image gallery – Sparks Auctions

We received the shipment of printed catalogues for our November 13-15th auction yesterday afternoon and promptly delivered them to Canada Post. Canadian customers should receive theirs early next week, USA by the end of the week, and international in the week of November 5th. Please contact us if you do not receive your catalogue in time to bid in the sale.

Remember, complete catalogue PDF files are available on our site in the Catalogue link at the right.

You will also find the Image Gallery which has many additional scans in higher resolution and greater detail than those on Stamp Auction Network, corrections and updates to the auction listing, and comprehensive instructions for on-line bidding.

Next week we begin featuring daily writeups of an item or area of exceptional interest in Auction 11.

We wish you good luck in the sale!

One of the essentials in lotting is that every description should stand on its own and not be dependent on the preceding lot (except perhaps with two or more identical lots where the expression “as above” can safely be used). Lots 1998 and 2012 illustrate this.

Lot 1998 is one where perhaps the Commonwealth stamps should have been emphasized first. The individual stamps don’t catalogue as much as the Great Britain, but taken as a whole, the other Commonwealth is more appealing and more valuable than the British material, which is mostly used with typical commercial postmarks. We have added fifteen pages of scans to our image gallery to give a better idea of this lot.

Lot 2012 is owned by the same consignor. We have corrected the description where we used the misleading phrase “collector’s duplicates;” an expression that would only apply if the two lots were offered together, making it clear they are from the same owner. In this case, the “duplicates” are more accurately described as a second collection. Eight pages of new scans in our image gallery will show this lot to be more appealing than our initial catalogue description.

Please check our Image Gallery for hundreds of additional scans not found in the printed catalogue. These scans are enlarged 200-300% for detailed viewing. Many of the regular scans appear only on-line, as do all of the “A” and other “letter” scans. The Extra Scans section contains newer scans that do not appear on Stamp Auction Network or anywhere else. It is well worth checking these. Follow the links in this paragraph, or choose “Image Gallery” in the sidebar to the right or from the “Auction #9 pull-down menu above.