Canadian Stamp Auctions

21 February, 2007 - Eastern Auctions Ltd.

Canadian Forgeries

Believe it or not, there are some people who like to bid on forgeries of Canadian stamps. We’re not sure why, but would guess that having a forgery helps to round off a specialized collection. This could be what you go after when you have collected everything else.

Some forgeries look cheap. But there are others, like the ones shown below, that show a lot of skill:

Lot 442 Scott 7F Estimate $200 Realized $165

Lot 444 Scott 9 F Estimate $275 Realized $160

Lot 1528 Scott C5 F Catalogue $400 Realized $270

These examples are all ex the Dale-Liechtenstein collection. According to Eastern, the above Newfoundland fake overprint was an extremely dangerous forgery and several were sold as genuine in the 1930s before being discovered.

1¢ Small Queen – rare perforations

Lot 465 Scott 35d Catalogue $200 Realized $310

Lot 466 Scott 35d Catalogue $200 Realized $200

These small Queens with the rare 11½ x12 perforations seldom come so well centered and, even rarer, with such nice perfs. Ones like these always catch the bidder’s attention. We have only recorded the sale of three VF copies at auction in the past 7 years. They are definitely scarce.

We were a bit surprised at the above results, but feel that they show how unpredictable stamp auctions can be. Both are described as VF LH. The first one had all its perfs, but had a tiny inclusion speck on the gum. The second one is ex- Sir Gawaine Baillie which is an excellent pedigree, it sold for much less than the first one. The only fault we could find with it was a short perf. in the lower right, but then, short perfs. are quite common with these rare stamps.

So in our view, for what it is worth, these two beauties sold for less than their true value. Congratulations to the buyers, you did well!

2¢ Admirals

Lot 593 Scott 107 Catalogue $27 Realized $140

Lot 598 Unitrade 107e Catalogue $60 Realized $130

Here is another interesting pair for comparison. The first is Scott 107, whose colour is normally referred to as yellow green, but was described by Eastern has sea green. The second is the “green” variety. Don’t we wish we had the expert knowledge to know one from the other!

6¢ Pearson - printed on gum

Lot 841 Scott 591a Catalogue $160 Realized $100

Here’s another result that surprised us because the price was on the low side. How could this be since the market for stamps printed on gum has generally been so strong in recent years? Could it be because the stamp is centered low? Usually this would explain it, but the fact is that in the past two years, we have recorded the sale of ten copies at auction and all of them were centered low. In other words, it seems to be the rule for this stamp rather than the exception. The only explanation is that the stamp got overlooked in the bidding and someone got lucky.

What we take from this is that if you enjoy auctions, bid at “your prices” on many lots and once in awhile you will be a winner.

Full Test Coil of 100

Lot 1044 Scott 468A TC Estimate $3000 Realized $950

Now here’s one that’s new for us. It’s probably hard to identify what it is from the above image, but it’s a full role of 100 “test coils”. These were made in 1967 to use with the 6¢ orange coils to display the new dispensers. We’ve seen short strips sold at auction in the past, but never a full roll like this.

For more details of the sale, please click on the highlights button.

This sale had one new record price: