Announcements

Announcements

Sale 52 coming January 30-February 1, 2025

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Welcome to the Sparks Auctions Winter 2025 sale!

This sale showcases an extensive selection of Canada and British North America, with particular emphasis on scarce and desirable plate and die proofs, superb-quality singles, and a diverse selection of striking modern errors and varieties. We’re also pleased to offer an exceptional range of Canadian revenue stamps, including a number of scarce examples, rarely seen on the market, and more of Earle Covert’s extensive Tobacco Tax collections.

Lot 526 1933 Falkland Islands #65-76 Centenary ½d to £1, set of twelve, hinged, most lightly so, including the key £1 King George V, universally bright and fresh colours, well-centered, very fine and choice, one of the iconic sets of the British Empire. (S.G. 127/138, £4,250) Scott CV U$4,800.

British Commonwealth and worldwide stamps feature many ever-popular sets and singles, including the iconic 1933 Falkland Islands Centenary, a range of Great Britain from Line Engraved to Seahorses, and a scarce holding of 1960s People’s Republic of China sheets and large multiples.

Canadian postal history is highlighted by a newly-recorded example of the rare August 1918 Pioneer flight of Lt. Tremper Longman, and a range of First and Second World War prisoner of war covers. The extensive and well-received offering of worldwide postal history from our last sale has been expanded, with a further selection of Victorian-era India postal history, United States, a broad selection of military and POW mail, and much more.

All bidders, even those who may not routinely browse our Lots and Collections, may find it fruitful to peruse those pages of both postal history and stamps, where some smaller offerings, particularly of classic and semi-classic stamps, complement the more voluminous holdings. For the first time, in addition to those lots which have been extensively photographed online, many feature detailed videos showcasing the entirety of the lot.

Our Autumn 2024 sale, our first listed on Philasearch, welcomed many new bidders from around the world. For our upcoming sale, we again welcome advance bidding via Philasearch and StampAuctionNetwork, as well as live bidding via SAN.

For those participating from outside of Canada, we highlight that our sale is conducted in Canadian Dollars, which may prove advantageous to many bidders who may take advantage of the strength of the U.S. Dollar, Euro, Swiss Franc, or other currencies.

We continue to welcome consignments for our Spring and Autumn 2025 auctions; contact us today to discuss how we may be able to assist. For those who would prefer an outright sale, we are also available to discuss the direct purchase of your collection.

Thank you for your interest in the sale, and best of luck with your bids!

– The Team at Sparks Auctions

Sale 51 Has Finished

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Lot 226 Canada #1396 1995, 45c Flag coil strip, fold-over error, resulting in a dramatic printing error with shifted perforations and missing printing at top, an exceptional and visually-striking error for the specialist, to date the unique recorded example of such an error on this issue. Estimate C$800, sold for C$3,000.00 plus 17% buyer’s premium.

Sale 51 is over. Some items are still available for purchase at the reserve price plus buyer’s premium, taxes and shipping.

Invoices were sent out the morning of October 22nd. Local customers please note that we will be coordinating appointments for those who wish to pick up their lots. If you want to have your lots shipped to you, please e-mail or call us.

Prices Realized can be checked on our Stamp Auction Network listing or downloaded from our site.

Our Mailing List is always the best way to find out the schedule of future auctions, updates, and other information about Sparks Auctions.

Sale 51 coming October 17-19, 2024

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Welcome to the Sparks Auctions Fall 2024 sale!

Lot 688 CVR India 1911 (February 18), First Aerial Post registered postcard to Calcutta, 1a stationery uprated with 4a adhesive, tied by neatly-struck rose “First Aerial Post / U.P. Exhibition Allahabad” cachet, registration etiquette alongside, Allahabad despatch and Wellesley Street Calcutta c.d.s. (2½2 Feb) c.d.s. on front, some light edge wear and trivial marks at lower left, a fine and rare registered card, and a desirable example from the world’s first official air mail flight. Estimate C$1,500

We are pleased to offer our traditional selection of quality stamps and postal history of Canada, British North America, and the world. Select single stamps of Canada and B.N.A. are complemented by a range of scarce multiples, plate proofs, die proofs, and more. Our Worldwide section includes artist essays, specimens, and ever-popular varieties and sets of the British Commonwealth. Postal history includes an extensive offering of single covers, including a broad worldwide component, particularly of India and pioneer aviation, with a variety of pilot-signed covers. Our offerings of world postal history collections and accumulations are particularly strong, sure to entice collector and dealer alike.

We encourage all bidders, even those who may not routinely browse our Lots and Collections, to peruse those sections of both postal history and stamps. Far from exclusively voluminous collections and carton lots, these sections also include smaller offerings of material, including stock pages of classic stamps, group lots of covers, wholesale quantities of single stamps or sets, and more. As always, these lots have been extensively photographed, with thousands of high-quality images available online at StampAuctionNetwork.com and Philasearch.com.

For those who cannot attend in person, the sale will be conducted live on StampAuctionNetwork.com, allowing bidders to join us as if “on the floor.” For the first time, our sale will also be available on Philasearch.com, through which we welcome pre-sale bids. For those participating from outside of Canada, we emphasize that our sale is conducted in Canadian Dollars, which may prove advantageous to many bidders who may take advantage of the strength of the U.S. Dollar, Euro, Swiss Franc, or other currencies.

We continue to welcome consignments for our Winter 2025 auction; contact us today to discuss how we may be able to assist. For those who would prefer an outright sale, we are also available to discuss the direct purchase of your collection.

This sale is the result of the dedicated efforts of a core group of professionals, including Eliseo Temprano (President), Peter MacDonald (General Manager), Kate Morrow (Auction Coordinator), and Matt Johnston (Website & Technical Coordinator), as well as an enthusiastic team supporting lotting, sale viewing, and auction day. We thank you for your interest in the sale, and wish you luck with your bids!

Chris Green
Managing Director & Chief Philatelist

Sale 50 Is Over

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Lot 87 Canada #215 1935 10c Green Windsor Castle in a full sheet, mint never hinged, Plate 1 (UR). Very fine. Unitrade $ 925, sold for C$900.00 plus 17% buyer’s premium.

Sale 50 has ended. Invoices were sent out on June 11 by e-mail, please contact us if you were expecting an invoice and did not receive one. Local customers please note that we will be coordinating appointments for those who wish to pick up their lots. If you want to have your lots shipped to you, please e-mail or call us.

Prices Realized can be checked on our Stamp Auction Network listing or downloaded from our site. A small number of lots remain for sale at the Reserve price, and can be seen at this link.

Our Mailing List is always the best way to find out the schedule of future auctions, updates, and other information about Sparks Auctions.

Announcing Sale 50

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Lot 2 Canada #3TC 12d Queen Victoria “Scar” Die Proof in Orange, on India paper with huge margins (29 x 29 mm), clearly showing a “scar” in CE of PENCE. An extremely rare proof, with only a handful known in any colour, this one is accompanied by a 2023 Greene Foundation certificate describing it as having a “natural diagonal paper crease, tiny pinhole at crown and thin in top margin.” Unitrade CV$12,500.

Welcome to our General Public Sale #50, the second of three scheduled for 2024. This sale offers our usual wide range of material, with quality Canada and provinces, British Commonwealth and worldwide singles, sets and collections. These include part three of the W.J. McGill collection of Scandinavia, a good offering of Canadian Federal and Provincial Revenues, several remarkable Wildlife Habitat Conservation lots and much more. Also of note is the second part of the Andrew Ellwood precancel collection.

Be sure to have a close look at our over 120 lots of postal history and postcards, and part four of the Gordon Richardson early Manitoba postal history collection, as well as a fine selection of useful postal history from Canada and worldwide countries including those in Scandinavia. Also of note in this sale is another great offering of philatelic literature.

We are proud to continue our long-standing tradition of showing online photos or scans of every single lot, so you know what you are buying, especially if you are not able to do pre-sale viewing in person. This sale is accompanied by thousands of high-quality pictures, far more than we can show in the print catalogue, which can all be seen in full colour on StampAuctionNetwork.com.

As usual, this sale will be conducted live on StampAuctionNetwork.com, also with a live floor, via telephone and other traditional bidding methods. A reminder that our buyer’s fee is still at 17%, and that all transactions are in Canadian dollars—a bonus for US customers and those using other currencies.

Enjoy the sale!

The Sparks Auctions Team