Canadian Stamp Auctions

28 February, 2008 - Spink Shreves Galleries Inc.

We watched with fascination the process used by this firm to report the prices being bid on the Internet day by day for their stamps. This took place during the weeks leading up to the actual date of the auction. Most of the heavy bidders did not show their hand until the last couple of days. Despite this, the best stamps in the auction were clearly identified early in the bidding process, and as will be shown below, there were some real beauties.

The best of the Canadian stamps

Lot 966 Scott 44 Catalogue $140 Realized $1,568

This is the finest 8¢ violet black Small Queen we have seen. It was described by Spink in glowing terms. We will just note that it was XF NH. You can see that the left hand margin has been separated by scissors, adding to the apparent perfection of the stamp. Clearly the original owner recognized that he or she possessed a gem and wanted to be extra careful in separating it from the block or sheet to which it was attached in order to get this wonderful single copy.

The above price of $1,568 ($ 1600 U.S.) should have been a new record, but in Canadian dollars it was beaten by a similar quality stamp that sold in 2004 for $1,572 ($1,200 U.S.). The above price was a new record in U.S. dollars but not in Canadian dollars. Still the relative U.S. dollar prices do reflect how much nicer the above Scott 44 is, compared to the one that sold earlier. Hope this is all clear!

Here are a few more beauties

Lot 967 Scott 52 Catalogue $55 Realized $196

Lot 968 Scott 55 Catalogue $500 Realized $980

Lot 971 Unitrade 85i Catalogue $150 Realized $294

Lot 972 Scott 87 Catalogue $40 Realized $255

Lot 981 Unitrade108c Catalogue $90 Realized $318

Lot 969 Scott 77b Catalogue $4,750 Realized $2,352

Lot 982 Scott 109 Catalogue $40 Realized $318

Lot 987 Scott 112a Catalogue $65 Realized $367

Six of the above stamps sold for new record prices. Details are provided below. All were NH.

The 2¢ Maple Leaf overprint (lot 972) is one of the most remarkable stamps we have seen in some time. We watched the prices being bid for it over the internet each day. In the end, the $255 price it sold for handily beat the previous record of $208.

On the date of the sale, the Canadian dollar was slightly ahead. The conversion rate used was $1 U.S. = $0.98 Cdn

This sale had 6 new record prices: