Month: November 2010

Auction 7 Followup #5 — Strong Admirals

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After yesterday’s highlight of the one cent lemon yellow we will look at two other strong realizations.

Lot 469 — Canada #111 1914 5¢ “Prussian” blue Admiral, deep fresh colour, immaculate, extremely fine, mint never hinged. A lovely shade. Unitrade CV$600; realized $606.

This five cent had several strong advance bids with the second highest being one increment below the high bid on the book.  It took the floor only one bid and this lovely stamp sold to a discriminating collector from Ottawa.

Lot 490 — Canada #126a 1924 1¢ yellow Admiral part-perforate, vertical pair, mint never hinged, extremely fine. This issue is actually
surprisingly scarce in true extremely fine quality. Unitrade CV$60; realized $138.

Often these imperforate-between issues are frowned on as “philatelic.”  However they are seldom this well-centered and as a result this attracted some strong bids to open at $120 which is double catalogue.  Although no one wanted to challenge the high advance bid, this was our top bid and one more bid would have been successful.

In our pre-auction highlights we featured five unique (by virtue of being from the Madagascar Archives) lots from Canada and three unique lots in the worldwide section (two of these were proofs with printer’s notations and notes, the third some original artwork for an Israeli stamp). We cannot report world record realizations for these. Seven of the eight came from one consignor and he was happy because the items sold for more than he expected. However perhaps the fact that all were unique influenced our judgment in estimating. Three sold above our internal estimate and five just below; in one case the hammer was $800 on an estimate of $1500.  That lot will please the new owner who had a top bid of $1100.

In writing these commentaries it is tempting to highlight the successes.  When we overestimate we want to know why. Well, in the case of unique lots the collector instinct in us gets excited.  We won’t apologize for that.

Auction 7 Followup #4 — Multiple Bidders

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We will be featuring a number of lots which strong realizations as a result of competition from a number of bidders.  On some lots we achieve an excellent realization but someone wanted it enough that it might have gone into the stratosphere if there had been an underbidder equally determined.

Lot 454 — Canada #105e 1922 1¢ lemon yellow Admiral, Die I, wet printing, fresh immaculate, very fine, never hinged. Unitrade CV$180; realized $231.

The top bidder is an astute advanced collector who gives us strong bids but is often outbid or the competition forces the bidding to the limit of his top bid. This lot he purchased for less than half his top bid.

And this is not the first time that has happened.  In the past there have been other occasions and I look at them and realize that this collector’s appreciation of rarity and quality in the Admirals can teach me something whenever he buys for a fraction of his top bid.  I knew the lemon yellow colour deserved a decent premium in the Unitrade catalogue; actually it deserves a much larger premium.

In this “after the sale” highlight we also review pre-sale Highlights #5 and #11.

Lot 380 the HUGE six cent hinged 1897 Leaf issue attracted little attention and sold to Japan at a hammer of $75, slightly more than half the top bid.

Lot 523; realized $195. Another Jumbo, and this time never hinged. This attracted a bit more attention but sold for a reasonable price and to the same bidder from Japan below his top bid. Obviously the fact that we pointed out these jumbos did not especially help the realizations as both stamps might have attracted a bidding war.

In Highlight #11 we featured a new variety which did not reach the estimate (Lot 819) and also a lovely and scarce stamp of Newfoundland.

Lot 838 — Newfoundland #43 1896 1¢ brown Prince of Wales, fresh, mint with never hinged original gum, extremely fine. Accompanied by 2010 Greene Foundation certificate. A rare stamp in this quality.  Unitrade CV$525; realized $690.

This lot had several strong bids and opened at $525 before the floor took it to the top of the bid book.

Auction 7 Followup #3 — Used Bluenoses

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Used Bluenoses

We offered three lots of used Canada Bluenoses (Scott #158) and they attracted spirited bidding.  Lot 533 was a wholesale lot with perfins and included other stamps.  All stamps had creases from usage and our estimate was $200.  With only two advance bids it opened at $130 but the floor and the internet quickly bid this up to $375 where it sold to an internet bidder.

Lot 534 — Canada #158 1929 50¢ dark blue Bluenose, well centered pair with CNR perfin, creases from usage else very fine. Unitrade CV$200; realized $230.

This pair of Bluenoses with creases also attracted only two advance bids with an opening bid of $26 but a determined battle between the floor and the internet resulted in a very strong hammer price of $200, well above our estimate of $75.

Lot 535 — 1929 50¢ dark blue Bluenose, an attractive used block with London, Ontario 1935 postmark, fine-very fine. Unitrade CV$300; realized $431.

This attractive block of four with a somewhat late 1935 postmark opened quite strongly at $160 but the internet challenged the top book bid of $350 and it sold for one increment above that; another one which was more than twice our internal estimate.

We continue our look back at the pre-auction highlights, this time with the local stamps featured in highlights 4 and 9. We featured the section of seven lots of Canadian locals with Lot 723.


Lot 723; realized $241.

This lot, estimated at $150, opened strongly at $210 and there was no further bidding, resulting in a bidder who did not have to pay his maximum.


Lot 1249; realized $373.

We featured three lots of locals in the worldwide section. Lot 1249, the Himmler Head, was estimated at a modest $100 and opened at $170 and the floor, internet, and book all competed to end up at a hammer price of $325.  Lot 1874, 150 World War Two local issues estimated at $500, sold for a hammer of $950 with competition from the book and the floor.  Finally we come to Lot 1899 estimated at $500.  If I had ventured an opinion as to which of these three would attract the strongest bids, my choice would have been this lot.  It did attract a fair number of bids and opened at $450 and quickly sold to the advance book bid of $500 somewhat below the top bid.

Auction 7 Followup #2 — A Strong Realization, and Re-Capping Highlights #1 & #2

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At Sparks Auctions we try to cover worldwide stamps.  When offering something out of the ordinary, even the most experienced describers can be surprised at the level of demand.  Lot 719 is one which we fully appreciated the rarity of an imprint block and yet were still pleasantly surprised with the realization.  If this lot was merely four hinged stamps with less than VF centering, it would have struggled to reach $250.

Lot 719 Canada #OX1 1879 yellow brown Officially Sealed stamp, right margin block of four showing full imprint, mint with full original gum, hinged and with some separation which was sensibly reinforced. We do not recall seeing another imprint block of this issue. A great opportunity for the specialist to acquire an important and potentially unique imprint block. It is often forgotten that this stamp was issued during the Small Queen era. Estimate $2000; realized $3680.

Although there were only 5 advance bids this lot opened very strongly at $2400, and then an agent on the floor took the lot right up to the top bid in the book of $3200.

ABOUT ADVANCE BIDS

We receive advance bids in the traditional auction ways by mail, fax, telephone, email, and hand delivered.  While we are recording these, many other bidders are using the services of Stamp Auction Network.  Hundreds of bids are received in the few minutes before the start as potential buyers check out opening bids.  Only after we print out the bidbook about two minutes before the start of each session do we see all the bids and the highest bid prior to calling the lot.  We (and our consignors) then hope for strong competition on the floor or live through the internet.

RECAPPING PRE-AUCTION HIGHLIGHTS 1 & 2

Our first highlight was the Boy Scout stamps on offer.  Lot 958 — the 21mm wide Baden Powell Scott #180 — had a pre-sale estimate of $750, received 5 advance bids, opened at $625 and sold for $725; just under our estimate despite a higher advance bid.  The Boy Scout collection in 16 volumes was right at the end of the sale as Lot 2052, opened at $1600 and sold for $1800, just under the top bid of the successful buyer who purchased both lots.

Our second highlight featured fancy cancels on Canadian stamps.  Lot 294 a lovely postmark on an inexpensive stamp was estimated by us to sell for $40. It opened at $95 and sold to the book after floor bidding at $120.  A mixed lot of fancy cancels, Lot 1558, was estimated by us at $250, had 6 advance bids opening at $210 and sold to the floor for $275.

Lot 294 Canada #35 Used 1889 1¢ yellow Small Queen, selected used with perfect strike of fancy “C” in twin rings cancel from Ottawa House of Commons, very fine. Estimate $40; realized $138.

Auction 7 Followup #1

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We described 13 highlights before the auction.  Most of these mentioned two or three lots and we will report on all of the highlights over the next few weeks and also include some highlights of competition which occurred during the bidding.

Highlight number 6 showed an exceptional trio of three Three Penny Beavers on laid paper with distinctive red postmarks.

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; realized $2530.

Lot 15 had an internal estimate of $800 but may have suffered a bit by being in the section of plated Three Penny Beavers.  It received 7 advance bids and opened at $625 selling to an internet bidder for a hammer price of $675.

Lot 205 had an internal estimate of $500 and received 6 advance bids to open at $575 and then sell to an internet bidder for $700.

Lot 206 had an internal estimate of $1200 and a few days before the auction we received a top bid of $2100.   However the opening bid was languishing at $525 then $575 the morning of the auction.  An $800 bid came in and then just before starting the auction a bid of $1350 allowing us to start at a respectable $1400.  In all we received 12 advance bids.  Once the lot opened a dealer acting as agent took the bidding to $1900 then a collector on the floor put up his hand and beat the strong advance bid so that the item sold for a hammer price of $2200.

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