Lot 41

British Postal Agency at Vigo, Spain, folded cover to London, rated “4/8” in black, struck with a neatly-applied VIGO double split-ring (30 May) of the British Postal Agency, with London arrival c.d.s. (4 Jun) on reverse, filing folds, yet a fine example of this scarce agency marking.

The British consular offices at Vigo, together with those at Lisbon, Cádiz, and Corunna, handled outward British mails by sea; from 1837, a Peninsular Steam Navigation Co. contract provided weekly sailings linking Falmouth (later Southampton) with Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Cádiz, and Gibraltar.