Category Archives: Auction News

May 3, 2017 · 7:03 pm

Army Telegraphs sold in London Auctions

In Grosvenor and Spink this April, the following Army Telegraphs overprinted Jubilees turned up within a week of one another. The first to come up was this impressive used block of 16 still on piece. Unfortunately it was part of a larger lot (lot 2099) with other Army Telegraph issues, so my top bid was a bit far off lot the final hammer price of £2’200. It’s the largest multiple I’ve seen by far! (The second being a block of four that sold on ebay in February).Next up was lot 2106, an unused telegram form franked with various Army Telegraph issues including two overprinted 1/2d vermilion Jubilees, which dates from when the Army was doing manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain. I was a bit closer this time with my bidding but was still beaten to the final hammer price of £380. This was the first complete and franked telegram form I have seen but I’ve heard they exist.

And finally Grosvenor had this mint 1/2d vermilion “O” control strip of 3, lot 137 estimated £100-150. This was one I really wanted and even used an agent for the first time to bid in the auction room on my behalf. Disappointment turned to despair as my top bid was surpassed by a measly £50 and it sold for £1’250. This is only the second I have seen (which was corroborated by a dealer I know).

 

 

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May 3, 2016 · 10:09 am

Spink Sell an Ascension Rarity

Ascension Registered hooded cdsSpink sold an array of Ascension in their Philatelic Collector’s Series auction on 26th-28th April 2016, with items from the Stanley Cole collection. The highlight of which was this cover with a 1887 2 1/2d Jubilee tied by a registered hooded circle datestamp, which is one of only two known covers with this cancellation. It was knocked down for £7’000 plus the 20% buyers premium. The other known example was last sold as part of the Vivien Sussex collection for £6’500, although I have been unable to locate an image of the item as of yet (if anyone can help me that would be great!).

Ascension 4 1-2d Jubilee Posted out of CourseAlso of interest to Jubilee collectors was this usage of the 4 1/2d value, marked as registered by the sender but obviously just dropped in the post box and not officially registered by the Post Office until it reached London where it was handstamped with “POSTED OUT OF COURSE”. Funnily enough I own a sister cover to this with a 5d Jubilee. I got mine considerably cheaper than the £800+20% paid for this example though!

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June 1, 2015 · 11:37 am

Government Parcels inverted overprint “proving piece” up for auction

Government Parcels 1s Green and Carmine Inverted OverprintSpink will be offering part 5 of the “Lionheart” collection on June 17th, which contains the “proving piece” of the inverted overprint of the 1s green and carmine. Although several had been discovered and the variety was listed in the Stanley Gibbons catalogue, opinions changed and in 1916 it was de-listed and all examples regarded as forgeries. That was until the discovery of this example in 1950, clearly tied to a Post Office parcel label, that the Royal Philatelic Society of London granted it a certificate and it was restored to the Stanley Gibbons catalogue. The full story can be read in this extract from the L. N. Williams Encyclopaedia of Rare and Famous Stamps.

This example was last sold at Cherrystone in 2008 for $20’700. It is being offered in June with an estimate of £10’000-£12’000.

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January 14, 2015 · 8:52 am

Spink Offer Fabulous Collections of British Africa

British East Africa Cancelled overprints on JubileesOn the 26th and 28th of January 2015, Spink will be offering the East Africa collection of Lord Vestey and part 1 of the British Africa collection of James F. Hudson. Both have some fabulous material, and thankfully even some Jubilee items to talk about.

The only items of interest from the Vestey collection for me are on the first page of the catalogue, with the most interesting lot having come from the “Shivani” collection of British East Africa sold by Spink in 1997. Lot 1 is the 1d lilac, 2d green & red and 5d deep purple & blue with the B.E.A. overprints all with “CANCELLED” handstamps. In fact the lot also includes a Zululand 1d lilac and 2d green & red with the same. Stamps with this “CANCELLED” overprint were used as colour specimens by De La Rue and the Inland Revenue. Bought for £2’185 in 1997, the estimate is £3’000 to £4’000.

Zululand 5d with inverted watermarkFrom the Hudson collection, there is a decent section of Niger Coast (without anything spectacular in way of Jubilees). But the most interesting lot for me is a Zululand 5d deep purple & blue, used, with inverted watermark. Catalogued at £1’800 by Stanley Gibbons, the estimate is £600-700. I would have thought it would do better than that because it’s not a stamp I remember ever seeing before.

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December 10, 2014 · 1:14 pm

Variety of Jubilees Sold at David Feldman

Insured cover with Jubilee frankingDavid Feldman’s December auction series included the Richard Pearmund collection of British Offices Abroad, which featured Jubilees used in Aden, Ascension, British Levant,  Jamaica, Niger Coast and South Africa. Not to mention two 1s green & carmine frankings (one was a new addition to the census and the other now has an image) in the GB section along with this beautiful Insured franking to the Netherlands (with sold for €228 incl. commission).

Oil Rivers Protectorate Benin cancel on 2.5d JubileeNiger Coast was a particularly strong section and included this possibly unique cancellation of Benin on a 2 1/2d on piece which sold for €840 incl. commission. Also of note was a 2 1/2d on cover with a black Old Calabar oval ds in the same style.

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May 13, 2014 · 9:01 pm

Grosvenor to sell the Dr. Huggins collection of British Levant

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On May 21st, Grosvenor will auction the British Levant collection of Dr. Alan Huggins. The highlight (for a Jubilee collector at least) is certainly the cover pictured to the left which features the rare “Express D’Orient” label in red tied to a cover along with three 40pa on 5d. It is estimated at £800-1’000 and I wouldn’t be surprised if it fetched double.

Dr. Huggins MBE, RDP, FRPSL, is a renowned and highly respected philatelist who is a past President of the Royal Philatelic Society. He specialises in postal stationery so the sale features unique and very rare usages of newspaper wrappers, stamped envelopes, postcards and registered envelopes in the British Levant.

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November 14, 2013 · 3:24 pm

You Wait Ages For A Bus…

Jubilee Zemstvo Mixed Franking…and then four come along at once!! The cover shown is a rare mixed franking of a 1/2d vermilion and a Russian Zemstvo 1k violet imperf from Bogorodsk to pay the delivery or printed matter from the UK to Moscow, and then from Moscow to its final destination in the Bogorodsk distrcit. This is not the first Zemstvo and Jubilee combination cover I have seen. However the other two covers I spotted featured different Bogorodsk stamps. This brief tale begins in September, when David Feldman sold a near identical cover to this for €900. It continued yesterday in the USA, when Cherrystone sold another two near identical covers for $1’500 each! And now Cavendish have got in on the act, and are offering the example pictured with an estimate of £300 as part of the Seymour collection of newspaper wrappers in their December auction. It’s stated in the description that, aside from being one of Seymour’s favourite covers, that there are only three such covers known… So either the entire world supply has appeared on the market in the space of three months, or there are a few more than first thought. Either way, it’s still a very rare franking!

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October 15, 2013 · 8:28 pm

Argyll Etkin Sell Attractive Jubilees

1887 2d with speckled engine turned backgroundArgyll Etkin sold an attractive selection of colour trials as well as a rare essay in their auction on 4th October 2013. The sale featured not only many colour trials of the 1883-84 Lilac & Green issue (which were made in preparation for what became the Jubilee issue), but colour trials of the 2d duty plate, 4 1/2d duty plate colour trials and 10d., as well as some proofs, panes, inverted watermarks and covers.

However the highlight of the auction was lot 478, the 2d green and scarlet with the speckled engine-turned background on the duty tablet. This essay for the duty tablet was almost immediately rejected and most of the examples printed were destroyed, and was stated in the auction catalogue to be one of the rarest of all the Jubilee stamps. Catalogued at £12’500 by Stanley Gibbons, I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw this come up on their inventory in the near future. It sold for £6’000 plus 17% buyers premium.

My favourite item was probably lot 523, a very attractive advertising cover for Dalukola Tea which sold for £150 plus 17% commission

tea

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August 18, 2013 · 8:09 pm

Spoilt For Choice At Spink

Bechuanaland 1889 4d on 0.5d vermilion with rpence omittedSpink’s Collector Series auction in London on 9th to 11th of July 2013 had a plethora of items of interest for the Jubilee collector. Lot 239 was a Bechuanaland Protectorate 1889 4d on ½d vermilion with “rpence” omitted. Catalogued at £6’000, the upper estimate was at full catalogue (when commission is taken into account) at £4’000-5’000. Not surprisingly it sold for less, but £3’200 hammer (or 64% of catalogue incl. commission) is still a good price. There were many other items of interest from Bechuanaland including a nice selection of covers not too often seen.

Niger Coast cover with Old Calabar rubber cancelThe sale also featured the “Dunrovin” collection of Niger Coast. There were many of the provisional overprints, but the highlight for me was lot 1085; a cover with a ½d vermilion, 1d lilac pair and 2 ½d purple on blue all tied by Old Calabar rubber cancels, which according to the description is the only known example of this cancel on cover. It sold for £1’400 (plus commission).

And the items of interest concluded with a several lots of Zululand Specimen and Cancelled overprints, with the Cancelled overprint set (lot 2017) selling for £1’200 (plus commission)

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March 10, 2013 · 2:13 pm

Good Week for Jubilees at Auction

The last week has seen a variety of attractive and interesting Jubilee items up for sale at a variety of auction houses. Here are my three favourites.

1887 Jubilee 2 1/2d on cover to Falkland IslandsThe first item to bring to your attention is a rather unattractive cover. However, this cover belonged to one of the most famous (or perhaps most infamous is more accurate) collectors of his generation. Grosvenor sold the Falkland Islands collection of John E. Dupont on March 7th. Lot 2020 was a rare item of incoming mail to the islands, and was estimated at £200-250. My bid was blown out of the water as it went on the fetch £1’150 (plus 20.4% commission and 5% VAT!).

Warwick & Warwick Zululand coverHowever that wasn’t even the highest price realised for a Jubilee item last week. Warwick and Warwick discovered a correspondence of no fewer than eight Zululand covers! Including two with never before seen cancellations (unfortunately not on the overprinted Jubilee issue). Of the three with Jubilee frankings, lot 284 was the most attractive and it sold for £1’200 (plus commission).

Magpie Auctions lot 356 Prince of Wales Hospital FundThe next lot caught my eye on the front cover of Magpie Auctions catalogue when I wandered past there stand at Stampex. Lot 356 of their March 6th postal bid sale featured an 1897 Prince of Wales Hospital Fund 1s label along with a 1887 1/2d vermilion tied by a duplex to a printed cover of the Charity. These vignettes are scarce, and more so tied to the cover, and even more so being this attractive and fresh. It sold for £170.

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