hope “woodblock” 1d and 4d values which were held in the Museum. Later Jurgens was accused of faking certain postmarks of the Cape, an accusation which he vigorously denied. However, after his death in 1853, it was discovered that he did indeed make many such fakes. The expert committees of both the RPSL and BPA have reference collections of these and Chris Harman showed material of these forgeries in a special display ("Fakes, Forgeries and Their Creators", frame 4) on 24 April 1997. Both items in good condition. Estimate: 450 Euro