AIJP News Archive
Cover from the correspondence of the family of Diana, Princess of Wales stolen
17/02/2010 (KL)
A rare 1856 cover addressed to Earl Spencer was stolen at Brussels railway station on 25 January 2010. It is a 2d postal stationery envelope, originally addressed to London, where an additional 2d. Blue adhesive was added and the letter redirected to Althorp, the country seat of the Spencer family in Northamptonshire. The combination of a 2d adhesive used together with a 2d postal stationery envelope is very rare. The fact that the letter was also addressed to Earl Spencer at his Northamptonshire country estate makes the item of further interest in the social/historical aspects of philately. The Althorp estate of the Spencers is now the last resting place of Diana, Princess of Wales, the former Lady Diana Spencer who was fatally injured in a car accident in 1997.
The postal stationery envelope addressed to Earl Spencer was part of a small specialised collection consisting of 14 sheets entitled “Great Britain Redirected Mail 1840-1880” belonging to a German collector, a member of the Great Britain Study Group in Germany. Also in the collection was, interalia, a redirected 1d Mulready letter sheet of 1840, also several 2d Blues, used singly or in combination on cover, among which was a single 2d Blue used with CHESTER 12 MAY 1857 and CHESTER 13 MAY 1857 postmarks, also a pair of 1841 2d. Blues used on cover with a GLASGOW NOV 17 1852 postmark and a PITT STREET local mark.
The collection was stolen by an unknown person on the station platform at Brussels, as the owner was changing trains from a Eurostar to an ICE train. The theft has been reported to the police at Monheim in the Rhineland region of Germany. Information which may lead to the recovery of the stolen collection or the identification of the culprit should be reported to:
Mr Heinz-Willy Beckers, Forschungsgemeinschaft Grossbritannien e.V., An der Feuerwache 7, 41836 Hückelhoven, Germany, Tel.: +49-(0)24 33-93 88 08
or
Verbandsprüfer Karl Louis, c/o Corinphila Auktionen AG, Wiesenstrasse 8, 8034 Zürich, Switzerland, Tel. (+41) 44 389 91 91, Email: Louis@corinphila.ch