Lots 136 & 140 — Queen Victoria Jubilees

Our second feature for Victoria Day shows two nice Jubilee stamps, which honoured Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee of sixty years on the throne.

Lot 136Lot 136 Canada #62 1897 $2 dark purple Jubilee, mint never hinged, very fine. Unitrade CV$6,000.

Lot 140Lot 140 Canada #65 1897 $5 olive green Jubilee, mint never hinged with lightly disturbed gum (likely from storage), else very fine. Accompanied by a 2015 Greene Foundation certificate. Unitrade CV$6,000.

Welcome to Auction #17

We are proud to announce our public auction #17, to be held at our premises in Ottawa, Canada on May 26th-28th, 2015. The auction is live now on Stamp Auction Network and the print catalogue will be mailed to customers within the next week.

An auction should generate excitement. The setting, reputation, and personalities can help but the material on offer is the key component to getting the adrenaline flowing.

Our Canada section has wonderful offerings: a real jumbo of a beaver, a never-hinged half penny, an exceptional used block of the 1864 two cent Victoria, a mint block of the three cent Large Queen with original gum, lovely quality never hinged late Victorian issues including high value Jubilees. The classic-era stamps continue with the very rare imperforate imprint blocks of 20 of the Victorian Numerals together with a large offering of imprint regular issues, some wonderful quality scarce Die and shade variety Admirals, the 1929 Parliament which is especially elusive in XFNH quality, scarce imperforates and printing errors. For rarity it is hard to beat the items from the estate of Canadian stamp designer Pierre Beaudin, a number of lots being unique, and rarity continues into the airmails with pre-production material.

British Columbia has an amazing collection of the numeral cancels together with items like a mint block of the five cent Vancouver Island. Our East Coast is represented with spectacular mint pence and a bisect cover from Nova Scotia; Newfoundland also offers a bisect cover and a rare two penny pair, both from the 1857 printings, as well as many lots of more affordable imperforates and varieties, and finishes with a Columbia cover.

Lot 718 og Australia #J38  1909 20sh green Postage Due, Perforated 11, Watermark Crown Over A Upright, mint, with hinged full original gum and quite well centered. Very fine and accompanied by a 2013 Sergio Sismondo certificate. This is regarded as Australia's rarest regular issue stamp. Only two sheets (240 stamps) printed, and this example is certainly among the finest of the estimated 50 remaining examples. (SG D62) (Scan a) Scott $ 13,000
Lot 718 og Australia #J38
1909 20sh green Postage Due, Perforated 11, Watermark Crown Over A Upright, mint, with hinged full original gum and quite well centered. Very fine and accompanied by a 2013 Sergio Sismondo certificate. This is regarded as Australia’s rarest regular issue stamp. Only two sheets (240 stamps) printed, and this example is certainly among the finest of the estimated 50 remaining examples. (SG D62)  Scott CV$13,000

British Commonwealth is especially strong in Great Britain and Australia. Many of the rarest of the high values and errors from these two are offered in this sale. Of special interest is The Kookaburra Collection which was formed by a decades-long quest to obtain every Stanley Gibbons listed variety of Australia as well as Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia. As a result rarities abound, especialy non-Scott listed perforation and watermark varieties. The Worldwide section is diverse and of note are some decent quality high value Italian States.

Postal History is an area where our consignors continue to offer diversity and the unusual. Once again we have hundreds of lots representing all from stampless to modern. Undoubtedly these lots will contain tomorrow’s rarities which will in future be on display in great collections.

Lots and Collections are always a big draw during the viewing. This auction will again present a big challenge for viewers. The number of one country collections as well as multi-volume worldwide lots is staggering. And it is not just volume, many lots are specialized and diverse collections. As usual Canada & BNA leads with 94 lots but that lead is challenged by Worldwide multi-country lots with 74 (and to that total could be added continent groupings of Asia, Africa, Europe etc). There are more than seventy different countries represented with one or more collections. After Canada the number of lots by country include Belgium (37) followed by British Commonwealth, Italy, Great Britain, Germany, and Australia (20).

I am confident you will enjoy perusing the catalogue whether on paper or online. Our next auction is scheduled for September. Potential consignors are reminded that waiting until the deadline to consign is not a good idea if you want careful attention to your collection in the lotting and describing process.

-Ian Kimmerly
President