Luxembourg to the S.S. Daphne in Colombo, Ceylon in 1897

 

Revisiting covers accumulated over many years often brings back memories of their discovery.  Back in the 1990s, eBay was still in its infancy and most auction houses had not yet developed searchable web catalogs, so dealers who plied their stock at stamp shows and bourses still remained a fertile source of new acquisitions.

Luxembourg-Ville [VI], 7 Jan 1897, Transit Luxembourg-Gare [B] [b/s], 7 Jan 1897, Transit London, England, 8 Jan 1897, Colombo, Ceyon [b/s], 26 Jan 1897  15g-30g UPU letter rate = 50c UPU registry fee = 25c

 

Travelling with my then ten-year-old daughter in Europe in 1998, we happened to stay at a hotel not far from where Trevor Davis staged London bourses for stamp dealers.  Of course, we visited Trevor’s bourse as soon as the doors opened.  But I didn’t find much Luxembourg material.  One dealer thought he had a Luxembourg cover, but he couldn’t find it.  Then, as we were walking out of the venue, I heard the dealer yelling that I should come back—he’d found the Luxembourg cover, which you see here.  It has long been one of my favorite Adolphe covers.

I especially like the 75c Adolphe franking, the unusual destination and excellent preservation, and the distinctive address:

Capitaine Burgstaller
Austrian Lloyd’s S.S. Daphne
Colombo [Ceylon]

The cover brings back memories of that pleasant trip. 

Today Trevor Davis is gone and there aren’t as many local bourses as there used to be, so instead we sit in solitude in front of our computers searching for material, missing the delight of hearing a dealer yell: “Come back, I’ve found that cover!”