Stéphane Cloutier

Announcing Sale 49, February 29-March 2, 2024

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Welcome to our General Sale #49, our first auction of 2024. This will be my last sale with Sparks Auctions, as I am moving on to other projects. I wish to thank all those who have consigned to us, and bought from us during my 16 years with the company. I am very proud of what I have accomplished while here, and it is in big part because of our customers, philatelic friends, and our small team of dedicated and passionate staff.

Lot 367 Tristan da Cunha #B1-B4 1961 Set of Four Tristan Relief Fund Surcharges, all four values are mint never hinged and have sheet margins at right or left. A fresh and remarkably well centered set, very fine. This is the first we have offered, and these do not come up very often, with only 454 sets produced. Each stamp has an expert signature on back in light pencil. S.G. #172-175, £8,000. Scott CV U$7,600.

This sale offers our usual wide range of material, with quality Canada and provinces, British Commonwealth and worldwide singles, sets and collections, including part two of the W.J. McGill collection of Scandinavia, a good offering of early Great Britain, and much more. Also of note is the first part of the Andrew Ellwood precancel collection and a great offering of the Canadian Admiral issue.

Be sure to have a close look at our over 400 exciting lots of postal history offerings, including part three (and last) of the extensive David Hobden and Michael Rixon pre-Confederation Upper Canada postal history collection and part three of the Gordon Richardson early Manitoba postal history collection, as well as a fine selection of useful postal history from Canada and worldwide countries including those in Scandinavia. Also of note in this sale is another great offering of philatelic literature.

We are proud to continue our long-standing tradition of showing online photos or scans of every single lot, so you know what you are buying, especially if you are not able to do pre-sale viewing in person. This sale is accompanied by thousands of high-quality pictures, far more than we can show in the print catalogue, which can all be seen in full colour on StampAuctionNetwork.com.

As usual, this sale will be conducted live on StampAuctionNetwork.com, also with a live floor, via telephone and other traditional bidding methods. A reminder that our buyer’s fee is still at an industry-low 17%, and that all transactions are in Canadian dollars – a bonus for US customers and those using other currencies.

Enjoy the sale!

Stéphane Cloutier, FRPSC, FPHSC
Auction Manager

Announcing Sale 48, November 2-4, 2023

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1911 5c and $1 British Columbia Telephone Engraved Compound Die Proof, in black, with die number 327 at bottom

Welcome to our General Sale #48, our fifth auction of the year, which will take place Thursday November 2 through Saturday November 4, 2023.

The material in this sale is the property of an impressive 143 different consignors, and the result is this wide range of material, with quality Canada and provinces, British Commonwealth and worldwide singles, sets and collections, including part one of the W.J. McGill collection of Scandinavia, a good offering of early Great Britain, and much more.

Be sure to have a close look at our over 450 exciting lots of postal history offerings, including part two of the extensive David Hobden and Michael Rixon pre-Confederation Upper Canada postal history collection and part two of the Gordon Richardson early Manitoba postal history collection, as well as the Ted Nixon collection of Canadian fancy cancellations of the Small Queen issue, and an excellent offering of R.P.O. postal history from the Peter McCarthy collection. You will also find a large selection of other useful postal history from Canada and a wide variety of worldwide countries including those in Scandinavia. Also of note in this sale is a great offering of philatelic literature.

We are proud to continue our long-standing tradition of showing online photos or scans of every single lot, so you know what you are buying, especially if you are not able to do pre-sale viewing in person. This sale is accompanied by about 10,000 high quality pictures, which can all be seen in full colour on StampAuctionNetwork.com.

As usual, this sale will be conducted live on StampAuctionNetwork.com, also with a live floor, via telephone and other traditional bidding methods. A reminder that our buyer’s fee is still at an industry-low 17%, and that all transactions are in Canadian dollars – a bonus for US customers and those using other currencies.

Enjoy the sale!

Stéphane Cloutier, FRPSC, FPHSC
Auction Manager

Announcing Sale 47

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Lot 619 Canada #E1 1898 10c Blue Green Special Delivery First Day Cover, tied by JUL.1.1898 5pm Montréal Bickerdike flag cancel (very uncommon on special delivery mail) on 2c green Queen Victoria stationery envelope (Webb EN9) paying the 2c drop letter rate plus 10c special delivery fee, fresh and very fine. July 1, 1898 was the first day the Special Delivery was offered in fourteen Canadian cities, including Montréal. The sender of this cover obviously recognized the importance of this occasion by preparing the two covers offered in this sale (see lot 618 for the other one). Prior to the discovery of the two covers offered in this sale, the earliest recorded use of this stamp was July 2, 1898. An exceptionally rare and important early first day cover, offered to the market for the first time 125 years after its date of issue. Estimate C$500

Welcome to our General Sale #47, our fourth auction of 2023, with one more to look forward to in the Fall.

Here at Sparks Auctions consignments come in almost daily. We recommend that you contact us early if you have material to sell, so that it can be included in our next available, well-publicized sale. Our April 4-6 sale #46 resulted in 382 different buyers from all over the world.

This sale has our usual wide range of material, with quality Canada and provinces, British Commonwealth and worldwide singles, sets and collections, including a lovely and fresh British Commonwealth collection which has not seen the light of day since it was safely put away at the beginning of World War II.

Don’t forget to have a close look at our over 400 lots of postal history offerings, including part one of the extensive David Hobden and Michael Rixon pre-Confederation Upper Canada postal history collection and part one of the Gordon Richardson early Manitoba postal history collection. We also offer many airmail, first flight and airship covers, plus useful postal history from a wide variety of worldwide countries.

We are proud to continue our long-standing tradition of showing photos or scans of every single lot, so you know what you are buying, should you not be able to do pre-sale viewing in person. Our sales average 10,000 to 12,000 high quality pictures, which can all be seen in full colour on Stamp Auction Network.

As usual, this sale will be conducted live on StampAuctionNetwork.com, also with a live floor, via telephone and other traditional bidding methods. A reminder that our buyer’s fee is still at an industry-low 17%, and that all transactions are in Canadian dollars.

Enjoy the sale!

Stéphane Cloutier, FRPSC, FPHSC
Auction Manager

Announcing Sale 43-44

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Welcome to our sale #43-44! This exciting three-day event will be in two parts:

Lot 123 – 1902 2c Numeral Illustrated Advertising Cover, a multi-colour advertising cover depicting many different fruits, for “True Fruit” Soda Fountain from the Hungerford Smith Co., mailed from Toronto on NOV.9 (machine cancel) to Manchester New Hampshire (NOV.11 machine flag cancel receiver on back). Small edge faults do not detract from this lovely cover, and truly one of the most exceptional multi-colour illustrated covers you will find! Estimate C$750.

1. The Daniel Cantor Collection of Queen Victoria Leafs and Numeral Stamps and Postal History (Lots 1 to 141)
This sale comprises high quality mint never hinged singles (mostly PSE graded) as well as a comprehensive array of die proofs, plate proofs and essays, not to mention the 80 lots of postal history, covering rates and destinations, as well as gorgeous illustrated advertising material.

2. Our General Sale (Lots 142 to 1816)
This long-awaited three day sale offers 1,675 lots and should have something for every collecting interest, and it includes material from 138 different consignors. The listing can be seen on Stamp Auction Network, where you can also sign up for your FREE Stamp Auction network membership (details here). The PDF catalogue is also available here on our website.

Here is just a short list of some of the many exciting offerings in this sale:

  • an extensive and valuable collection of modern Canadian errors and varieties
  • a large quantity of GB Penny Red issues
  • early Manitoba postal history
  • more of the large Christmas-related estate of Robert Haslewood, featuring covers, cards and stamps
  • an extensive selection of better Canadian Revenue stamps, with many NH, plus seldom seen rarities
  • a good number of literature and supplies lots
  • over 300 lots of Canadian and worldwide postal history
  • our usual offerings of high quality singles and sets, as well as country collections from Canada and the world.

Starting with this auction, all lots that do not have a reserve will start at $50. If no bid is received for that price, the lot will remain unsold.

We look forward to welcoming our customers back to the live auction floor in Ottawa for this sale.

Please enjoy this sale!

Stéphane Cloutier, FRPSC, FPHSC
Auction Manager

Sale 42 Coming May 9-12, 2022

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Welcome to our sale #42! The listing can be seen on Stamp Auction Network, where you can also sign up for your FREE Stamp Auction network membership (details here). The PDF catalogue is also available here on our website.

It has been a while since our last general sale, and during that time we were proud to offer three name sales, each of which was a huge success. Once you see this sale’s extensive offerings we are sure you will agree it was well worth the wait!

With 2,229 lots offered over a period of four days, this is by far our largest sale in quite a while. The property of 129 owners, it offers a very wide range of material, with something for most collectors, and dealers will be happy to see so many offerings catered to them, which should be perfect timing to stock up for CAPEX ’22 in one month.

Lot 913 Falkland Islands #65-76 1933 ½d to £1 KGV Centenary of British Administration Set, used, all with unobtrusive c.d.s. cancels, fine to very fine and rarely offered. SG 127-138, £6,500. Scott CV U$7,234

Here is just a short list of some of the many exciting offerings from this sale:

  • An extensive collection of Canadian Christmas stamp errors and other Christmas-related material.
  • Extensive dealer stock offerings of Canadian and foreign stamps and postal history, much of which is priced, described and ready to be re-offered.
  • The “Burnside House” collection of early Falkland Islands. This mostly mint collection spans Queen Victoria through the King George VI period, and features singles, sets, many varieties and complete sheets, panes and multiples not often offered.
  • The “Waterford” extensive and valuable collection of New Zealand stamps in 33 volumes, offered mostly by issue.
  • Large assortment of Canadian postal stationery lots.
  • The “Armstrong” find which includes thousands of Canadian and American covers accumulated by an Ottawa resident from the 1920s to 1960. None of these were purchased from dealers and they are offered to the philatelic market for the first time.
  • Over 30 lots of useful philatelic literature.

Please enjoy this sale!

We are also proud to be partner-level sponsors of both ORAPEX (Ottawa, April 23-24, www.orapex.ca) and CAPEX ‘22 (Toronto, June 9-12, www.capex22.org). We invite you to join us at our booths at both shows this spring, where we would be happy to discuss your consignment to future sales and show you catalogues of past and current sales.

Stéphane Cloutier, FRPSC, FPHSC
Auction Manager
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