- £2450.00
1844 letter to Irvine, Scotland, headed ‘ICHABOO ISLAND 5th March 1844. A Greenock Ship Letter h/s is on the front of the letter, on the back are Glasgow MY 22 and Irvine 22 MY 44 transit and arrival cancels. The letter is about the GUANO being collected there. Ichaboo Island is a 6.5 ha low-lying island, approximately 1½ km off the Diamond Coast of Namibia and 48km north of Luderitz. Large-scale scraping and bagging of ?white gold? began in 1843 and peaked two years later. The value was so great that competition was fierce; murder was committed over harvesting rights, and two British warships were dispatched to restore order over what became known as the ?Great Guano War?. An extremely rare letter from Ichaboo Island and probably THE EARLIEST RECORDED LETTER FROM SOUTH WEST AFRICA.
