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                             FIRST DAY COVER - COMPLETE "BALL BAY" STAMP ISSUE

                       VERY FINE COVER WITH PROVISIONAL REGISTRATION LABEL #1146

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                  Galasales "Q.I.K.S."© Research adds value to your Postal History Collection.

                          See other fine NORFOLK ISLAND First Day Covers in our eBay Store

                                     COMPARE < THIS > cover to "similar" FDCs on offer:

NO RIPS - NO TEARS - NO WRINKLES - NO FOLDS - NO CREASES - NO GRUBBY MARKS - NO STAINS - NO YELLOWING

This is a Quality, clean, and well-travelled Norfolk Island "BALL BAY" Registered First Day Cover (FDC), with the VERY SCARCE PROVISIONAL REGISTERED LABEL (see below), tied by Island postmarks of 10 June 1947, and addressed to St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada.

TRANSIT MARKINGS ON REVERSE: • WINNIPEG CANADA 1 August 1947 • FORT WILLIAM (NW Ontario) R.P.O. (Rail Post Office) 2 August • TORONTO, LONDON & WINNIPEG R.P.O., 3 August (date inverted), • ST. THOMAS, ONT. receiving date stamp on 4 August. All Norfolk stamps are in excellent condition.

CONDITION: the cover has a tiny 3mm tear at the base (left of the address), and very minor wrinkles around the right side, typical of the many hands that passed on this cover until it reached St. Thomas! Neither the tiny tear nor the minor wrinkles detract from this scarce and attractive First Day Cover.

BACKGROUND: as with the first Pitcairn Island stamp issue of 1940, the preparation of Norfolk Island's first stamps FDCs also continued for a week or two after the 10 JUNE 1947 day of issue, the date of the postmark being left unchanged until all orders were serviced.

This is evidenced by the various transit and arrival postmarks seen on other Registered FDCs. This FDC is a prime example, being handled many times prior to arriving at its destination. 

From Norfolk Island, First Day Cover mail was carried by AIR to New Zealand, or by SHIP to Brisbane, Australia, and then by ship to Vancouver (NO "BY AIR" directions, so sent overland by rail).

This cover arrived in Winnipeg on 1 August, was routed via FORT WILLIAM on Lake Superior (R.P.O. postmark on 2 August), the TORONTO, LONDON & WINNIPEG route (R.P.O. postmark 3 August, date plug inverted), and arrived in St. Thomas, Ontario, on 4 August 1947.

[Pitcairn's situation was slightly different, and caused by a lack of ships to collect mail/FDCs in WWII].

REGISTERED MAIL LABELS IN USE (1947):

(1) Australian label printed "NORFOLK ISLAND/NEW SOUTH WALES" in 2 lines; in use from (at least) September 1938 until Friday, 6 June 1947.

(2) same label as above, with "NEW SOUTH WALES" obliterated by blue pencil, leaving only the word "NORFOLK ISLAND" - used on 10 June until the N.S.W. label supply was exhausted (THIS COVER).

(3) a blank label, with 24mm "NORFOLK ISLAND" upper-case stamp manually applied into the blank space above the printed number. This label was used after Norfolk's remaining supply of the Australian labels was exhausted in servicing the first (earliest) group of FDCs of this issue.

NOTE: The Norfolk Post Office continued to use the "blank" registered mail labels until well after the release of Norfolk's second stamp issue on 6 June 1953.

                                               FINE. POSTAL. HISTORY. COVER

THIS IS AN ITEM FOR POSTAL HISTORY/NORFOLK ISLAND/CANADA RAILWAY COLLECTORS

PLEASE VIEW A COMPLETE 1947 FIRST DAY COVER WITH THE TEMPORARY REGISTERED MAIL LABEL AND TRANSIT POSTMARKS, OFFERED IN OUR EBAY STORE.

REFERENCES:

• Australia Post - 14 June 2016

• Philatelists Specialty Society, Toronto - 2020

• Private collection, U.S.A.

Please see other Norfolk and Pitcairn Islands items offered in our eBay Store, and Worldwide topical issues

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