Aust States, Aust, Papua and GRI stamps go INSANE at auction

Post by **GlenStephens** » 26 Nov 2017 17:35

Australia States, Aust, Papua and GRI stamps go INSANE at major auction.

An incredible story I'll have more detail on, and examples when I type it up in an hour from now.

Please check back then .. EVERY member of this board needs to read this. The value of what you own HAS gone up, and that you need to buy WILL go up so secure better thinks NOW.

High ticket prices at a huge auction, High cat and rare stamps getting WAY above full Gibbons and full ACSC. Unheard of.

Roos, KGV, Australia States, Papua, GRI etc. It all went INSANE.

Glen

Check back in an hour please.

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 26 Nov 2017 20:17

Continued ......

Every person reading this who owns any better grade Australia State, Australia Roos and KGV, and Papua, and GRI MUST read this. The value of your collection just went up is WHY!

Almost no-one reading this knew a major action took place on Thursday November 23 in Zurich Switzerland – Friday November 24 Australia time. This was the Besançon collection. Huh? Me too.

Had never heard of Besançon, but due to the wonders of google I discover it is - Besançon the capital of Doubs and the former capital of Franche-Comt, a region in eastern France close to the border with Switzerland. So there!

Whoever was buying the stamps in Besançon bought some very nice ones, that is for sure. Was presumably a family collection, and many of the stamps were from collections sold 50 or 60 years back, but some of them were from recent sales like Hugh Morgan of Melbourne, so a very mixed bag.

The stamps were auctioned by Swiss company Corinphila which I am sure 95% of active Australia collectors have never, or only barely heard of. They are a well established auction house in Switzerland, but would be far better known of course by collectors of Switzerland and Germany and Europe which is where most of their bread and butter material comes from.

Anyway they somehow got consigned this Besançon collection. And the first section of it ran it to auction late November. Did they TELL the 100s of cashed up local collectors here they were doing this - of course not! I am sure a small handful of their client base are Australia collectors, nd were advised by company emails etc, but that is being generous I am sure.

Corinphila in their vast wisdom did not take page ads in "Stamp News" to ADVISE collectors this great material was going to be offered. They DID however send the Managing Director and an offsider to fly out with the material for viewing in October, and 2 x doubtless Business Class air tickets, and hotels, and internal flights, and entertainment, and a TON of insurance cover cost on the value of it all, likely costing them 50 or 100 times more than a page ad, but hey - what would I know about marketing and promotion! 8)

I had no idea the sale was occurring until Rod Perry was lamenting on stampboards they did not attribute a nice block of 6 of Victoria SG #1 as having his ownership provenance listed in past owners.

Anyway I saw that post here after the Swiss had flown back to Zurich with their stamps, that I'd have loved to inspect first hand. I then needed to email and ask for a sale catalogue for goodness sakes.

The sale got strong results, HOWEVER clearly they'd have been a TON higher had Corinphila done the bare basics, and advertised the sale was taking place, in the local stamp press.

I urge all readers to make a cup of coffee. And click on this link below and go through it page by page.

The auction does have SG and ACSC values for most lots, added in that quirky European style.

The hammer prices realised are is Swiss Francs which if course is a far stronger currency than the $A.

And then one must add all the horrific fees and changes and imposts and taxes that Swiss auctioneers are famous for.

So in brief, multiply the hammer price by 1.50 to ROUGHLY see what the $A price of each lot was invoiced at.

i.e. Lot 616 a mint NSW Sydney view was 25,000 CHF hammer which means someone was invoiced about $A37,500. Full SG is £9,000 or $A15,750, so it sold for WAY over twice full SG, and so on throgh the catalogue.

Make a cup of coffee and turn your phone and TV off, and go through this link start to finish –

https://corinphila.ch/en/_auctions/&action=showLots&auctionI ... s=1&page=1

Page by page.

There are MASSES of things that got more than FULL SG and FULL ACSC as you can see. Astounding.

I'll add some examples after dinner. OR add your comments here by all means.

David Benson · Post by **David Benson** » 26 Nov 2017 20:26

Glen, sorry you were not forewarned about the sale but it was discussed many times at society meetings .

I have been informed that this was only Part 1 of the sales with another two planned for next year,

I was watching the sale online and was surprised with the realisations for the early imperfs., especially mint whether they had gum or not.

I made a comment yesterday at the PSNSW meeting that Mark Dankin's realisations for his NSW which was sold a few years ago at Millennium would have at least doubled,

David B.

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 26 Nov 2017 20:30

David I do not go to "Society Meetings", nor do 99% of the potential local buyers of this material.

Yes the Corinphila CEO advised me by email there were 2 more sales. I launched a large ballistic missile into his nether regions in recent weeks, and pray he may now get off his bum and run some ads for those 2 at least.

I placed quite a few bids before the sale but when it started live - watched it live like you did at about 4am local time Friday!

MIND BOGGLING.

Most action was in the room where 3 or 4 Melbourne Australia dealers all flew over all assuming the others would not be there, as pre-sale publicity had been appalling, and all bidding each other up like madmen.

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 26 Nov 2017 20:37

David Benson wrote:
I was watching the sale online and was surprised with the realisations for the early imperfs., especially mint whether they had gum or not.

Agree.

1850 2d no gum, "unused" oxidised, with corner crease. SG £ 8,000 = $A14,000.

Starting bid : 1,000 CHF
Hammer price : 10,500 CHF = $A15,750 approx invoice.

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 26 Nov 2017 20:43

Nice looker for sure, but NO Cert, and no provenance. SG £325 = $A565

Starting bid : 200 CHF
Hammer price : 950 CHF = $A1,425 approx

Near 3 times FULL SG!

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 26 Nov 2017 20:48

Again very pretty "WALE" var, name coll, but NO cert, and SG £600 = $A1050

Starting bid : 750 CHF
Hammer price : 2,400 CHF = $A3600 approx

Over 3 x Full SG.

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 26 Nov 2017 20:53

Also NO cert and no provenance. "Unused no gum" Lot 63. SG £750 = $A1300

Starting bid : 200 CHF
Hammer price : 2,600 CHF = $A3900.

THREE times full SG Cat!

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 26 Nov 2017 20:58

Roo and KGV often got INSANE results

This is cat $A3,000 MINT. Lot 6555.

My guess is this was a toned gum or heavy hinged etc mint copy some spiv added a bodgie corner cancel to.

Starting bid : 300 CHF
Hammer price : 2,000 CHF = $A3000.

I'd have gladly taken $A500!

dukeprince · Post by **dukeprince** » 26 Nov 2017 21:04

Thanks the heads up, amazing results.

Lot 6031 2 Sydney views with diamond of dots cancels similar to India I have never heard of , anyone have further information?

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 26 Nov 2017 21:07

dukeprince - you must ALWAYS add images. NO-ONE can read your mind. You should know that.

It used to be believe that was used in New Hebrides but that is now debunked I believe.

David Benson · Post by **David Benson** » 26 Nov 2017 21:12

Dukeprince,

re Diamond of Dots.

It was originally thought it was an arrival cancel on Ships mail in Noumea, New Caledonia but it has now presumed to have been used at a Branch office in Sydney,

The NSW handbook mentions that there are two configurations of the dots, possibly one used in Sydney and the other on arrival in Noumea. Most probably a mystery which will never be solved.

David B.

dukeprince · Post by **dukeprince** » 26 Nov 2017 21:18

David Benson wrote:Dukeprince,

re Diamond of Dots.

It was originally thought it was an arrival cancel on Ships mail in Noumea, New Caledonia but it has now presumed to have been used at a Branch office in Sydney,

The NSW handbook mentions that there are two configurations of the dots, possibly one used in Sydney and the other on arrival in Noumea. Most probably a mystery which will never be solved.

David B.

Thanks David, is it identical to that used in India?

David Benson · Post by **David Benson** » 26 Nov 2017 21:22

Glen,

There was some discussion over lunch yesterday before the PSNSW meeting and it was mentioned that there were some mistakes in the descriptions, a well known forgery which wasn't mentioned. I also learned something which I never knew before about the items ex. Lathrop Pack.

It appears that Mr. Pack had the habit of enhancing numeral cancels with Black ink which cannot be removed and many items in the sale of Sydney Views and some covers were enhanced which was not mentioned in the descriptions.

David B.

David Benson · Post by **David Benson** » 26 Nov 2017 21:25

re. Diamond of dots.

They were supplied to many French Colonies before the diamond with abbreviations were supplied. Pondicherry used the abbreviation of INDE on the later type,

Joy would be the better person to ask about the origin of the Indian Diamond of Dots.

David B.

Rod Perry · Post by **Rod Perry** » 26 Nov 2017 21:30

The upcoming auction of this incredible collection, of which Australia is a bit player, formed by a man of immense wealth, commenced last year.

The Australian Colonies/Commonwealth section has been advertised throughout 2017.

Most, if not all of the key players were represented at the auction last week.

That is not to say that some realisations may have improved by broader promotion. If so, I doubt that the increase would have been significant.

My overview of the auction appears in Australasian Stamp News in Jan/Feb 2018. Amongst the notable realisations also were plenty of great items which slipped through the cracks. I comment upon some "bloopers", to balance the commentary.

There are to be three more auctions featuring Australia from this amazing collection.

Rod

Lakatoi 4 · Post by **Lakatoi 4** » 26 Nov 2017 21:32

So any idea who this seller is/was

Very few clues from the auction preview:

"The “BESANÇON - Australia & Australian States” collection (Part 1) which, put together over the last 40 years in secret, documenting in an inimitable way the philately and postal history of Australia from 1850 to 1960, is particularly important. There is no doubt that this is one of the most important and complete collections of this collecting area that have ever been formed. With the highest standards of rarity and quality, you will find many magnificent covers and single stamps, spectacular multiples, rare essays and much more in this collection. One can only be astonished at the sight of what is being offered, and there has already been much talk of this in collectors’ and dealers’ circles!"

Without a doubt this is one of the best collections of Australia and Australian States formed yet it is still missing some of the key pieces to make it complete. An example, he bought a couple of items from the Lord Cornwallis sale yet he didn't buy the 10/- third watermark Harrison two line imprint pair at that auction. Pairs of that are very rare indeed (I briefly owned one) and the Royal collection has the only imprint block of 4.

And I now know who bought some of Peter Troy's BNG material.....dammit

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 26 Nov 2017 21:37

David Benson wrote:Glen,

There was some discussion over lunch yesterday before the PSNSW meeting and it was mentioned that there were some mistakes in the descriptions, a well known forgery which wasn't mentioned. I also learned something which I never knew before about the items ex. Lathrop Pack.

It appears that Mr. Pack had the habit of enhancing numeral cancels with Black ink which cannot be removed and many items in the sale of Sydney Views and some covers were enhanced which was not mentioned in the descriptions.

David B.

Yes I think Pack's bizarre penchant was to 'paint in' cancels that were not very clear, in Indian Ink. And often on VERY expensive stamps!

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 26 Nov 2017 21:55

Hinged, reinforced perforations. Lot 6565. Full ACSC $A1,250

Starting bid : 200 CHF
Hammer price : 1,000 CHF = $A1500 approx

Again I'd rip your arm off if you offered me $A500!

Rod Perry · Post by **Rod Perry** » 26 Nov 2017 22:13

David Benson wrote:Glen,

There was some discussion over lunch yesterday before the PSNSW meeting and it was mentioned that there were some mistakes in the descriptions, a well known forgery which wasn't mentioned. I also learned something which I never knew before about the items ex. Lathrop Pack.

It appears that Mr. Pack had the habit of enhancing numeral cancels with Black ink which cannot be removed and many items in the sale of Sydney Views and some covers were enhanced which was not mentioned in the descriptions.

David B.

Charles Lathrop Pack had a philatelic curator, who was the one to apply those Indian ink additions to covers, and occasionally cancellations on stamps, doubtlessly with CLP's approval.

Collectors of NSW/Vic in particular accept the cover annotations as provenance, generally without malaise, although I never included in my collection the enhancements to stamps, which I regarded as philatelic adulteration.

Pack, incidentally, was one of the wealthiest philatelists of all times, with a fortune on the scale of contemporaries' Rockefeller and Vanderbilt.

Rod

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 26 Nov 2017 22:31

There were wacky results all over.

This Pastel 'Long Tom' Lot 6459 was the low value of the set of 4, all of which were regummed and all sold for $A22,500 apiece, and again, ALL were badly regummed, and a few were horribly centred. Full cat of this above was £12,000 or $21,000! Buyer paid ABOVE full SG -

Catalogue said -

slight mark removed from face of stamp, diagonal crease unapparent on face and regummed

Did not stop of frantic buyer of the quartet at $A90,000!

Starting bid : 2,000 CHF
Hammer price : 15,000 CHF= $A22,500

Rod Perry · Post by **Rod Perry** » 26 Nov 2017 22:36

Lakatoi 4 wrote:So any idea who this seller is/was

Very few clues from the auction preview:

"The “BESANÇON - Australia & Australian States” collection (Part 1) which, put together over the last 40 years in secret, documenting in an inimitable way the philately and postal history of Australia from 1850 to 1960, is particularly important. There is no doubt that this is one of the most important and complete collections of this collecting area that have ever been formed. With the highest standards of rarity and quality, you will find many magnificent covers and single stamps, spectacular multiples, rare essays and much more in this collection. One can only be astonished at the sight of what is being offered, and there has already been much talk of this in collectors’ and dealers’ circles!"

Without a doubt this is one of the best collections of Australia and Australian States formed yet it is still missing some of the key pieces to make it complete. An example, he bought a couple of items from the Lord Cornwallis sale yet he didn't buy the 10/- third watermark Harrison two line imprint pair at that auction. Pairs of that are very rare indeed (I briefly owned one) and the Royal collection has the only imprint block of 4.

And I now know who bought some of Peter Troy's BNG material.....dammit

The collector was very secretive, Tony; Philatelists such as Robson Lowe were amongst his few philatelic confidants.

By chance, a childhood friend of the collector was a client/friend of mine. That's the way he did his philatelic business.

There are three more auctions to come: be prepared to be amazed!

This is the greatest Australian Colonies collection to be auctioned since the Burrus sales of early 1960s.

Also be prepared to hear collectors utter: "I should have bought that", for the next several decades.

The cycle never changes.

The Australian Commonwealth section was a late initiative; relatively mundane in comparison with the Colonials.

Rod

Rod Perry · Post by **Rod Perry** » 26 Nov 2017 22:43

Global Administrator wrote:
There were wacky results all over.

This Pastel 'Long Tom' Lot 6459 was the low value of the set of 4, all of which were regummed and all sold for $A22,500 apiece, and again, ALL were badly regummed, and a few were horribly centred. Full cat of this above was £12,000 or $21,000! Buyer paid ABOVE full SG -

Catalogue said -

slight mark removed from face of stamp, diagonal crease unapparent on face and regummed

Did not stop of frantic buyer of the quartet at $A90,000!

Starting bid : 2,000 CHF
Hammer price : 15,000 CHF= $A22,500

The bicoloured set was £5 to £9.

The £5 was catalogued by Scott, and had been sold off in U.S. before I bought the £6-£9, offered in this auction.

I bought them, ungummed, in the 1980s, with those APS certificates.

I offered the group to the collector for AU$9000, with the comment I was not comfortable with them.

I need not have been concerned given the realisations.

Fools rush in . . .

The cycle is unbreakable.

Rod

Didge · Post by **Didge** » 27 Nov 2017 14:26

The seller/collector sounds like an interesting bloke. Looking forward to reading Rods analyses.

Tim

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 28 Nov 2017 13:00

2 line Harrison KGV Imprints are going crazy in price. This horribly centred one above, heavily hinged and perf reinforced, roughly and ugly trimmed along base line, and folded both vertically and horizontally - but on an Estimate 300 CHF estimate, still got 1800 CHF plus all fees = $A2,700 late November 2017, and full cat is just $A2000!

Me, I'd have torn your arm off if anyone offered me $A500 for it if it were my block in stock! An uglier looking block is hard to imagine.

https://corinphila.ch/en/_auctions/?action=showLot&auctionID=14&lotno=6604

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 28 Nov 2017 13:17

Rod Perry wrote:
I offered the group to the collector for AU$9000, with the comment I was not comfortable with them.

I need not have been concerned given the realisations.

Fools rush in . . .

The cycle is unbreakable.

Rod

Yes, whomever paid ~$90,000 for that quartet gets the "Bunny of the Sale" award, some might suggest.

I had Gary Watson from mossgreen Auctions pop in yesterday afternoon for a coffee and chat, as he was in Sydney, and airport security had confiscated his stamp tweezers (as those goons ALWAYS do lately

) and he needed a new pair for a valuation he was doing.

We sat and went through this sale catalogue, and his views on the Victoria "Long Toms" was as equally unenthusiastic as Rod's, and he wondered aloud how they'd fare, if submitted for a CURRENT UK or RPSV Cert.

We noticed with amazement, that the KGV and Kangaroo ACSC catalogues values being quoted (where they WERE actually quoted!) were from ANCIENT Editions.

The "Kangaroos" being at least 1 edition out of date (and prices have often doubled since) and when looking up the KGV Imprint above it appear the KGV ACSC is the 2007 Edition! (The block above is listed in Corinphila as "$1,500 Cat" where my 2007 has it as $A2,000.) A new KGV version updating the now old 2014 Edition is being printed now.

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 28 Nov 2017 14:40

This Besancon collector certainly did not have an 'Eye' for Kangaroo or KGV stamps in many cases.

Hard to imagine an uglier looking pair than these 5/- Roos, horribly centred, even more horrible perfs, and hinged.

A number of Monograms exist so it was not a case of "buy this as no others are out there".

Corinphila Catalogue lists it as "Cat 43zc - $ $ 20'000" (What on earth is wrong with typing "$A20,000"?)

Lot 6578 was of course ACTUALLY catalogued in the current ACSC that has been out for a year or so, at $A35,000.

Despite this, and low start price 5000 CHF, it sold for 22,000 CHF plus fees in the room (=$A33,000 approx) and I'd have taken under half that with joyful shrieks of pleasure, had it been mine, and I had it in stock! 8) 8) 8)

Someone just sold me the 5/- Kangaroo Ash imprint pairs of 3rd and CofA wmks - maybe I should consign them all to Switzerland?

GJ50 · Post by **GJ50** » 28 Nov 2017 14:59

Global Administrator wrote:David I do not go to "Society Meetings", nor do 99% of the potential local buyers of this material.

Yes the Corinphila CEO advised me by email there were 2 more sales. I launched a large ballistic missile into his nether regions in recent weeks, and pray he may now get off his bum and run some ads for those 2 at least.

Glen

There were TWO full days of viewing at the RPSV premises in Melbourne and was told a steady flow of clients/dealers came for viewing over the 2 days, inc a number who flew in from Adelaide /Tasmania.

There was also a full day viewing at Philas but I don't know how many went to that.

GJ50

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 28 Nov 2017 16:03

Gary - it was bog obvious to anyone seeing the catalogue, in person or online WHEN the viewings HAD BEEN. Most were like me - I first was aware there even was a sale planned when these guys and all the stamps, were back in Zurich.

It is like placing a winning bet on the Melbourne Cup or AFL Final the day AFTER the event -- not very hard to do.

I emailed CEO Karl Louis just in case they were still on Sydney for a few days, but no.

My clear point was a VAST number of potential buyers like me were not aware of the viewings. Period.

Dumb, dumb, dumb not to publicise that via ads in ADVANCE in "Stamp News" to the keen retail buyers of this kind of material, 95% of who to this day do not even know the sale took place.

Of course some viewings took place, the rusted on stamp set down there would turn up to the opening of an envelope, but it was a fraction of how many WOULD have, if wisely publicised.

Corinphila advise me this bad oversight is being addressed for the next sales. And the wider stamp collecting public WILL then know the sales are taking place.

Smart.

aklbped · Post by **aklbped** » 28 Nov 2017 20:22

I'm not a member of any societies and completely agree there could have been more local publicity.

However I was aware of the auction through Stamp Auction Network and so did place a few bids - none of which were anywhere near the final price

This is probably a topic for a separate thread, but I've often wondered why any collectors or vendors would not be on SAN...

Bruce.

revenuecollector · Post by **revenuecollector** » 29 Nov 2017 10:52

Looking at some of the results, it appears that "bunnies" don't only exist on eBay...

dukeprince · Post by **dukeprince** » 29 Nov 2017 13:21

Due to the over CV prices on some lots we have perhaps some new serious but under informed collectors entering early Australia stamps.

This is to be celebrated and no one learns quicker than by overpayment when in the early phases, we do know that money is seemingly available to them and thats great for the hobby.

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 29 Nov 2017 15:58

revenuecollector wrote:Looking at some of the results, it appears that "bunnies" don't only exist on eBay...

In a few cases, you may well be correct.

This stamp below was described and sold as 3d "Die 2" but with No cert. Anyone with 20/20 vision should not NEED a cert to sort 3d Die 2s, and my money is, that it is the more common Die 1 ..... I mailed a better centred one to a client today for $A300. (With no 20% buyer fee added!)

The Corinphila mages were all pretty fuzzy sadly, by industry standards, and the blow up above is on their maximum, albeit grainy possibility.

The infallible "Teardrop" test outlined in the last 'Stamp News' below makes visual detection simple.

https://www.glenstephens.com/snnovember17.html

As I explain there, near EVERYTHING offered on ebay as a 3d Roo 'Die 2' is of course NOT a Die 2. The Bunny sellers and buyers both have zero clue most times.

Not sure if Corinphila got it right either.

Anyway, this is cat £700 (if a Die 2 as it was described at) and on the absurdly low estimated 300CHF sold for 2,200 CFH = $A3,300.

Corinphila of course were using ancient ACSC catalogues, but even in the current version, FULL CAT for MUH Die 2 is $A2,250 in large 'OS'.

I do not believe this stamp is Die 2, and even if it were, paying $A3,300 for an 'OS' with NO cert of any kind is insane.

It most likely has a genuine perfin, but the Die 2 is where the big bucks are. Seems like the world's VERY highest price for a Die 1 to me.

Glen

capetriangle · Post by **capetriangle** » 01 Jan 2018 02:41

revenuecollector wrote:Looking at some of the results, it appears that "bunnies" don't only exist on eBay...

Just saw the reference to this thread, I certainly was one of the happy bunnies, purchasing just one lot that my late father and I went after in the Chadwick sale of Western Australia in 1978.

Kindest regards

Richard

capetriangle · Post by **capetriangle** » 01 Jan 2018 02:56

Global Administrator wrote:

Unquestionably, in my opinion, a pair of tight Die 1 round balls, as opposed to the deflated "top teardrop" of the Die 2.

See we can agree on philatelic classification!

Kindest regards

Richard

W5LDY · Post by **W5LDY** » 01 Jan 2018 20:24

capetriangle wrote:
revenuecollector wrote:Looking at some of the results, it appears that "bunnies" don't only exist on eBay...
Just saw the reference to this thread, I certainly was one of the happy bunnies, purchasing just one lot that my late father and I went after in the Chadwick sale of Western Australia in 1978.

Kindest regards

Richard

This shows that patience is sometimes required with going after key pieces at auction. Nearly forty years in this case

Rod Perry · Post by **Rod Perry** » 01 Jan 2018 22:18

W5LDY wrote:
capetriangle wrote:
revenuecollector wrote:Looking at some of the results, it appears that "bunnies" don't only exist on eBay...
Just saw the reference to this thread, I certainly was one of the happy bunnies, purchasing just one lot that my late father and I went after in the Chadwick sale of Western Australia in 1978.

Kindest regards

Richard
This shows that patience is sometimes required with going after key pieces at auction. Nearly forty years in this case

"This shows that patience is sometimes required with going after key pieces at auction. Nearly forty years in this case"

Yes, patience can be a virtue, provided patience = longevity.

Unless, of course, the enviable generational approach is in motion, demonstrated by Richard in continuance of the collection commenced by his late father.

Australasian Stamp News, Jan 2018 edition, contains my abridged Good, Bad & Ugly assessments of some of the lots in the subject auction.

Rod

alltorque · Post by **alltorque** » 02 Jan 2018 23:09

And a Great report too, Rod.
It will be good to follow the next 3 .. auctions realizations to compare
cheers

Rod Perry · Post by **Rod Perry** » 30 Apr 2018 19:09

Besançon Part II now online:

http://f660b8feb5396b87e648727b5bf147a985cd65b2-customer-med ... ralien.pdf

For Australian Colonial and Commonwealth collectors, was there ever a time when such a smorgasbord of material was on offer just over one week apart? (referring of course to Chartwell: http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=80636 just eight days prior!)

What to do? Sell the grandkids for scientific experiments?

Rod

capetriangle · Post by **capetriangle** » 01 Jun 2018 03:22

Arguably more insanity?

The Western Australia Inverted Frame just realized CHF 260,000 plus 21% (=CHF 314,600) about an hour ago in Zurich.

The Swiss Franc and the US$ are at about par currently, so an incredible price.

I did not buy it!

The buyer was bidding online against a telephone bidder. There are, of course, two favorite contenders for the stamp: Joseph Hackmey and Arthur Woo. I do not know who the successful gentleman was.

Kindest regards

Richard

camelspotter · Post by **camelspotter** » 01 Jun 2018 07:21

Richard: did other swans do as well? Or were there pleasant surprises (for the buyer), considering the prices paid by the collector decades ago?

capetriangle · Post by **capetriangle** » 01 Jun 2018 10:09

camelspotter

Yes, there were some outstanding prices. I bought five lots (out of 80) and there were occasions of where I would say, if money were no object, that would be a lovely item to have.

However, of course, money is an object, and part of the fun of collecting on a limited budget is making the choices.

Additionally I had bought six items in the Cape of Good Hope collection the day before where I was the underbidder on the most expensive and lovely Cape of Good cover in the sale (at CHF 17,000) allowing the happy buyer to pay CHF 18,000 + 21% = CHF 21,780 for the item which I had previously decided to bid only up to CHF 10,000 for, causing me to go through the "Please God, don't let me get it phase" of bidding from CHF 10,000 to CHF 17,000.

I had a great time during the sale, only possibly regretting buying one lot for a mere CHF 200.

Kindest regards

Richard

borsac · Post by **borsac** » 01 Jun 2018 10:41

Link with hammer prices:

https://corinphila.ch/en/_auctions/&action=showLots&auctionI ... s=1&page=1

satsuma · Post by **satsuma** » 01 Jun 2018 11:16

Lot# : 3610
Australia

1914/20: 1 d. carmine-red, comb perf. 14¼ x 14, Harrison's first printing, a spectacular block of 30 from lower right of sheet, with "Watermark Inverted" variety, positions 31-36/37-42/43-48/49-54/55-60 right pane, with position 58 showing "CA" monogram, second and third vertical rows all being Die II and position 60 showing outer frame at NE corner retouched. Fresh and very fine, some reinforcement, large part or predominantly unmounted original gum.

Starting bid : 300 CHF
Hammer price : 6,500 CHF

Not a lot of surprise that this lot went for more than the starting bid! I guess it's one way to make sure that everything sells.

Rod Perry · Post by **Rod Perry** » 01 Jun 2018 12:31

As for most auctions, amongst the high results, there was plenty of value for money elsewhere at Besançon, and even some great value unsold lots.

My overview (and that for Chartwell ) will appear in July/August Australasian Stamp News.

Would you agree, Richard, this was one of the better value for money lots yesterday? :

1855 (Jan): 1 s. very deep brown "chocolate" shade, a fine used example with good margins all round and extraordinary depth of colour, cancelled by mute obliterator in black. Provenance: Collection Lars T. Amundsen, SG, London, 6-8 Dec 1967, lot 622.

Hammer just 800CHF.

I've long been puzzled why this rare and highly distinctive "chocolate" shade has not been catalogued by S.G.

Any idea why that should be so, Richard?

Unlike the rare "Salmon", it doesn't so much as require a certificate!

Rod

MJ's pet · Post by **MJ's pet** » 01 Jun 2018 12:38

capetriangle wrote:The buyer was bidding online against a telephone bidder. There are, of course, two favorite contenders for the stamp: Joseph Hackmey and Arthur Woo. I do not know who the successful gentleman was.

When Joseph Hackmey displayed his "Six Australian States" [sic] a few years ago the "Inverted Swan" was the very obvious missing element.

I guess we will find out in due course.

ottawasteve · Post by **ottawasteve** » 01 Jun 2018 13:32

borsac wrote:Link with hammer prices:

https://corinphila.ch/en/_auctions/&action=showLots&auctionI ... s=1&page=1

I bid aggressively pre-auction on some twelve or so items (COGH, NSW and Western Australia), and did not win one (had to work and could not bid real-time). Excellent realizations.

How frustrating.

steve

Rod Perry · Post by **Rod Perry** » 01 Jun 2018 13:55

ottawasteve wrote:
borsac wrote:Link with hammer prices:

https://corinphila.ch/en/_auctions/&action=showLots&auctionI ... s=1&page=1
I bid aggressively pre-auction on some twelve or so items (COGH, NSW and Western Australia), and did not win one (had to work and could not bid real-time). Excellent realizations.

How frustrating.

steve

Tantalisingly low estimates, as for Besançon (to a lesser extent Chartwell ), are generally the way to go to achieve the best aggregate result at auction.

However, the vendor in virtually all such instances needs to be deceased before such estimating procedure can be implemented. (Besançon and Chartwell were both estate auctions)

The logic is obvious: if a vendor is living, once those "tantalisingly low estimates" are sighted, that vendor may be at high risk of becoming deceased.

Rod

capetriangle · Post by **capetriangle** » 01 Jun 2018 15:52

Rod Perry wrote:As for most auctions, amongst the high results, there was plenty of value for money elsewhere at Besançon, and even some great value unsold lots.

My overview (and that for Chartwell ) will appear in July/August Australasian Stamp News.

Would you agree, Richard, this was one of the better value for money lots yesterday? :

1855 (Jan): 1 s. very deep brown "chocolate" shade, a fine used example with good margins all round and extraordinary depth of colour, cancelled by mute obliterator in black. Provenance: Collection Lars T. Amundsen, SG, London, 6-8 Dec 1967, lot 622.
Hammer just 800CHF.

I've long been puzzled why this rare and highly distinctive "chocolate" shade has not been catalogued by S.G.

Any idea why that should be so, Richard?

Unlike the rare "Salmon", it doesn't so much as require a certificate!

Rod

Certainly, I noticed that shade during the auction but had not really planned on adding to the earlier issues in the collection. I did think it was going reasonably during the hammering-down but remembered seeing "chocolate" shades in Frank Chadwick's exhibits (and no-where else) in the early 1970s as supercharged red-browns, rather than this one which may be a supercharged grey-brown. So this one may not actually be the "chocolate" shade as I understand it.

However, it is completely unfair to make a shade classification without actually seeing the stamp.

There was one mistake that I noticed in the WA section of the catalogue that being the "tilted frame" which was incorrectly identified. I pointed it out to them prior to the sale but no mention was made by the auctioneer.

Kindest regards

Richard

borsac · Post by **borsac** » 01 Jun 2018 18:27

Rod Perry wrote:
Tantalisingly low estimates, as for Besançon (to a lesser extent Chartwell ), are generally the way to go to achieve the best aggregate result at auction.

However, the vendor in virtually all such instances needs to be deceased before such estimating procedure can be implemented. (Besançon and Chartwell were both estate auctions)

The logic is obvious: if a vendor is living, once those "tantalisingly low estimates" are sighted, that vendor may be at high risk of becoming deceased.

Rod

Agree being deceased is the only way to handle the anxiety of selling one's collection unreserved