A Traditional Philatelic Auction House — Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Sparks Auctions 
If you were successful you will receive an invoice by e-mail or in the post. Our offices are not open to the public while we organize material and prepare invoices. We will reopen for lot pick-up on Wednesday March 9th, by appointment only. Please email or call us to arrange a time. Our building is locked on Saturdays but we will do our best to make accommodations for those who wish to pick up outside of working hours.
We have Commonwealth this morning, followed immediately by Worldwide, and Postal History (1:00pm) today. This stamp always attracts attention!
Lot 653 People’s Republic of China #1586 1980 8f Monkey, New Year. Mint never hinged, a nice fresh example of this very popular stamp, slight black offset on gum from sheet below as normal. Very fine. Scott CV US$ 1,875.
Sale #20 gets started today with stamps from Canada and British North America.
Lot 1 Canada #1 1851 3d red Beaver on Laid Paper, Imperforate, used with ideal centrally struck target cancel in black and four enormous margins, showing parts of five adjoining stamps. This stamp previously sold for US$1,955 at a 2011 Matthew Bennett auction (Daniel Cantor Sale). Insignificant tear in bottom margin, still an extremely fine and fresh stamp and worthy of the finest collections. Accompanied by a 2013 Greene Foundation certificate. Unitrade CV C$1,600.
Lot 680 Roman States #11 1852 1sc rose Papal Arms, used, margins clear of design on all four sides, close at top. Accompanied by 1991 APS certificate. Scott US CV$3,600.
Our twentieth public auction takes place next week. The complete schedule can be seen at this page. There is plenty of time to place your bids by e-mail, telephone, fax, or on Stamp Auction Network.
Viewing
With many carton lots and collections in this sale, we have viewing sessions taking place today (February 26th), tomorrow and Monday. Times and details can be seen here.
Corrections & Updates
We are careful to make any addenda or corrections to our lot descriptions as they are brought to our attention. A complete listing is here on our website, and this information is shared with those who have bid on the lots, and is noted before the sale.
Opening Bids
If you click the Openings button on our listing at Stamp Auction Network, you will find that many lots open at $5. In our unreserved auction, this is the minimum increment we will accept for any lot. (In practice, the auctioneer will commence bidding on the auction floor at a level consistent with what the floor will immediately offer, usually $25-$30 even for unremarkable material.) A $5 opening indicates that there is at most one bid placed on the lot. A higher opening will only appear if there are two or more bids; the number shown is one increment over the underbid, not the top bid (which we do not disclose).
The openings can be an important tool in helping you plan your bidding. As of Friday noon, there are $5 minimums showing on two-thirds of the lots in the sale, but in fact there are fewer than one-third of the lots with no bids at all.
US Exchange
The Canadian dollar has recovered a bit against the US$, approximately US$1=C$1.35, but American customers will still find good value for their money in this sale. The exact exchange rate for US$ cash/cheque payments will be announced at the start of the sale, while credit card customers will have their invoices converted from C$ to US$ by their banks.
Auction #21 Consignments
There is a large volume of material on hand for our sale in May, but we can still accept small, easily-lotted consignments of single stamps, covers, sets, etc. Please let us know if you have something to offer, and make sure to get it to us by Monday, March 7th, 2016.
Good luck in the sale!