viewing collections: viewing the world traveler collection

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Issue 32 - August 2, 2013 - StampNewsOnline.net On June 26-27, 2013 Robert A. Siegel Galleries pre- sented at auction the wide ranging World Traveler Col- lection of British Commonwealth and General Foreign stamps. In this viewing I have focused primarily on the scarcer stamps and better realizations, interspersed with some unusual pieces. The first lot selected for viewing was the 1967 Anguilla Independence overprints, Sc. 1-16, shown Sc. 16) in mint NH condition. Described as one of the rarest British Com- monwealth sets from the Queen Elizabeth II era, the auctioneers tell us “The Postmaster of Anguilla strictly controlled the sale of this issue due to the short supply of stocks on which to overprint. No trade or overseas orders for mint stamps were accepted.…very few mint sets were sold over the counter, creating one of the rarest regularly issued post-war sets of the world. With an SCV of $20,900, the set sold for $23,000. (All prices in this report do not include the 15% Buyers’ Pre- miums that are added on to these hammer prices.) Many valuable worldwide stamps stem from overprints and their varieties. One of the many such lots in the Traveler Col- lection was this Bahamas 1918 1p car- mine & black with the “War Tax” double overprint, one Inverted (Sc. MR5b). With a light hinge remnant, this well centered example sold for $600 against a $1,100 SCV. On page 2 we see the Batum 1919 50r on 3k red, Im- perforate, with tete-beche surcharges (Sc. 48 variety). Viewing Collections: Viewing the World Traveler Collection by John F. Dunn If you enjoy this article, and are not already a subscriber, for $12 a year you can enjoy 60+ pages a month. To subscribe, go to [email protected]

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Page 1: Viewing Collections: Viewing the World Traveler Collection

Issue 32 - August 2, 2013 - StampNewsOnline.net �

On June 26-27, 2013 Robert A. Siegel Galleries pre-sented at auction the wide ranging World Traveler Col-lection of British Commonwealth and General Foreign stamps. In this viewing I have focused primarily on the scarcer stamps and better realizations, interspersed with some unusual pieces.

The first lot selected for viewing was the 1967 Anguilla Independence overprints, Sc. 1-16, shown Sc. 16) in mint NH condition. Described as one of the rarest British Com-monwealth sets from the Queen Elizabeth II era, the auctioneers tell us “The Postmaster of Anguilla strictly controlled the sale of this issue due to the short supply of stocks on which to overprint. No trade or overseas orders for mint stamps were accepted.…very few mint sets were sold over the counter, creating one of the rarest regularly issued post-war sets of the world.

With an SCV of $20,900, the set sold for $23,000. (All prices in this report do not include the 15% Buyers’ Pre-miums that are added on to these hammer prices.)

Many valuable worldwide stamps stem from overprints and their varieties. One of the many such lots in the Traveler Col-lection was this Bahamas 1918 1p car-mine & black with the “War Tax” double overprint, one Inverted (Sc. MR5b). With a light hinge remnant, this well centered example sold for $600 against a $1,100 SCV.

On page 2 we see the Batum 1919 50r on 3k red, Im-perforate, with tete-beche surcharges (Sc. 48 variety).

Viewing Collections:Viewing the World Traveler Collectionby John F. Dunn

If you enjoy this article, and are not already a subscriber, for $12 a year you can enjoy 60+ pages a month. To subscribe, go to [email protected]

Page 2: Viewing Collections: Viewing the World Traveler Collection

Issue 32 - August 2, 2013 - StampNewsOnline.net �

This vertical pair shows a sheet margin at left and the bottom stamp has the surcharge inverted. With a light horizontal crease just below the top stamp, this very rare error—the inverted surcharge is not listed in Scott or Stanley Gibbons. With an SCV of $1,950 as two normal stamps, this pair fetched $1,600.

Like other early rarities, this stamp doesn’t look like much, but it is “an especially choice example” of a great rarity, the British Columbia & Vancouver Island 1860 2-1/2p dull rose, Imperforate (Sc. 1) with large part origi-nal gum. With an SCV of $20,000 and a

Unitrade Canada catalog value of C$62,500, it realized $18,000.

British East Africa was represented by the 1891 1/2a on 2a vermilion Manu-script Surcharge and “A.D.” (Sc. 33B) and a Mombasa circular datestamp and blue crayon cancel. One of the rarest of the Mombasa Provisionals, it almost doubled its $3,000 SCV, selling for $5,750.

British Guiana included this very fine unused (no gum) example of the 1852 10c blue with White Line Above the Value (Sc. 10). (Note: for a better look at the line, use your pdf magnifier tool.) This VF, sharp impression stamp with a $1,900 SCV was hammered down for $1,500.

Canada included this 1857 7-1/2p green (Sc. 9) unused (no gum) beauty with ample margins and a sharp impression. With a $7,000 SCV and a Uni-trade C$12,000 catalog value, this stamp realized $5,500.

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Also from Cana-da we see the 1899 2(c) on 2/3rds of a 3c Port Hood Pro-visional (Sc. 88C) showing a faint trace of a second handstamp just above the normal one. The stamp is tied by a “Port Hood N.S. JA 4, 1899” postmark on the locally addressed cover.

As explained in the lot description, “On December 29, 1898, the postage rate was lowered from 3c to 2c, effec-tive as of January 1, 1899. This created a shortage of 2c stamps. Boggs quotes from the postmaster of Port Hood regarding the shortage:

‘When the change in Canadian postage was made -- of which we got notice by wire -- I had only a very few two cent stamps in stock so that before I got my supply from Ottawa I completely ran out of them, and, to keep my ac-count straight, was compelled to cut threes...about 200 ‘2’ and 100 ‘1’ were used. Those stamps I put on letters for delivery within the county as much as possible...’.”

The auctioneers declared that the light second hand-stamp surcharge qualified this as a double surcharge but acknowledged that “some experts feel this is not a true double surcharge.”

Cataloged as the normal provisional with a $7,750 SCV and a Unitrade value of C$8,000, this rare cover went for $5,750.

Another cover, shown here, bears a Gold Coast diagonal half of the 1884 2p slate, used as 1p (Sc. 14b) with the stamp tied by an “Axim No 28 84” on the small folded letter to Elmi-na. With an SCV of $5,000, it realized $4,250.

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Although not rare, an-other scarce, interesting variety is this Great Britain 1p lilac that is printed on both sides (Sc. 89a). Most unusual, the impression on the gummed side is just as strong as the normal im-pression, and it is only lightly hinged. With an estimate of $800, it went for $275.

Back to rarities, we find this India 1852, 1/2a red, Scinde District Post (Sc. A3) showing the complete design with excellent em-bossing and only a tiny edge nick at about the five o’clock position, cancelled by a diamond of dots and later affixed to a small piece.

The auctioneers tell us that the 1/2a red Scinde Dawk was the first stamp issued in all of Asia, but because it was embossed on wafer it had a tendency to crack and even disintegrate, so it was replaced with stamps embossed on paper.

With an SCV of $14,000, this stamp soared to $23,000.

Next we see two examples of the India 1948 Gandhi Official. Only 300 of each of these were printed. They were intended to be used by the Governor-General, with none sold to the public, so only a small number of un-used stamps managed to

get out. The lightly hinged 3-1/2a on the left (Sc. O112B, SCV $1,300) realized $6,750; and the 12a on the right (Sc. O112C, SCV $4,000) was hammered down for $7,000.

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Kenya and Uganda presents us with another rarity and an excep-tional realization, in the form of this 1922 £20 green & red (Sc. 41B) well centered and never hinged. Although the auctioneers mention for accuracy a “tiny extraneous ink mark”, this did not seem to detract from the bidding, as the stamp, with an SCV of $22,000, it realized $30,000.

Provisional issues usually arise from a lack of appropriate stamps to meet one or more rates, but this Labuan 1883 $1.00 with Manuscript Surcharge (Sc. 15) on the 15c blue was produced by the Postmaster at the request of the local coal mine man-agers for franking parcels. It was never sold over the Post Office counter.

With part original gum and bright color, this very fine example went for $4,250 against a $4,800 SCV.

Crowned circle handstamps are popular with Com-monwealth collec-tors. Displayed here is a cover to England with a clear strike of a Lagos 1859, “PAID AT LAGOS” hand-stamp (Sc. A1), also with a “Lagos Jy 18 72” c.d.s., a red Liverpool Paid handstamp and a manuscript “5” on the front, plus a Manchester August 14 backstamp on the back. Although the flap is missing and there is minor cover soiling, the stamp approached its $4,250 SCV with a $4,000 hammer price (and exceeded it when you add on the 15% Buyer’s Premium, bringing the price paid to $4,600).

On page 6 we see the Madagascar 1884 2p violet (Sc. 2) in a complete sheet—three stamps with original gum, but

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with some perf separations and small faults, described as “inevitable with a sheet of these large fragile stamps, com-plete sheets of any of the Madagascar Consular Mail stamps are rare.” With an SCV of $1,560 for four singles, it sold for $5,750.

One of the rarest Madagascar British Consular Mail issues is the 1886 3p rose with Red Seal Handstamp (Sc. 57). Shown here with the usual blue crayon cancel, it has a “trivial” thin spot. Only existing in used condition and described as “missing from even the most advanced British Com-monwealth collections, this example with a $15,500 SCV went for $9,500.

Another area for specialists is the various Malaya is-sues, including the Japanese Occupation issues. One example is this Malaya Treng-ganu 1942, $1.00 ultramarine & violet on blue issue with a Japanese Occupation Chop (Sc. N15), Trengganu being along the east coast of the Malay Peninsula. De-scribed as with “typical brownish original gum, deep colors…one of the scarcest of the Japanese Occupation overprints”, this example far exceeded its $1,650 SCV, selling for $4,500.

Another fascinating lot for specialists is this Mesopotamia 1917 1pa on 20pa carmine rose, with an additional overprint in Arabic (Sc. N20). Listed but unpriced in Scott, it has a $10,860 Gibbons value (converted from pounds) and sold for $12,000.

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We also encounter important—and better known—rarities in New-foundland.

The stamp on the left is the 1860 1sh orange (Sc. 15) with a light grid can-cel and full margins—rare thus. Described as “among

the finest available,” this stamp with an SCV of $11,500 and a Unitrade value of C$15,000 brought $12,000.

The stamp on the right is the 1919 3c red brown Hawker Air Post (Sc. C1) with manuscript initials “J.A.R.” on the reverse. The auctioneers tell us, “Postmaster J. A. Robin-son of St. John’s overprinted 200 stamps for the special flight. No more than 87 unused stamps can still exist, though the actual number of surviving copies is probably quite lower.” With an SCV of $27,500 and a Unitrade value of C$35,000, this stamp went for $18,000.

New South Wales is well known for its “Sydney Views” issues. Some of the later examples are common, but the earlies are rare, and valuable. Among these, the 1850 1p dull carmine on bluish wove paper with the background hill unshaded (Sc. 2j) is among the rarest—and this example, unused (no gum), with full margins all

around, rich color and a fine impression, sold for $6,500 against a $10,500 SCV (which suggests that the variety may be overvalued in Scott).

Next we view a stamp whose value at-tribute cannot be seen in this photo. It is the North West Pacific Islands 1916 2-1/2p dark blue watermarked Wide Crown and Narrow A (Sc. 14), the watermark being the value-added characteristic, which is often the case with early issues from around the world. With only 34 known examples, this stamp with an SCV of $19,000 realized $23,000.

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It doesn’t look like much, but this stamp is aptly described as “One of the rar-est stamps of the British West Indies and one of the highlights of the world traveler collection.” It is the St. Christopher 1888 1p on 2-1/2p Without the Bar that is sup-posed to obliterate the denomination at the bottom (Sc. 23).

One sheet of twenty 2-1/2p stamps was surcharged with the first setting of the One Penny overprint, and most were used, leaving only about five unused copies. This example with original gum and an SCV of $31,500 went for $19,000.

St. Lucia was represented in the auc-tion by the unissued 1885 6p slate blue (Sc. 26) with large part original gum, deep rich color, and fine centering for this tight-margin issue. With an SCV of $1,500, it sold for $550.

Among the interesting approaches to filling the gap in stamp supplies is splitting an old issue to meet a new need. One example is the St. Vincent 1880 1p overprint on half of the 6p green. This is best displayed in an Unsevered Pair (Sc. 30a), which shows the stamp before being split into two. This

o.g. example with an SCV of $2,000 realized $700. Sarawak includes this 1942 $3.00 blue

green & rose Japanese Occupation Hand-stamp (Sc. N19A), described as “by far the rarest of the Sarawak Japanese Occupation stamps.”

The auctioneers warn us, “The vast majority of Sarawak $3.00 Japanese Oc-cupation stamps offered on the market are forgeries. This genuine, mint never hinged example sold for $5,250 against a $2,750 SCV, suggesting that the SCV is held down in part by the availability of forgeries.

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Selected next for viewing is the Sol-omon Islands 1939 2-1/2p olive green & rose violet in a vertical pair Imperfo-rate Horizontally (Sc. 71a). This mint N.H. example sold for $24,000—dou-ble its $12,000 SCV.

Few stamps can compare for sim-plicity of design with the early Uganda issues, but within that simplicity de-sign varieties make all the difference

in value. Shown here is the Uganda 1895 30(c) black with Wide Letters within a Wide Stamp (Sc. 3). Without gum as issued in this horizontal strip of three the left stamp measures 18mm.

As explained in the lot description, “The March printing was made with nine stamps per row, though the width of each stamp was made by Reverend Millar as he went along, resulting in a variance of width from 20mm to 26mm. In April, Reverend Millar changed the format of producing these stamps, so that eleven stamps were placed in each row, with stamps measuring 16 to 18mm. The 30c value is considerably more rare in the narrow setting (Sc. 22). The left stamp on this strip measures exactly 18mm, which would be in the range of the narrow setting, though it was produced in the March printing, since the other two stamps measure at least 20mm. If the left stamp were separated from the strip, it could easily be classified as the narrow (April) printing, which catalogs $9,000.00 per stamp.” [emphasis added. JFD.]

Enticingly described as “conservatively cataloged as three singles of number 3”, the strip sold for $4,250 against that conservative SCV of $5,700.

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This completes our viewing of the extensive British Commonwealth section of the Traveler Collection, and we now turn to the smaller General Foreign section, the first selec-tion being this block of four of the Austria Lombardy-Venetia 1856 45c blue on machine-made paper (Sc. 6d) with bold “Cremona 23/6” circular date-stamps.

Described as “a superb and rear block of four in the finest attainable quality,” the auction-eers tell us, “Any block of four of the Lombardy-Venetia 45c value is rare, as this was the highest denomination that was printed. What makes this particular block so special is its outstanding qual-ity, without any of the creases or other faults that plague most existing used blocks from this time period. Ex Bur-rus and offered to the market for the first time in nearly 50 years.”

However, with an SCV of $22,500, this rarity did not sell.

Next we view one of the fascinat-ing COLOMBIA “SCADTA” airmail issues, the 1920 10c Woman and Boy Watching Plane (Sc. C2). With-out gum as issued, and only 38 re-corded examples, this large-margin

stamp with an SCV of $3,000 realized $1,300.

Dominican Republic’s early issues include this 1866 Coat of Arms 1r black on pale green (Sc. 6) with a Santo Domingo circu-lar datestamp and full margins all around. Described as “a rare stamp that is almost never found in this choice quality,” it car-ries an SCV of $2,000 and a hammer price

of $2,100.

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Next up is the rarest stamp of Estonia, the 1919 1k orange perf 14-1/2 x 14-3/4 Tallinn Provisional (Sc. 8). Only seven were printed and this mint N.H. example with as SCV of $5,500 sold for $4,250.

France included this cover with the top right stamp being the 1928 10fr on 1.50fr “Ile de France” air mail issue (Sc. C4), the cover also with a 1fr single and a pair of 25c stamps, all tied by “New-York Au Havre 23-8-28” First Day of Issue octago-nal datestamps.

This flown regis-tered catapult cover to Martel, France also displays a well-struck six-line catapult handstamp cachet in black near the upper left.

The auctioneers explain, “the provisional surcharges were created during an attempt to create a new service to expedite mail crossing the Atlantic. This was accomplished using a combination of boat and plane to transport the mail. The mail was placed on board the ship, and a plane would take off from the ship at a predetermined point. This new Catapult Mail service gained about 24 hours, as mail on board ships had to wait for the ship to dock and then be removed. The “Ile de France” provisionals were created due to the popularity of the first leg of the voyage.”

Of the 900 stamps that were surcharged, 250 are known to have been flown. With an SCV of $10,500, this cover could do no better than $5,500.

Coming back to overprint rarities, we view the French Morocco 1914 10c + In-verted 5c +10c Rose (Sc. B1). It is described as “the rarest semi-postal stamp of the entire world as well as one of the rarest stamps in the French Colonies.” But with

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slightly disturbed original gum, and a light natural gum wrinkle, it could do no better than about one-third of its $23,000 catalog value, closing at $7,500.

Greece Hermes Heads included this 1861 20L dark blue on bluish Athens Print (Sc. 10). Lightly cancelled close at bottom left but with mostly full margins, and de-scribed as “the key rarity to completing a Greece collection,” this stamp with its SCV of $15,000 did not sell.

This 1872 Hungary 1938 20f Philatelic Exhibition Souvenir Sheet Imperforate (Sc. 528 va-riety), in an uncut vertical pair of two sheets, is believed to be one of only two known pairs, and with an SCV of $9,000 as single imperf sheets, this variety fetched $16,500.

Italy gives us the 1943-44 5c-50c “Base Atlantica” Local Overprints, the first set (Sas-sone 6-11) lightly hinged and the second set (Sassone 24-29),

with some slightly dis-turbed o.g., but the key 5c stamp not disturbed.

The auctioneers tell us “these sets are almost never offered, with the 15-C from the first set and 5-cent from the sec-

ond set being great rarities.Unfortunately, like other General Foreign rarities, with

a Sassone value of € 46,850, this lot also did not sell.On page 13 we see the Mexico 1913 5c black & red

without embossing and with a colorless roulette (Sc. 338). Without gum as issued, this example sold for $250, or one-

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third of its $750 SCV.

The cover on view here shows the Nyassa 1901 2-1/2r-300r Giraffe and Camels with Inverted Centers (Sc. 26 var-38 var), all tied by non-postal cancels, sent to Portugal with two receiv-ing backstamps. Although philatelic, it makes for a nice display piece. Estimated at $400-500, it fetched $450.

Next we see an 1846 cover with the Netherlands Indies 1846 “Duiten” Post-age Due Label (Sc. J1) with a manu-script “216” and “13 ? 1846”, the label placed partially over a blue Arnhem originat-ing postmark, the cover also with a red French departure circular datestamp. A rare example of a label that was in use for only four months, it realized $4,750, or almost three times its SCV of $1,650.

Although numbered J1, the 1846 label above was the second Netherlands Antilles Postage Due issue, and the cover here shows not only the first Netherlands Antilles Postage Due, but what also is the world’s first Postage

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Due stamp. This 1845 “Koper” Postage Due Label (Sc. J2) with manuscript “2-16” and “13 Aug 1846” is affixed to an 1846 folded letter, the cover also with a blue Gravenhage originating circular datestamp and a manuscript “per overland mail via Marseilles”. Despite a few faint toned spots, this rare proper use of the world’s first Postage Due stamp, with an SCV of $2,000, sold for $5,000.

We complete this viewing with the St. Pierre & Miquelon 1942 55c Prus-sian blue “France Libre” overprint (Sc. 233). Only 45 of these overprint-ed stamps were produced, and this well centered, lightly hinged stamp sold for $10,500 against an SCV of $11,000.

If you enjoyed this article, and are not already a subscriber, for $12 a year you can enjoy 60+ pages a month. To subscribe, go to [email protected]