Very first mail from the Falklands

Last Thursday, November 26th, at the 5pm event at the Royal Philatelic Society London, Michael Roberts presented his collection and a conference on the postal history of the Falkland Islands from the origins to 1945.

The surprise du chef during the conference : the most ancient known letter from the Falklands (image from the Grosvenor sale catalogue, now in Michael Roberts' collection).

After a general presentation of the geography and European colonisation history of the archipelago and before discovering the first known mail, postal marks and maritime roads, Michael Roberts surprised the attendance with his lastest acquisition.

Where the pdf file (publicly available) announced a content from 1827 to 1945, the conference broadcasted to members on youTube and the exhibition showed a letter written February 15th 1800 from the Falklands, sent by a son to his father in the United States. It took eleven months on a British boat that went first to Cape Town before sailing to Portsmouth. There the letter was sent to New York.

Roberts bought it during a very recent auction by Grosvenor, lot 5001 of sale 103 on Wednesday, November 11th. Very just in time.