A Traditional Philatelic Auction House — Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Announcements
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.
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!
We have received our shipment of print catalogues for our March 1st-3rd auction, and they have been mailed to subscribers and consignors. Local Ottawa customers may receive theirs this week if Canada Post cooperates, and most Canada destinations will be delivered early next week. USA & Overseas customers can expect them within ten days.
Of course, you can always preview the catalogue here on our site. Opening bids can be seen on Stamp Auction Network.
Public Sale #20 will take place at our auction room on March 1-3, 2016. As per tradition, Sparks Auctions is proud to offer a great variety of philatelic material for all collecting interests and pocketbooks. In this sale we continue to offer high quality Canada sets and singles plus our usual nice selection of postal history and box lots.
Of note in the sale are one man’s lifetime worldwide collection in 100 albums, “The Obie Collection,” which includes a fresh selection of People’s Republic of mint China in two sections. Also of note are a large collection of Russian postal stationery, a lifetime collection of Federal and Provincial Canadian Revenues, part of the Hendrik Burgers Canadian Military mail collection, a very specialized collection of Germany, States and Possessions, Canadian and Worldwide squared circle postmarks and much more.
The hardcopy catalogue is currently in production and will be mailed to subscribers next week. The sale is now live for internet bidding on Stamp Auction Network. You can download PDFs of the auction catalogues, as well as find featured items, comprehensive information on bidding, and more here on sparks-auctions.com.
We wish you luck in the sale!
Sale 19, The Daniel Cantor Collection of Canada Small Queens, concluded yesterday about 6:00pm EST. A busy floor of collectors and agents was joined by a very active contingent of internet and phone bidders to create a truly dynamic sale. As a result, we saw some terrific realizations as well as what are certain to be many record prices. (The Prices Realized can be downloaded from this link.)
We will feature the highlights in subsequent posts here on our site, but here is a tremendous result to get started:
Lot 350 1877 13c pre-UPU registered letter rate cover to England, franked with a 5c olive green and an 8c blue RLS, both tied by straightline REGISTRATION handstamps, paying the pre-UPU 5c preferred rate plus 8c registration fee. Mailed from Goderich, Ont. (neat JUN.8.1877 inner broken circle) to London, England (June 23 receiver) through Toronto and Lothbury. Also a red crown Registered cancel on front. A very clean cover, with clear postmarks and one of only 16 known franked with an 8c RLS. Rare and very fine. (Unitrade 38, F3)
Eight cent registered letter stamp covers are rarities of the highest calibre, with only 16 covers having been recorded with the 8c RLS used for its intended purpose. Of these 16 covers, many have faults or are otherwise unattractive. The cover offered here is in absolute pristine condition, unlike any other 8c RLS covers and graced the collections of multiple illustrious collectors. One of the key items from the Cantor collection and one of the most important Small Queen covers to England.
Provenance: Bill Simpson (1980), “November” collection (1994), S.J. Menich (2000), William H. Gross (2009).
Estimate $15,000, sold for $29,900 with buyer’s premium. This is believed to be the highest price ever for a Small Queen on cover.