The Ken Kershaw Collection Of Nepal & Tibet

As a schoolboy Ken Kershaw was able to demonstrate an encyclopedic knowledge of all British flora. His scholarship and phenomenal memory served him well in his academic career. Field trips around the world, and especially in the Arctic, led to his publications on lichens which have set a scholarly gold standard.

After early retirement his natural curiosity and training in study and classification served him well as an entrepreneur and later as a restaurateur.

Sparks Auction #10 - Kershaw CollectionA return to his boyhood hobby has resulted in about a dozen research books, notably the five volume study of Canada’s Three Penny Beaver. Ken is intrigued by difficult philatelic problems. He enjoys the challenge of first identifying and then confirming a plating study. Nepal and Tibet introduced the problem of confirming printing flaws as constant, progressive, or non-constant. To do this he obtained as many large blocks and sheets from as many settings as was practical. Although Ken is still working with the pashupati issues the time has come to move on to other pursuits.

NOTES ON THIS AUCTION

Sparks #10 Tibet Nepal

Especially in the case of Nepal, the native laid paper has characteristic inclusions and lack of uniformity such that there may be no stamp in existence that merits the most exacting quality standards of some collectors. We have tried to describe all faults which occurred after manufacture as well as the grossest of the faults during manufacture of this paper. A grade of very fine was used when it occurred to us that a particular sheet or block had better than normal overall appearance.

Nepal is organized by denomination. Tibet is organized by Scott number. We refer to tete-beche stamps as inverts, a term which is more commonly used in the literature of the “Himals.”

Ken’s unpublished five-volume study THE HALF ANNA ISSUES OF NEPAL consists of more than twelve hundred pages of careful documentation of the Nepal issues. These books can be downloaded below and then read on your computer, eReader, or tablet device.

VOLUME I: The settings, definitive flaws, and plating criteria (11MB)
VOLUME II: Plating the flaws in the spandrels and central oval frame (30MB)
VOLUME III: Plating the frame flaws (19MB)
VOLUME IV: Plating the flaws in the central oval (10MB)
VOLUME V: Plating the flaws correlated with the double Khukris (15MB)

Introduction to Auction #10

With each successive auction our consignors offer ever more interesting items to collectors.

In every section of Canada we have stamps which delight. The 77 lots of Large Queens will please collectors of mint, of varieties and especially of two-ring numeral postmarks. Small Queens offers mint multiples, proofs, imperforates, cancels and true old-time accumulations. The overall nice quality of the larger used lots is noteworthy. Later Victoria offers scarce large multiples, delightful proofs and imperforates, as well as top quality singles. Our Admiral section of nearly one hundred lots includes a very strong section of War Tax purchased at the time of issue and now on the market for the first time in nearly 100 years. Numerous better items in the Edward and the two Georges lead us into the wonderful array of a Queen Elizabeth Exhibit Collection of Wildings and Cameos. It will likely be a very long time before many of these come back into circulation. Later Elizabeth issues and back of the book have many interesting and scarce items.

Two of the highlights in the BNA section are the magnificent P.E.I. #2 and the well-centered Columbia airmail. It is fascinating that from different consignors we have a trio of “tens.” Two from B.C. have the numeral 10 of Williams Lake and a few lots later there is a rare numeral 10 rate marking from Nova Scotia.

The British Commonwealth section will help collectors fill holes and includes a group of nice Penny Blacks.

Our highlight in the auction is the Ken Kershaw collection of Nepal and Tibet. We regard both of these areas as being on the cusp of much greater popularity because of the growing strength of the collector markets in both China and India.

Postal History and postmarks continue to offer lots which originate in Exhibit Collections now broken into collector-oriented lots. Conversely, we see other lots which were groups of interesting covers put away over the years with the thought of developing an exhibit. We hope you enjoy this section.

Lots & Collections, thankfully, does not fill as many bookshelves as our previous auction but does include many top quality offerings worthy of inspection.

This auction features the largest number of extra scans we have been able to provide. Fifty lots have ten or more scans; fifteen have twenty or more, and some even have more than fifty scans. They can be seen by section and lot number in our Image Gallery.

PDF Catalogues can be seen on our website now, with print copies expected to be mailed by June 11th to arrive at subscribers early the following week. The auction is now open for bidding on Stamp Auction Network.

Auction #10 – June 26-28th 2012

Lot 1204Sparks Auctions is pleased to announce our Public Auction #10, to be held Tuesday-Thursday June 26-28th, 2012 at our auction premises at 62 Sparks Street, Ottawa, Canada.

The catalogue is still in production and the sale has just been posted to the internet. We can offer a small preview of the more interesting material to be found in the sale.

Our Canada section will be strong in Small & Large Queens, and also has some exceptional early Queen Elizabeth II definitives. From a single estate there are some large multiples of the War Tax overprints in the Five Cent to Fifty Cent values.

Commonwealth features some GB Penny Blacks, while Worldwide contains strong Germany and a rare USA classic block. And the Kershaw Collection of Tibet & Nepal will amaze even jaded viewers.

The Postal History section highlights many collector-developed sidelines and very strong Semi-Official Airmails.

The Stamp Auction Network listing can be seen at: http://stampauctionnetwork.com//IK/ik10.cfm

Our supporting material of image gallery, featured items, corrections, and bidding assistance will be available here on our site beginning the week of June 4th.

Watch for another announcement when the catalogues are ready for mailing.

-Sparks Auctions
Ottawa, Canada

Still Time to Consign

We can continue to accept consignments until the end of April 2012 for our Auction #10, expected to take place in June. If you have material that is not too bulky, we would be glad to include it. E-mail us to make arrangements.

We have already received some marvellous France material including tete-beche pairs, and good quality USA. Our offering of rare, well-documented Nepal and Tibet will be sure to attract attention internationally. We welcome your offering as well.

Boer War Material from the Viner Collection of Militaria, sold for $2530

Boer War PostcardsBOER WAR and POST WAR RELATED Includes picture postcards, programmes, invitation, mementos, etc. many relating to Umtata (later Mthatha) where Viner’s camp was located. Of note are over 150 real photographs many showing the Cape Mounted Riflemen in action. See the detailed page on our site for details.