373rd Heinrich Köhler auction - Day 1

1895 "Caye Service 3 Cents" violet three-line typed label, tied by "CUTHBERT BROS." straightline handstamp with adjacent matching "Sep. 18 1895" datestamp alongside to cover, a fine and rare entire of which only about a dozen are known to exist
Provenance: The Jim Czyl Collection British Honduras (Grosvenor 2014)
Around 1892 a Belize merchant named Cuthbert built a house on St. George's Cay. He also bought a steam yacht which sailed daily to and from Belize. After abuse of the free service by others on the caye, who expected their mails to be carried free of charge, he created this local typewritten stamp (the cost of producing dies and normal stamps was prohibitive). These labels are known used between July 28, 1894 and Sept. 27, 1895. Hurt and Williams record only 8 examples though a few others have appeared for sale.