Lot 671 Australia #13 1913 10sh pink and gray Kangaroo, Watermark Wide Crown, Wide A, with deep colour and a c.d.s. postmark. Very fine. (SG 14 £700) From The Kookaburra Collection. Scott CV$800.
Ian Kimmerly’s Introduction to the Kookaburra Collection:
I know the collector of the Kookaburra Australia and States from his albums and notes. These show a meticulous approach to collecting used examples of every Stanley Gibbons listed variety.
He was consistent in measuring perforations and identifying watermarks. He was also consistent in purchasing sound quality stamps, although no collection can avoid a tiny percentage of trivial minor faults. There are a few fiscals (often identified as such) and these, together with a few questionable items, we did not include in the catalogue totals of the collections. As will be evident many of the imperforates do not have full margins. Another weakness was the identification of colour shadings and students of these issues will find discrepancies.
The achievement of near perfection was acquired without a reference collection, without philatelic advice, living far from any metropolitan city and using only the Scott and Stanley Gibbons Catalogues. He purchased from retail stores in his travels, from eBay, and in a minor way from small auctions. Given all that, his accomplishment is remarkable. We expect that successful bidders will enjoy their purchases as much as we have enjoyed preparing this sale.
– Ian Kimmerly