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Dear John,
If the envelope is edged in black then yes it is surely a mourning envelope although the way the stamps are placed and postmarked, the associated registration and the apparently differing shades of the 10Pf red, all give it the appearance to my mind of being a philatelic sending. I query the edging because from the image it almost looks as if the black is a background from a mount holding the envelope rather than edging.
The franking of 40Pf was correct in 1892 for a second weight step letter(weighing between 15 and 250g) at 20Pf + 20Pf registration fee sent from German New Guinea to Germany.
Catalogue prices of stamps in catalogues can only serve as a guide. Net sale realisations usually only achieve a fraction of the catalogue prices for a whole range of reasons. With that caveat I can state that
the Michel Briefe catalogue (2012/13 edition) gives prices for stamps on cover, usually in three formats: single stamps, multiples of the same stamp or mixed franking. In the case of your cover, due to its date, only one column of prices on cover is given for each stamp, ranging from 250 to 4200 Euros for pre-Feb 1892 issued shades of the 10Pf to 250 to 1000 Euros for the 20Pf shades. The cover would need to be BPP expertised then offered, if certified as genuine with identification of the stamp shades, in a major German auction house to realise its market value.
Kind regards
Giles,
Chairman, G&CPS |
