Lot 271 Newfoundland #34 1873 3c Blue Queen Victoria, mint with full original gum, never hinged. A remarkably fresh stamp, with bright colour and fine-very fine. Accompanied by a 2020 Greene Foundation certificate. Unitrade CV$1,850.
Welcome to Sale 36, the Comox Valley Collection
The Comox Valley collection was formed over a period of 40 years, to very high standards. Its owner purchased each stamp or set individually and carefully from reputable dealers and auction houses, and the result is immediately evident. The owner’s priority when purchasing was first to obtain sound stamps; if a never hinged copy could not be located only a lightly hinged one would do. For the used material, clear and light cancels were his preference. Although the collector did not purchase many printing or plate varieties, the collection contains many shade, paper and perforation varieties.
The collection is now being offered in a two day completely unreserved sale: Day One will feature Canada and BNA, followed by the United States; Day Two will feature an alphabetical offering of wide-ranging British Commonwealth countries, followed by strong worldwide.
The Canada collection is quite extensive, and includes strong Provinces, with many desirable, often certified stamps. The United States collection is also fairly complete and includes many rarities, with over 400 certificates of authenticity, many of which are graded.
The British Commonwealth and worldwide collections are also extensive to about 1970 (for many countries) and are made up of mostly fresh mint stamps, with a dusting of used here and there. Some of the better singles and sets are being offered separately, and we have tried not to break up any sets. This part of the collection is strongest in British Commonwealth countries, with a high degree of completion, all collected with the same high standard.
The vast majority of this impressive collection has been scanned online, and can be seen on StampAuctionNetwork.com, where you can participate in advance or live bidding. We gladly welcome requests for more scans. All of our sales are conducted in Canadian dollars, with an industry-low buyer’s premium of 17%.
We hope you enjoy this sale and find many items that make you happy.
Stéphane Cloutier
Auction Manager
Lot 1313, Spectacular Collection of Karl Lewis Hand Painted Covers of the World, sold for C$16,380
Lot 1313 Spectacular Collection of Karl Lewis Hand Painted Covers of the World, with 102 covers plus 3 post cards. The post cards are some of Karl Lewis’ first creations, as he was a photographer early in his career and sold post cards to earn a living. An extensive and beautiful collection, containing many “crème de la crème” of Lewis’ works of art, all displayed and neatly written up on album pages. The collection contains first day covers of newly issued Japanese stamps, covers mailed from the summit of Mount Fuji and covers with Japanese or American ship postmarks. In the first half, the collector uses mostly Japanese covers to illustrate his chronological story of Karl Lewis. In the second half, he presents all his better foreign covers, first day covers, Mount Fuji and Ship covers and ends it with some of his postcards. We also included a non-illustrated cover with a Karl Lewis return address mailed to Marks Stamps in Toronto, Canada (probably mailed while he worked as a manager of an automobile sales company, as there is an automobile-themed label on back). Listing the better illustrated covers would be difficult, as they are all masterpieces, but collectors who know his work should rest assured that the collection is packed with goodies of all sorts, with many rarities. In many instances the owner wrote on the opposite side of the page how much he paid, and from what auction house he bought items, with several priced in the $400 to $850 range, with the lowest priced at $175. Each cover is scanned on our website, and the lucky buyer of this remarkable collection will also get a publication listing all of the Lewis post cards offered in his 1905 catalogue, as well as a few article clippings and an issue of Japanese Philately which includes a very detailed article on Karl Lewis covers, one of a long series published in this magazine from 2011 to 2017, plus the useful 2019 auction catalogue (and PR) for sale of Dr. Steven J. Berlin’s impressive collection. We are offering this collection without a reserve starting price, as we are certain that it will attract competitive bidding. All of the items in this lot are of the highest quality, with fresh, bright colours and very fine or better. Estimate $15,000, sold for C$14,000.00 plus 17% buyer’s premium.
Lot 360, Canada 1919 Aero Club proof of frame design in black printed on card, sold for C$5,148
Lot 360 Canada #CLP3P 1919 Aero Club of Canada Proof of Frame Design in Black, printed on card measuring 45 x 67 mm, and extremely rare, with only two known examples, as stated by collector Bob Jamieson about 40 years ago. Fresh, very fine and desirable. Unitrade CV$2,500, sold for C$4,400.00 plus 17% buyer’s premium.
Lot 863, Extensive Collection of Grey County postal history, from early to modern, sold for C$8,775
Lot 863 Extensive Collection of Grey County Postal History, in ten volumes, with a total of 721 covers and cards ranging from the earliest to modern. Items are neatly displayed on pages with in-depth descriptions of the rates, routes and postmarks, as well as information on each post office, from Aberdeen to Yeovil (Owen Sound is a separate lot), showing opening and closing dates (some were only open for a very short period), etc. It is immediately evident that this collector sought the best possible strikes for each postmark (with early and late dates), and was conscientious about quality of each item he added to the collection. There are too many good items to describe here, so we have selected a few scans for Stamp Auction Network, and have also scanned every page on our website, not only for our customers’ viewing enjoyment, but for preservation’s sake. This collection is loaded with goodies, such as stampless, Cents, Large Queen, Small Queen covers, a good quantity of registered material, either with single frankings (eg. 8c SQ, Leaf and Numerals) or with Registration stamps, and we note some very nice early Money Letters. We note covers, stationery cards, picture post cards, registration receipts, etc., and we note all sorts of postmarks including pre-instrument manuscripts, r.p.o., many broken circles (a very quick spot check revealed some unreported instruments, as well as many earliest and latest dates), c.d.s., “changelings”, duplex, registration and much more. We noted a stampless folded letter with a unique manuscript datestamp from “Derby” which never opened (this is illustrated in Canadian Manuscript Town Postmarks by Handelman and Poitras). A lovely collection, well worth a close look. Estimate $7,500, sold for C$7,500.00 plus 17% buyer’s premium.