Canadian Stamp Auctions

The “Crossings” Collection

It is no easy task to describe an auction of a collection that is as significant as this one. Even before the auction began, we felt compelled to pick up the catalogue on numerous occasions to admire the excellent material.

Let’s just say it contained some of the most beautiful examples of Canadian philately we have seen, and we were not alone judging from the results. The sale resulted in 106 new record prices. This is the most we can recall seeing at any auction since we started keeping records 10 years ago.

We were curious about where the demand came from and were told by Eastern that about 60% of the buyers were Canadian, 25% American and 15% from the rest of the world. Of the 623 lots, 357 sold for more than their full Unitrade value, 93 for more than double, 13 for triple, 6 for quadruple, 1 for 6x and 3 for 8 x. The bidders on the floor, (including telephone bidders), were successful 70% of the time. The auction took 7½ hours compared to the normal 4 hours. So, let’s have a look at some of the results.

Examples of the New Record Prices

Lot 219 Scott 26 NRP $6,250 Prev. NRP $3,500

Lot 221 Unitrade 29ii NRP $5,250 Prev. NRP $2,900

Lot 230 Unitrade 35viii NRP $5,500 Prev. NRP $1,600

Lot 242 Scott 45a NRP $4,750 Prev. NRP $2,865

Lot 264 Scott 62 NRP $7,500 Prev. NRP $5,250

Lot 268 Scott 65 NRP $10,000 Prev. NRP $8,500

Lot 324 Scott 94 NRP $5,250 Prev. NRP $3,750

Lot 326 Scott 95 NRP $4,750 Prev. NRP $3,500

Lot 443 Scott 114a NRP $5,750 Prev. NRP $4,760

Lot 452 Scott 115a NRP $4,750 Prev. NRP $2,800

Lot 483 Scott 120b NRP $8,500 Prev. NRP $4,850

Admiral Lathework

We couldn’t help being impressed by the prices realized for the Admiral stamps with lathework. Here are three beautiful examples, the first two of which are NH:

“Type B inverted lathework”	“ Type C inverted lathework”
Lot 388 Unitrade 108 Catalogue $3,300 Realized $6,000	Lot 399 Unitrade 108ii Catalogue $4,125 Realized $6,750

“Type D lathework”

Lot 485 Unitrade 120ii Catalogue $9,000 Realized $11,500

Scott 135 – The best we have seen

Lot 516 Scott 135 Catalogue $47 Realized $160

We envy the lucky bidder who captured this outstanding copy of the 1917 Fathers of Confederation stamp for his collection. Although it was lightly hinged, it had the largest nicely balanced borders we can ever recall seeing. What beauty and what a price at almost 4 x catalogue.

Unusual Varieties

Here are two varieties we have not previously seen:

Lot 536 Unitrade 145iii Catalogue $1,875 Realized $1,900

Lot 564 Unitrade E2ii Catalogue $2,000 Realized $2,100

We checked our research records and could not find any previous sales of the above varieties. According to Unitrade, 10 copies of the 145iii variety exist. In the case of the E2ii variety, Unitrade notes that only one copy exists. If this is so, this was a very inexpensive purchase by a lucky bidder.

Back of the Book

There were 20 new record prices for the Back of the Book sets which shows how very popular these stamps have become with collectors. Here are two outstanding examples:

The previous top price for the above stamp was $3,250 in 2000. In this sale it more than doubled. What an amazing copy. Eastern modestly described it as “A magnificent showpiece and worthy of the finest collection”. We couldn’t agree more!

The previous best price for this stamp of $375 was set earlier this year. The new record is almost 10 times higher. This is the first NH copy we have recorded.

There were 4 Officially Sealed stamps in the sale and 3 of them sold for record prices.

All the stamps in the above report were NH except 2 of them as noted. For more details of the sale, please click on the Highlights button and for details of the 106 new record prices, click on the New Record Prices button.

Highlights

106 New Record Prices