Sometimes you have dealer lots, which you will sell only with emotional difficulty. You may perhaps have a personal relation to the lot or be convinced of its rarity. Such rarities also push you to buy them back, if you get the opportunity of getting it.
The cover above with the mixed franking is one of these examples. We bought it for the first time 26 years ago. The estate was offered to us again and we bought it from the next generation. And this cover has now become after 20 years a rarity. It shows that it is here one of the surely most beautiful and well preserved mix franking of this issue.
It is a remarkable cover for different reasons. We have in our records (again slowly progressing due to baby breaks, which have naturally priority) our statistics show the following:
Winterthur with Rayon I dark blue frame around the cross: 3 covers
Winterthur with Rayon I dark blue without frame: 6 covers
Now these are the famous problems, when you try to record all documents which have passed by years ago or even decades ago through auctions. These were consigned by the families of collectors, who had no knowledge about stamps. If I study however these lots, I look painstakingly at all material and all existing photos to be sure that I can judge the piece to my best knowledge and conscience. Naturally it is difficult not to see the actual material but often you can be sure that it is genuine and not a forgery. Many forgers had no idea but often you can be sure that it is genuine and not a forgery. Many forgers had no idea had no idea which cancellations or printing stones were used and could have possible at such period. In the majority of cases you can discover when cancellations from the stamps tied to the paper are dubious or do not exist at all. It is exactly for this reason that my expertise to find out the matter exactly, may take many hours and even days!
In the above listing of the Mixed Frankings of Winterthur with the dark blue Rayon this became unfortunately true and again confirmed it very nicely. The three covers with no.15 I appear to me to be correct. Here is nothing contradicting. Unfortunately, however, the listing of the 6 covers with the 15 II proves that no less than three of them are very dubious. In any event I would not like to connect my name to sell these as genuine. Certificates exist here and there. These are for me without making the reason very clear as franking forgeries.
It follows: there are only three covers for this reason as mixed franking Wintertur with dark blue Rayon with the frame and three without the frame around the cross! These should be regarded all the more as world rarities!
The above illustrated cover is also for another reason remarkable. It is addressed to Rapperswil, in the Canton of St, Gallen. The so-called Winterthur was strictly no cantonal stamp of Zurich but a stamp valid in the postal area VII. It was valid in the Canton of Zurich, also Thurgau , Schaffhausen and foremost Zug. The stamp could be used without problems within these cantons. However after the takeover of the Cantonal Administration by the Federal Authorities these imposed limitations were treated more generously and were in some cases cancelled. This we find for example in the Canton of Geneva, where many of the very rare mixed frankings are of other cantons. For example a pair of Waadt (VAUD) 5 on cover together with Rayon in other cantons together with a Neuenburg and Rayon etc.
I also remember I sold 1971 a pair of the Winterthur stamp on cover from Frauenfeld to St. Gallen and 1979 I sold a strip of three of the Winterthur from Richterswil to Rapperswil. All these covers of the year 1851 went also outside the postal department VIII. It is not easy to estimate such a rarity. If you consult Zumstein, you find in the Spcial Catalogue for the possible combinations, always a LP price, a price for the great specialist, which is of course no great help. It is better to take the estimation values quoted of the Handbook and Specialist Catalogue of the Corinphila Company of the year 2011. Here the combination Winterthur and Rayon I dark blue is estimated at 5 times of the pair of no. 12 on cover ( 5 x 35,000), which makes it 175,000. This valuation is absolutely acceptable. However, there is no difference between the combination 12/15 I and 12/15 II.
Since this cover was bought within the whole collection, we are in a position to offer it at a very reasonable price.