war tax

Hidden Treasure

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Many collections contain one or more gems which even the consignor was unaware of. Every Sparks Auction has brought such items to light. Sometimes it is a new discovery, previously unknown; other times it is an item buried in an old-time collection which will excite at least one collector who has been searching for the “missing piece” for a long time.

Lot 1224 was noticed by one of our lotters in an otherwise ordinary and nondescript group.

Canada Airmail Cover #PF6a
Lot 1224 — Canada Airmail Cover #PF6a

1918 Peck flown registered air mail cover, Montreal to Toronto, franked with 5¢ Admiral and 2¢ War Tax Admiral. Cachets are dated JU.23.1918, but flight took place on JU.24 due to the weather. There were stops for gas at Kingston and Deseronto. Has Toronto, JU.24.1918 receiver on back. Only 124 pieces were flown, of which only a small percentage were registered. Flown in a Curtiss JN-4 “Canuch” aircraft. Opened at top. CV $2500 in Airmails of Canada.

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Canada Lots 308, 309 & 549—Rare Admiral Specimens

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These three Admiral lots do not carry a high catalogue value, but we expect they will attract interest for their rarity.

The first set is Lot 308 Canada #MR2B-D, 1915 5¢ to 50¢ Admiral War Tax set of 3, each stamp with purple "Sample" overprint applied diagonally, mint hinged (paper h.r.) with some adhesions, fine-very fine, the 5¢ with natural straight edge at top and 50¢ centered to right and with small gum thin. Only about 5 such sets have been recorded to date. Est $200. The second set (Lot 309) is the Inland Revenue MR2Bi-Di 1915 5¢ to 50¢ Admiral War Tax again in a set of 3, each stamp with purple "Sample" overprint applied diagonally, mint hinged (paper h.r.) with some faults, 5¢ badly thinned, 20¢ trivial scuff and gum loss, 50¢ with thins and gum bends. The first such set we can recall seeing (The Harry W. Lussey collection was missing this Specimen set). Est $200. And to complete the subject, we have Canada #FWT7/FWT16, 1915 War Tax issue (Lot 549), 8 different values (4¢ and 8¢ values are missing), each with purple "Sample" overprint applied diagonally, mint hinged (paper or heavy hinge remnants), some with adhesion on gum and 50¢ value with gum soak stain at left, but overall fine or better. A rare group of specimens with less than 10 of each value recorded to date. Est $150.