Admiral

In a scene from the TV show "The West Wing," fictional President Bartlett chewed out an official for misuse of the word unique. Stamp collectors often cringe when unique is used synonymously with interesting but we are losing the battle to the admen and real estate agents and countless others. In Auction 7 we offer a number of items that are truly one-of-a-kind.

Lot 446 — Canada #104/120 1911 1¢ to 50¢ Admiral Madagascar Specimens, 7 original values from early printings on portion of ledger page tied by red Madagascar "Collection de Berne" handstamps, fine-very fine. A rare and perfect exhibit item. Estimate $500.

There are five lots of these Madagascar Specimens in the auction.  Three are from the Admiral era including Lot 476 and Lot 686, and two are from the 1927 Historical series, Lot 505 and Lot 689.

Lot 689 — Canada #E3P 1927 20¢ orange Special Delivery Madagascar Specimens, strip of 3 on small portion of ledger page tied by red Madagascar "Collection de Berne" handstamps, very fine. Rare and perfect exhibition item. Estimate $200.

There are other truly unique lots and some of these will be featured next week.

Another sold at full catalogue value.

Canada #134 1921 3¢ brown Admiral coil, mint never hinged pair, fresh colour, very fine. Unitrade CV $100, sold for $100 hammer.

This scarce imperforate pair attracted three very similar bids from dealers, and was hammered down at $1600.

Canada #112b, 1922 5¢ violet Admiral imperforate pair, fresh, hinged and very fine. A rare imperf item. Unitrade CV $3000, realized $1840 including premium.

This well-centered twenty cent value attracted bids before the auction and opened at $525, well above the catalogue value.

Canada #119 1925 20¢ olive green Admiral, nice colour, mint never hinged, extremely fine. Unitrade CV$450, realized $603 including premium.

Old-timers think of this as a ten dollar stamp, but catalogues have realized how difficult it is to obtain a really nice example. Now it catalogues at $150, but that did not stop determined bidders and it reached a hammer of $190.

Canada #127ii 1912 2c rose carmine Admiral coil, perf 8 vertically, with immaculate gum, extremely fine, never hinged. The most elusive of the Admiral coils to find with this centering. Unitrade CV$150, realized $218 including premium.