Newfoundland Air Mail 1919-39
January 25, 2023
Newfoundland has played an important role in the development of long-distance air travel. As the easternmost place in North America, it became a popular runway for many aviation pioneers attempting to cross the Atlantic by air in 1919. It also served as a refueling point for round-the-world attempts in the 1920s. Amelia Earhart made two record-setting flights from Newfoundland, in 1928 and 1932. The advent of passenger flights in the 1930s brought the pioneer period to a close, but established Newfoundland as a major stopover between Europe and North America. This June will mark 104th Anniversary of the Alcock & Brown flight (On 15 June 1919 came the telegram with the news that the Vicker's Vimy landed in Ireland, having completed the 1,860 mile flight in 16 hours. The news was received with great enthusiasm. "Well, it must be something for a man in Ireland today to be able to say Yesterday, when I was in America", quoted the pilots). The rest is history.
We are pleased to present the award-winning collection assembled by Jean-Claude Vasseur, author of "Newfoundland Air Mails 1919/1939" published in 2015. The collection tells the story of the Great Transatlantic Air Race and the struggles of early aviation. Many rarities and unique items are included.
The auction will take place on Wednesday, January 25, 2023 at 1:00 PM at Cherrystone Auction Galleries and on CherrystoneLive.
| Images | Description | Current Bid |
 | Lot #1 The Great Transatlantic Race The "Atlantic" - Henry Hawker and Mackenzie Grieve 1919 3c red brown, bottom left corner margin single, traces of original gum, unsigned, with undefinable diagonal traces of ink (which partially show through the perforations at upper right margin), fine and extremely rare positional piece, with 2002 BPA certificate (SG 142). While only 76 unused examples are believed to still exist, the copy offered here is the only sheet corner margin single and according to Mr. Vasseur, it is now recognized as an "Intermediate Essay", showing the overprint with the correct size, but placed too low and covering the "3 Cents" at bottom. As such, this is the only known essay of the Hawker ("It is the only corner stamp known and it has a “3” pencil written in the margin. This stamp is an essay. It has the overprint with the correct dimension (19 1/4mm, but still positioned too low, overlapping the value. It is obviously an intermediate stage between the "large" 22 1/4mm overprint and the issued stamps" (Revisiting the C1 "Hawker", by Jean-Claude Vasseur, The Newfie newsletter of the Newfoundland Study group of BNASP, Number 138 January/March 2010) * Catalog #C1 Catalog Value $ 25,000 | Unsold |
 | Lot #2 The Great Transatlantic Race The "Atlantic" - Henry Hawker and Mackenzie Grieve 1919 3c red brown, variety showing "blob" below "T" (one of only five known, probably from a single vertical column), l.h., well centered, initialed "JAR", fresh and v.f. example of the legendary Newfoundland Hawker stamp, with 2004 Royal certificate (The flight of Hawker's "Atlantic" ended with a controlled crash landing in the ocean after about 13 hours of flying) (Unitrade CAN $40,000 200 examples of the current 3c brown Caribou stamp were overprinted "First Trans Atalntic Air Post April 1919" in five lines. 18 of these were defective and destroyed; 95 were used on mail and 11 were presented to various officials. Raynham and Morgan also manuscript overprinted the stamp. The remaining 76 were purchased by the postmaster general, who then sold them for $25 each to raise money for the Newfoundland Marine Disasters Fund, which supported sailors' widows and orphans, * Catalog #C1 Catalog Value $ 25,000 | Price Realized $13,000.00 |
 | Lot #3 The Great Transatlantic Race The "Atlantic" - Henry Hawker and Mackenzie Grieve 1919 Hawker, 3c red brown, well centered, canceled St. John's Apr 12, 1919 on official St. John's GPO corner card cover sent by the Postmaster General Dr. (J.Alex.) Robinson to himself in London, with "Found Open and Officially Secured" label on back, canceled by 30 May 19 London F.S. 23 (foreign section), initialed "JNS", filing fold away from the stamp, fine cover (also included a photograph made by Captain Wilvers of the "S.S. Lake Charlottesville" when discovering the "Atlantic" airplane) (Harry Hawker and his navigator Commander Mackenzie Grieve, commenced their attempt at the first non-stop transatlantic crossing in the afternoon of 18 May, 1919. After many problems Hawker decided to ditch in the sea and he and Grieve were rescued by the Danish ship "Mary". The aeroplane "Atlantic" and the precious bag of mail were salvaged by the S.S. Lake Charlottesville on 23 May. The water-soaked mail was dried, stamps placed back on the envelopes, and handed to the postal authorities on 29 May, reaching London the next day) (Unitrade CAN $35,000)  Catalog #C1 Catalog Value $ 25,000 | Price Realized $8,000.00 |
 | Lot #4 The Great Transatlantic Race The "Atlantic" - Henry Hawker and Mackenzie Grieve 1919 Hawker, 3c red brown, well centered, canceled St. John's Apr 12, 1919 on cover addressed to the "Daily Mail" in London, with "Found Open and Officially Secured" label on back, canceled by 30 May 19 London F.S. 23 (foreign section), initialed "JNS", filing fold away from the stamp, some usual toning and wrinkles, otherwise a fine cover, one of two sent by a journalist (this one and another to Lord Northcliff, owner of the newspaper), Catalog #C1 Catalog Value $ 25,000 | Price Realized $7,500.00 |
 | Lot #5 The Great Transatlantic Race The "Atlantic" - Henry Hawker and Mackenzie Grieve 1919 Hawker, 3c red brown, well centered, canceled St. John's Apr 12, 1919 on cover addressed to London, endorsed "To Await Arrival", "Government House Newfoundland" printed address on backflap, slightly affected by moisture, stamp not repositioned, v.f., cover without the customary Officially Secured seal, Catalog #C1 Catalog Value $ 25,000 | Price Realized $8,500.00 |
 | Lot #6 The Great Transatlantic Race The "Atlantic" - Henry Hawker and Mackenzie Grieve 1919 Hawker, 3c red brown, well centered, v.f., canceled St. John's Apr 12, 1919 on cover to Littleover, Derby England, with arrival 30 May 1919 on front, closed on back by "Found Open and Officially Secured" label F.S. 61 (foreign section), initialed "JNS", minor peripheral toning well away from the stamp, fine cover, with 2005 Richard Gratton certificate. This is apparently the only one known with arrival pmk on the front (addressee is presumed to have been Lt.Col. Halford of the Air Ministry, who later purchased the "framed Hawker" (single stamp on page, signed by all the contestants), now in the Royal collection), Catalog #C1 Catalog Value $ 25,000 | Price Realized $8,500.00 |
 | Lot #7 The Great Transatlantic Race The "Atlantic" - Henry Hawker and Mackenzie Grieve 1919 Hawker, 3c red brown, well centered, v.f., canceled St. John's May 2, 1919 on "The Cochrane" St. John's Newfoundland corner card cover, endorsed "Per Aerial Mail" and "Personal", addressed to Sir Andrew Caird K.B.E., manager of the "Daily Mail" in London, without the usual arrival label on back, with letter from sender "Rex" Pierson, Chief Engineer and designer of the Vickers-Vimy Airplane, fine cover, one of only three known dated May 2, 1919, signed Diena, with his 1988 certificate ("of the 80 letters carried, this is one of a few with date different than 12 April"), also 2011 Greene Foundation certificate, Catalog #C1 Catalog Value $ 25,000 | Price Realized $8,500.00 |
 | Lot #8 The Great Transatlantic Race The "Atlantic" - Henry Hawker and Mackenzie Grieve 1919 (17 May) cover to London, franked with unoverprinted 3c Caribou, used in combination with Great Britain 1 1/2d George V, both canceled by oval of bars, showing Postmaster's "P.M. General's Office St. John's, Newfoundland May 17, 1919" oval datestamp, manuscript "delivered by special instructions of the P.O. Superintendent, 30th May, 1919", closed on back with the usual Letterseal and canceled "London 30 May, 19 F.S.61" and initialed "JNS", fine cover, with letter from the sender to his mother mentioning the Hawker flight (the day before take-off attempt, the Post Office was called to add a few items to the mail bag comprising a package of photos and apparently 6 covers of which three were franked with ordinary stamps), this is the only known cover franked with ordinary, unoverprinted stamps | Price Realized $3,750.00 |
