Philatelic Bureau

Front and back of the First Day of Issue cover for the Coastal Shipwrecks stamp set, with postmarks dated October 2, 1985. The cover was issued as part of the Australian Bicentennial in 1988. The floundering ship is the Batavia. The print is from the Ongeluckige voyagie van 't schip Batavia (1647) now in the Westall Library. See the Previous item above for more information.

The postmark is by the Melbourne Philatelic Bureau. Philatelic Bureaus are a post office’s official source of mail-order stamps, first-day-covers, etc, in this case representing the Australia Post.

first posted 1/19/2009