Auction 7 Followup #3 — Used Bluenoses

Used Bluenoses

We offered three lots of used Canada Bluenoses (Scott #158) and they attracted spirited bidding.  Lot 533 was a wholesale lot with perfins and included other stamps.  All stamps had creases from usage and our estimate was $200.  With only two advance bids it opened at $130 but the floor and the internet quickly bid this up to $375 where it sold to an internet bidder.

Lot 534 — Canada #158 1929 50¢ dark blue Bluenose, well centered pair with CNR perfin, creases from usage else very fine. Unitrade CV$200; realized $230.

This pair of Bluenoses with creases also attracted only two advance bids with an opening bid of $26 but a determined battle between the floor and the internet resulted in a very strong hammer price of $200, well above our estimate of $75.

Lot 535 — 1929 50¢ dark blue Bluenose, an attractive used block with London, Ontario 1935 postmark, fine-very fine. Unitrade CV$300; realized $431.

This attractive block of four with a somewhat late 1935 postmark opened quite strongly at $160 but the internet challenged the top book bid of $350 and it sold for one increment above that; another one which was more than twice our internal estimate.

We continue our look back at the pre-auction highlights, this time with the local stamps featured in highlights 4 and 9. We featured the section of seven lots of Canadian locals with Lot 723.


Lot 723; realized $241.

This lot, estimated at $150, opened strongly at $210 and there was no further bidding, resulting in a bidder who did not have to pay his maximum.


Lot 1249; realized $373.

We featured three lots of locals in the worldwide section. Lot 1249, the Himmler Head, was estimated at a modest $100 and opened at $170 and the floor, internet, and book all competed to end up at a hammer price of $325.  Lot 1874, 150 World War Two local issues estimated at $500, sold for a hammer of $950 with competition from the book and the floor.  Finally we come to Lot 1899 estimated at $500.  If I had ventured an opinion as to which of these three would attract the strongest bids, my choice would have been this lot.  It did attract a fair number of bids and opened at $450 and quickly sold to the advance book bid of $500 somewhat below the top bid.