Lot 509
Saudi 1916 17th Oct cover to London
Stamps and Covers of Asia & the Middle East | S25009
Auction: 2 September 2025 at 11:00 BST
£960
Description
Hejaz: 1916 (17.10.) envelope addressed to Sir Mark Sykes at the House of Commons, redirected to his home bearing single franking 1pi blue tied by bilingual Djeddah date stamp, reverse with Cairo transit of 3.XI, envelope roughly opened with tear running across top.
Footnote
This envelope sent to Sir Mark Sykes, of the Sykes/Picot Treaty on the division of Arabia at the end of the Ottoman empire (though no mention of Saudi Arabia was made directly), probably sent by Sir Ronald Storrs, the Oriental Secretary who was making trips to Jeddah, part of his duties being to create new stamps for the Hejaz and he was assigned a junior officer, 2nd. Lt. T. E. Lawrence. It was Lawrence who mailed out the first two covers from Djeddah, this is believed to be the fourth and first to the UK.
