A Traditional Philatelic Auction House — Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Canada pence issues are well represented, with a range of mint and used, and highlighted by a rare proof of the twelve penny.
Canada #3TC, 1851 12d Queen Victoria "scar" die proof, printed in deep indigo on thin bond paper, with four large margins, fresh and attractive, very fine. A lovely example of this rare proof. Unitrade C$ 8,000.
Our fourth public auction is now posted at StampAuctionNetwork.com.
This sale offers, especially in the Canada section, an exceptionally strong showing. The first issues of the province of Canada have nice quality and are comprehensive. The pence issues on laid paper are represented with singles and a pair of the three pence and six pence as well as a rare Die Proof of the twelve pence. We can offer a six pence with original gum printed on wove paper, a rarity from the General Gill collection. The other pence values are offered as single lots, usually in fine or better quality, as well as in lots in the average quality more usually found in many collections.
There are a number of interesting and selected lots in the Large and Small Queen sections. We note in particular a never hinged ten cent value from the Montreal printings. Many advanced collectors have had this on their want lists for years.
The offering of 1897 Jubilees and other Victorian issues continues the Sparks Auctions trend of offering more quantity and quality with every auction. Edwards, QuÈbecs, especially Admirals and later issues through George VI will help collectors fill in gaps in their collections.
Queen Elizabeth era stamps start in spectacular fashion with a block of the Inverted Seaway. The later varieties and errors are very very strong indeed. The lots of back of the book stamps will excite many with the opportunity to buy 5-hole OHMS perfins, and rare revenues including overprint varieties.
British North America offers rarities such as the $1 British Columbia, PEI #2, Newfoundland classics and ending with the spectacular block of the inverted overprint on the Halifax airmail.
British Commonwealth is headlined by the full pane of the Great Britain 1883 6d on 6d overprint. Interesting and scarce items and a few nice collections are found throughout this section.
The worldwide section offers 50 lots of USA as well as many lovely items, complete sets and unusual varieties not often found.
Postal History offers many lots as well as selected individual items such as a ten penny Cartier with a circular dated postmark and the very scarce Officially Sealed on blue paper.
Lots and collections again fill our 32 bookcases. This auction the number which are in the higher price ranges is increased; while we still offer budget-priced cartons of fun. Viewing will allow interested buyers to see the full value.
Our Next Sale
Already, in the one and a half weeks since we finished describing this sale, four new consignments have arrived. A collection of Large Queens from Australia, a suitcase from an estate, a strong collection of Switzerland including postal history, and miscellaneous items including a previously unknown major Canadian error give us a good start on Auction 5.
We solicit your consignment for our next sale. All material which is in our hands by August 31 will be included for a sale we hope to be able to schedule for late October.
VIEWING
Saturday June 6th, 2009 10:00 am to 5:30 pm
Saturday June 13th 10:00 am to 5:30 pm
Monday June 15th 10:00 am to 5:30 pm
Tuesday June 16th 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Wednesday June 17th 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
1868 3¢ red Large Queen on watermarked Bothwell paper, mint strip of 3, showing "CLUT" portion of watermark, right pair has original gum with right hand stamp being never hinged, left stamp is unused no gum with a tear at top and has been rejoined to the pair to reunite it as a strip of 3, fine and a tremendously rare multiple. Mint examples of watermarked Large Queens are rare, any multiples of the watermarked Large Queens are scarce to rare, but this mint strip of 3 of the 3¢ with watermark is believed to be unique and the largest multiple for this value. Accompanied by 2004 Greene Foundation certificate. Catalogued as 3 singles (1 no gum, 1 o.g. and 1 NH).
A very good price.
Sparks Auction #2 on June 6-7th, 2008 built on the success of our inaugural sale, with even more bidders and many exceptional realizations. The auction floor in Ottawa saw strong action from local bidders and agents, and again the advantages of international bidding were in evidence, with 160 internet bidders contributing to some good bidding wars and notable prices.
Three items merit special attention:
• A key set of our South West Africa section, Lot 210, the South Africa Forerunners, Scott 1-16 in blocks of four (missing #12) used in South West Africa, and which catalogues $1942, sold for $4600 including buyer’s premium,
• Lot 1453, the Amherst NS precancel (#1-110) on 4¢ bistre Admiral has not been offered in perhaps 10 years, and is missing from most collections. Despite a trivial thin on the back, and not being well-centered, our example sold for $4830 including premium. We are told that this is likely a record price for a single Canadian pre-cancel,
• A postal history collection of early Halifax, neatly written up on album pages, was estimated by us at $1500. Lot 1502 was pursued by multiple telephone bidders when the bidding opened at $2400. Bidding progressed until we were finally able to sell the lot for a final price of $10,350 with premium.
Other strong prices were seen on the South West Africa Pictorial Issue (Sc. #108-120), and Vatican City #33a used. In Canada, the 3¢ Large Queen watermarked mint strip of three, mint 1¢ blue-green Leaf issue, 5¢ numeral on bluish paper, and 10¢ pale lilac Edward all did well. In the Admirals, the mint 4¢ yellow ochre in the dry printing, mint 10¢ plum, and #MR7 all reached prices near or in excess of their catalogue values. Mint NH dollar values of Parliament and Mount Edith Cavell were notably strong, as was an unused Newfoundland #2. Postal history and postcards were very popular, with large cartons selling for three times the estimate in some cases.
We will feature these and more in separate illustrated entries in the coming weeks, so be sure to check back here each day.
Canada #21-30 1868-1875 Large Queen issue collection of 680 stamps, on stocksheets in binder with representation of each value in quantities ranging from 10 to 216. Overall the condition is quite nice and the collector apparently had an eye for stamps with good colour, above average centering and nice perforations. Generally fine with numerous F-VF and very fine stamps included. The collection is semi-sorted and identified but we noted some discrepancies (both good and bad). Very wide range of shades and papers included as well as cancels. We noted some 2-ring numerals, corks, cds and a few squared circle cancels. Includes (basic numbers) #21 (10, 3 are mint or unused), 22 (17), 23 (19), 24 (27), 25 (134), 26 (19 with many very attractive stamps), 27 (63), 28 (175) including an apparent imperf (faults and sold as is) and 29/30 (216) including a large number of early printing in red lilac and purple. A great opportunity for a collector who wants a significant number of stamps as a foundation for a specialized collection, or for the dealer who is looking to add an attractive group of Large Queen to his inventory. Click the scan above to go to our image gallery, which contains 25 page scans numbered 2062-2062x. Scott CV $47,715.