Highlight #4 — Locals and Fantasies

In the same section of Canada we find an interesting sequence of Locals and fantasy issues. A close examination will be worthwhile for Lot 720 (52 items of the International Letter Express), Lot 721 (68 College stamp bogus issues), Lots 722 and 726 (two lots of Labrador USA labels), Lot 724 (eight items of Barnard’s Cariboo Express), and Lot 725 (modern postal strike labels on and off cover).

Lot 723Canada Local Delivery bogus issues The popularity of local delivery services, especially in the USA, which issued legitimate stamps to indicate pre-payment led to imitations to sell to collectors. Here is a collection of 30 stamps plus one damaged. Also the definitive 125-page study by David Sessions. Includes Baldwin’s Railroad black on pink laid paper and on wove paper (unlisted), Bancroft’s City Express dark blue, medium and ultramarine on white wove and blue on pale purple on horizontal laid paper, Le beau bistre brown, Bell’s Dispatch (nine examples of these, eight with partial to full original gum, never hinged), Grand Trunk newspaper black on yellow, Ker’s City post three examples, Whittely’s Express brown on white, brown on orange and black on red orange, Winslow Express – five examples, two cut to shape (30 items), generally fine.

Next week we will feature locals and propaganda labels from Europe.

Highlight #3 — Unique Lots

In a scene from the TV show "The West Wing," fictional President Bartlett chewed out an official for misuse of the word unique. Stamp collectors often cringe when unique is used synonymously with interesting but we are losing the battle to the admen and real estate agents and countless others. In Auction 7 we offer a number of items that are truly one-of-a-kind.

Lot 446Canada #104/120 1911 1¢ to 50¢ Admiral Madagascar Specimens, 7 original values from early printings on portion of ledger page tied by red Madagascar "Collection de Berne" handstamps, fine-very fine. A rare and perfect exhibit item. Estimate $500.

There are five lots of these Madagascar Specimens in the auction.  Three are from the Admiral era including Lot 476 and Lot 686, and two are from the 1927 Historical series, Lot 505 and Lot 689.

Lot 689

Lot 689 — Canada #E3P 1927 20¢ orange Special Delivery Madagascar Specimens, strip of 3 on small portion of ledger page tied by red Madagascar "Collection de Berne" handstamps, very fine. Rare and perfect exhibition item. Estimate $200.

There are other truly unique lots and some of these will be featured next week.

Highlight #2 — “C in Circle” postmarks

The scarce "C in circle" postmark is found on more than 20 stamps spread over 6 lots in the first session.  It is found on Large Queens (Lot 281), Small Queens (Lots 281, 294, 315, and 321) as well as the 1897 Leaf (Lot 371) and 1898 Numeral Issue (Lot 391).

LOT 294CANADA #35 1889 1¢ yellow Small Queen, selected used with perfect strike of fancy "C" in twin rings cancel from Ottawa House of Commons, very fine. Estimate $40.

Many other postmark specialties can be found throughout the catalogue for Canada and worldwide. A sample of the Canadian ones includes Lots 1514, 1558, 1603, and 1644 to 1655.

LOT 1558 Canada Collections — Queen Victoria era group selected for cancels, mostly Large and Small Queens and some registered mail stamps. A wonderful selection for the collector interested in postmarks. There are over 130 Small Queens, mostly 2¢ and 3¢ values, but with high values to 10¢ and 8 Large Queens. Better items noted including 3¢ Large Queen with #43 2-ring, 15¢ Large Queen with Halifax straight line, 3¢ Small Queen with fancy "EM" cancel, 5¢ RLS with K in 2-ring from Kentville, two blocks of 3¢ Small Queens. Inspect for other better and interesting items. Estimate $250.

Highlight #1 — Boy Scouts

One collection of Boy Scouts on stamps offers the scarce "wide" Baden Powell on piece as well as the founder in the regular size Lot 957 (COGH #178) and Sergeant Goodyear Lot 956 (COGH #179), both on piece.

LOT 958CAPE OF GOOD HOPE #180 1900 Used 3p blue on blue Baden-Powell, 21mm wide, perf 12, on piece dated MY.11.00, very fine. Scott CV$1500.

The balance of the collection in 16 volumes is offered as Lot 2052.

LOT 2052 — Scout collection includes both Boy Scouts and Girl Guide stamps, over 5,000 stamps in 16 binders and including over 660 souvenir sheets (hinged and never hinged), over 580 imperfs, 265 gutter pairs plus other miscellaneous items such as covers. A major portion of the collection is mint. About one third of the carefully assembled collection is British Commonwealth. We noted 1938 Lithuania athletic set overprints (NH), 1920 Siam semi-postals #B18-B30 (hinged, B30 thinned), 1963 Cyprus 50th anniversary souvenir sheet (NH, trivial stains), 1969 Sierra Leone #382-387 and C100-C105 (both NH) and 1973 Tonga #322-326, C130-C134, CO79-CO71 (NH). Est. $2000.

Catalogues for Sale #7

Catalogues for Sale #7 have been mailed. If you are a subscriber in Canada, you should have yours in a day or two, and USA-bound copies should arrive by the end of this week. International customers will see theirs next week.

Of course, you can see the entire catalogue on your computer by following the Auction #7 link at the right to get to the PDF pages, as well as additional images.