Highlight #8 — Specialization in collecting

Many people (and especially those who Exhibit competitively) have a favorite stamp issue and extend their collecting interests well beyond the basic listings in the Scott or Unitrade catalogues.

The Canada "Medallions" of 1932 are just one example of a stamp issue where this auction offers to go beyond the scope of the catalogue. We offer 10 individual lots (571 to 579 followed by a booklet as Lot 660). These are all good and will delight new buyers, but two are of special interest.

Lot 574 — Canada #199a 1932 5¢ dark blue KGV Medallion, horizontal pair imperforate vertically, mint never hinged and very fine. Accompanied by 2009 Richard Gratton AIEP certificate. A rare error to locate in any quality, let alone in this lovely never hinged quality. Unitrade CV$3500.

This is the key item of the issue as listed in the catalogues.

To go with the five cent value error, there is another lot which offers distinctive colours which you will not find referenced in the basic catalogues.

Lot 573 — Canada #199 1932 5¢ KGV Medallion dark, deep and slate blue shades, five blocks in five distinct shades: darkest deep blue (9 F-VF), dark blue (24 F-VF plate No. 1 LL – damage to selvedge), blue (24 F-VF plate No. 1 UL – hinge remnants in selvedge), slate blue (16 fine plate No. 2 LL) and light slate blue (35 mostly VF, partial plate 2, light crease in 2). All stamps never hinged, fine-very fine. Unitrade CV$2940.

This lot was originally in the huge King George V never hinged Lot 1611, which has a massive Scott catalogue value of $42,567.

Lot 1611 — 1897-1949 Large stockbook of mint never hinged from an old-time accumulation. All stamps never hinged, mostly in part panes, blocks and large multiples (such as blocks of 9 or more). Strength in KGV era. Some multiples have inscriptions in the selvedge. We note: 1897 1¢ orange Jubilee strip of 4, 1911 7¢ red brown Admiral in four blocks of 4, 1930 50¢ dull blue Grand Pré single and pair, large blocks (including plate numbers) of the 1931 10¢ green Cartier, blocks of the 1932 Medallion series, large blocks of the 1932 13¢ dull violet Quebec Citadel, half pane (folded) of the 1934 3¢ Jacques Cartier, a number of large blocks of the 13¢ blue Britannia, large blocks of the 1935 1¢-8¢ KGV series, large blocks (including some of 20) of the 1935 10¢ Mountie. Overall centering of this selection is typical with better items to be found. Scott CV$42,567.

This might be quite a bargain but it will take a big budget to add so many Medallion blocks to your collection.  On the other hand it might be possible to buy the lot and sell off much of it to cover the whole cost, leaving some great items at no cost but your time and expertise.

Highlight #7 — What appeals to you?

With over 600 lots described under the heading "Collections, Large Lots, and Remainders" bidders have a very wide choice. There are many lots of intact collections some of which have not been looked at for decades or even as long as a century. There are cartons which include an entire small estate; or the remainders of a large consignment which didn’t fit anywhere else. We often have a scan or multiple scans on our website to illustrate parts of a lot that can not easily be illustrated in the pages of a catalogue. For example, Lot 1880 is a somewhat traditional collection from the Lindhurst consignment and has a total of 20 pages of scans. The Image Gallery can be found by clicking on the link at the right.

To illustrate the diversity we highlight two lots in the first of a group entitled "What appeals to you?"

Lot 1963 — Worldwide: The "I will never get it finished" lot. Imagine a stack of old-time album pages 14-inches (34cm) high. These have been sitting in an estate for about 50 years and came from the U.K. auction house Dowell, Lloyd and Company, from undoubtedly dozens of collections. There are lots of classic issues and some concentration in British Commonwealth. While taking them out of bags and piling them up we didn’t notice anything outstanding but there are many thousands of stamps on what must be at least a thousand album pages. We figured that on average every 10 pages or so could be packaged together and sold retail or on eBay for $25 or more. Based on a projected retail of at least $2,500 this lot has to be right for someone. Also a smaller carton of odds and ends plus supplies. Estimate $500

Lot 2021 — Poland, A large volume full of unlisted labels and unofficial issues 1960s-1980s. Includes solidarity labels, political labels plus many items that could be listed in a specialized Poland catalogue. A great lot for the Polish specialist. Estimate $300

Highlight #6— Three Three Penny Beavers on Laid with red postmarks

In this auction we feature nearly 200 three penny beavers. Fourteen of these are on laid paper and thus are Canada #1.  All are worthy of compliments but three of them have a special feature:

Lot 15 — Canada #1 Used 3d red on laid paper (plate position A12-1), used with four full to large margins, nice bright colour and 7-ring target cancel struck in red ink, very fine and a lovely example of Canada’s first stamp. Quite elusive with any cancel struck in a colour other than black with this red cancel being quite attractive. Unitrade CV$1600. Lot 205  — Canada #1 Used 1851 3d red Beaver on laid paper, with full to large margins all around, cancelled by 7-ring target in red ink, there is a tiny corner crease at the lower right corner mentioned for the record, easily trimmed leaving a lovely stamp, very fine. Unitrade CV$1600. Lot 206 — Canada #1 Used 1851 3d orange red Beaver on laid paper, with deep colour complemented by a red target cancel, one full margin and three very large margins each extending almost to the next stamp, clear laid lines, extremely fine. Unitrade CV$1600.

This likely the first time in many decades, if ever, that three laid papers with red postmarks have been offered in one auction.

Highlight #5 — Top Quality Is Hard To Find

There are many stamps of Canada which are quite elusive to find in top quality.  I remember searching through many hundreds of stamps to find the modest O41, the 1954 two cent Official, which now catalogues $1.50 well up from the $.60 of ten years ago.  Our experience with hundreds, both mint and used, of the 1928 twenty cents Harvester is that nice centering is the exception with likely less than ten percent of all issued stamps achieving the grade of very fine.  For perfect or near perfect centering the ratio is likely below one percent.

Even scarcer than well-centered stamps of this issue are stamps with jumbo margins:

Lot 523 — Canada # 157 1929 20¢ dark carmine Harvesting Wheat marginal example with jumbo margins, immaculate, extremely fine, never hinged. An exceptional stamp in every respect. Unitrade CV$200.

So to combine an immaculate fresh never hinged stamp with extremely fine centering AND with jumbo margins is a magnificent condition rarity.

Often the best quality and centering were picked out by a collector shortly after the issue and then the stamp took pride of place by being carefully hinged onto an album page.  An interesting story will be told by the prices realized for Lots 378, 379, and 380.  All are the six cent Leaf issue of 1897 (Scott #71).  The first two lots offer very fine to extremely fine examples which are never hinged.  The third is a jumbo which is hinged.

Lot 380 — Canada #71 1897 6¢ brown Leaf, huge margins, fresh, lightly hinged, very fine. Unitrade CV$200.

Highlight #4 — Locals and Fantasies

In the same section of Canada we find an interesting sequence of Locals and fantasy issues. A close examination will be worthwhile for Lot 720 (52 items of the International Letter Express), Lot 721 (68 College stamp bogus issues), Lots 722 and 726 (two lots of Labrador USA labels), Lot 724 (eight items of Barnard’s Cariboo Express), and Lot 725 (modern postal strike labels on and off cover).

Lot 723Canada Local Delivery bogus issues The popularity of local delivery services, especially in the USA, which issued legitimate stamps to indicate pre-payment led to imitations to sell to collectors. Here is a collection of 30 stamps plus one damaged. Also the definitive 125-page study by David Sessions. Includes Baldwin’s Railroad black on pink laid paper and on wove paper (unlisted), Bancroft’s City Express dark blue, medium and ultramarine on white wove and blue on pale purple on horizontal laid paper, Le beau bistre brown, Bell’s Dispatch (nine examples of these, eight with partial to full original gum, never hinged), Grand Trunk newspaper black on yellow, Ker’s City post three examples, Whittely’s Express brown on white, brown on orange and black on red orange, Winslow Express – five examples, two cut to shape (30 items), generally fine.

Next week we will feature locals and propaganda labels from Europe.