Victoria 1900 Sg374/75 Boer Patriotic Fund 1&2-D - Gift From Agent-General To UK Gov, Westminster

The Australian Philatelist reports that the stamps will be issued.

The London Philatelist passes this news on in April, 1900:

In June, 1900, The London Philatelist quotes the Mekeel's Weekly description of the war stamps and also passes on a report from The American Journal of Philately that the stamps will only be allowed for postage in the colony of Victoria:

Finally from me, in July, 1900, The London Philatelist reluctantly reports the availability of the stamps in London, as shown by Stamp Community member Skyonline123 at the beginning of this thread:

That explains OP's item.

Thank you very much for sharing such an interesting read. This provides so much context to the stamps! It's also helped me focus on where I can research in future, I was spiralling into the national archives...

So mine are part of a specific issue sent to London for distribution to interested parties, while most other stamps were limited to use in Victoria. I didn't expect them to have been quite so controversial in the philatelic world!

It makes me appreciate them more having that context, thank you.

I wonder how many stamps were sent to London in this special issue, 100...1000....it does make them feel more unique. Was the issue specifically for London or just taken from standard production I might ask. More answers lead to more questions, but I'm very satisfied from where I started :)

They wouldn't have specifically printed stamps for export - just pulled them from the existing stock.

From the Advertiser Newspaper......

WAR STAMPS.
Melbourne, May 27, 1900
The Government are forwarding 5,000 each of the 2/ and 1/ special war stamps to the Agent-General for sale in London. The proceeds will go to the war fund.

You all continue to surprise me, honestly, wow! I guess these might be the only examples that can be traced to those 5000 until I am likely proven wrong.