Canada #107i 1922 2c deep green Admiral, wet printing, mint never hinged with deep colour and four wide even margins, extremely fine. Interestingly, this stamp shows a distinctive vertical weave, similar to #107a, but is thicker than #107a. Unitrade CV$90, realized $126.
Admiral
Lot 281 — Canada #106 mint, sold for $195
Canada #106 1911 2c carmine Admiral, mint never hinged, very fine. Unitrade CV$90, realized $195.
Hidden Treasure
Many collections contain one or more gems which even the consignor was unaware of. Every Sparks Auction has brought such items to light. Sometimes it is a new discovery, previously unknown; other times it is an item buried in an old-time collection which will excite at least one collector who has been searching for the “missing piece” for a long time.
Lot 1224 was noticed by one of our lotters in an otherwise ordinary and nondescript group.
Lot 1224 — Canada Airmail Cover #PF6a
1918 Peck flown registered air mail cover, Montreal to Toronto, franked with 5¢ Admiral and 2¢ War Tax Admiral. Cachets are dated JU.23.1918, but flight took place on JU.24 due to the weather. There were stops for gas at Kingston and Deseronto. Has Toronto, JU.24.1918 receiver on back. Only 124 pieces were flown, of which only a small percentage were registered. Flown in a Curtiss JN-4 “Canuch” aircraft. Opened at top. CV $2500 in Airmails of Canada.
Maybe you have hidden treasure. Contact us at info@sparks-auctions.com to discuss consigning.
Auction 7 Followup #5 — Strong Admirals
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
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.