Sandafayre Stamp Auctions | News & Articles

Page 1 of 2

Sandafayre News
Rare Titanic Cover Find
Sandafayre have discovered an extremely rare item of Titanic postal history, anenvelope bearing French stamps and a "TITANIC" cachet which was intended forthe liner's original maiden voyage. Titanic's maiden voyage was infact originallyscheduled for the 20th March 1912, but was postponed until the 10th April
because the liner was not ready to put to sea. Four days later Titanic struck aniceberg and sank off the coast of Newfoundland with the loss of 1503 lives. Foundin a carton lot from North America consigned to auction, the cover was posted inBordeaux, bears one French "Sower" 5c and two 10c stamps and carries thedistinctive "TITANIC" cachet hand stamped in violet. The cover is one of only
three of its kind to be found (one is in private hands, the other in a prized exhibit
at the Manitoba Museum of the Titanic), all from the same Washington
correspondence with a US arrival postmark and the White Star Line's company
boxed received/date hand stamp. Andrew Morris of Sandafayre takes up thestory, "For her original March maiden voyage, Titanic was due to call at
Cherbourg in France for passengers and mail. Mail bound for the USA was handstamped with a violet straight line "TITANIC" (37x6 mm) presumably at the WhiteStar offices in Cherbourg, as she was the next ship due to make the crossing.
When she failed to make the March crossing the mail was switched to anotherWhite Star liner, one of six others that hosted joint American an British PostOffices". "Original covers from the Titanic are rare; those that come to the market
are fiercely contested at auction by bidders, private & institutional, from bothsides of the Atlantic. This cover is probably rarer than those that actually travelledon the Titanic". Sandafayre will be offering the cover in their Sandafayre #550
sale, closing on Tuesday 30th January 2001.

http://www.sandafayre.com/news/titanic.htm

6/17/2009

Page 2 of 2

Sandafayre Stamp Auctions | News & Articles

Stamp Library| News & Articles | Help | About Us | Contact Us | Site Map

Home | Site Security | Stamp Atlas© Sandafayre 2000 All Rights Reserved

http://www.sandafayre.com/news/titanic.htm

6/17/2009

Page 1 of 1Sandafayre Stamp Auctions | James MacKay Speaks...

James MacKay Speaks...
Raise the Titanic
The discovery of a cover from Franceto Washington, which was marked fortransmission by the ill-fated RMS
Titanic, has created an immense stiron both sides of the Atlantic. Intendedfor despatch on the original maiden
voyage, which had been scheduled for
20 March 1912, it was sent across theAtlantic by another ship when theTitanic's maiden voyage waspostponed until 10 April. It is only thethird of these Titanic cacheted covers
ever to come to light and one of theseis in the Manitoba Titanic Museum,Canada.
Philatelic mementoes posted on board
the Titanic are understandably also of
the utmost rarity and consist of ahandful of covers and cards whichwere dropped off at Cherbourg or
Queenstown (now Cobh, Ireland),after the liner left Southampton but
before she set out on her date with
the iceberg.
Most of us therefore have to settle forthe stamps and souvenir sheets thathave appeared in recent years. GreatBritain featured the Titanic on a 60p
stamp honouring Guglielmo Marconi in1995, with the distress signal SOS,
which was first used at that time. In
1997 St Vincent produced a miniature
sheet containing a strip of five stamps
that showed the great liner sinking.

There have been stamps from Palauand Guyana showing the discovery of
the wreck, 70 years after the event,and a six-country omnibus which
portrayed the heroes and the villainsof the epic as well as the glitz and theglamour of the world's most luxurious
ship of her day. Ireland evenproduced a miniature sheet
reproducing a sepia postcard of 1912
published at the time of her maiden
voyage. Other stamps show some ofthe poignant relics salvaged from thewreck.
The most recent sheetlets show aview of the ship in photomosaics thousands of tiny photographs which
form an overall impression. Clearly
this is a subject that is destined to run
and run.

Click image for larger view

Footnote
The cover will be offered in
Sandafayre auction 550 closing on
Tuesday 30th January 2001.

However this theme did not really takeoff until the following year when therelease of the latest Hollywood
blockbuster devoted to the subject
won no fewer than 11 Oscars.
Stamp Library | News & Articles | Help | About Us | Contact Us | Site Map

Home | Site Security | Stamp Atlas© Sandafayre 2000 All Rights Reserved

http://www.sandafayre.com/news/raise_titanic.htm

6/17/2009