1924 - Mail from the Artistic Expedition

Francis Helps, together with Noel's wife Sybille and her maid, formed the 'Artistic Expedition' to the Chumbi Valley. Helps sketched and painted the locals, while Mrs Noel collected folk tales. Helps also produced a series of sketches of the team after their return from the mountain. For completeness, he included Mallory and Irvine's portraits based on photographs.

July 4th cover from Francis Helps, the official Expedition artist.
The Indian stamp was cancelled in Yatung, and the back of the envelope shows a clear strike of the rare 'Mt. Everest Expedition / Rongbuk Glacier / Main / Base / Camp / 17,000 ft / 1924' cachet. The use of this cachet on an envelope posted from the Sikkim-Tibet border indicates that it was never taken with the main climbing Expedition.