Canadian Stamp Auctions
Stamp Market Commentary

Commentary No. 83 - 17 May, 2006

The Sir Gawaine Baillie Collection of British North America
May 10, 2006

The philatelic collections formed by Sir Gawaine Baillie are in the process of being sold by Sotheby’s in ten separate auctions. These auctions started in London in 2004 and will be completed there by the end of 2006. In between, one auction is being held in Melbourne and some, like this one, in New York. Of significance to our viewers is the sale of Sir Gawaines’s British North America material which has just taken place. We have just received the rather large catalogue for the sale and found it contained close to 450 pages. A quick glance at the images of the stamps being offered for auction leaves one in awe. The quality, quantity and rarity of the material is extraordinary. In this commentary, we only plan to introduce the various sections of Sir Gawaine’s BNA collection. However, in the next few weeks, we will present a review of the three main sections in greater depth organized as follows: Canada’s Provinces Canada’s Early Stamps Canada’s Modern Varieties We can say, without hesitation, that this is the most impressive collection of BNA material we have ever seen. We suspect that there will be quite a few new record prices. We urge our viewers to obtain a copy of this catalogue for future reference because of the great amount of information it contains about Canadian stamps and particularly because of the unique images of so many of our very rare stamps. This can be done by contacting Sotheby’s in New York at 1-888-752-0002, (quoting ref. SGB104) and asking for Vol. VII, British North America, May 10, 2006. The cost is $50 (U.S.) and well worth it! One of the things that impressed us about how well this auction was organized was the fact that, at the end of each day, the prices for that day’s sales had already been posted on Sotheby’s website. To get onto their website, you have to register with them, a process we found fairly simple. The total proceeds from the sale (for only the BNA portion of the collection) were $4,612,330. All the prices in our commentary are in U.S. dollars. They also include a 15% buyer’s premium. We will now present some of the highlights from the sale and, as mentioned above, will provide greater details in the next few weeks: Canada’s Provinces Vancouver Island Lot 6 Scott 3 - SG 11 Catalogue $22,500 Estimate $40,000-45,000 Realized $86,250 New Brunswick Lot 33 Scott 3 - SG 5 Catalogue $12,500 Estimate $12,000 – 15,000 Realized $26,450 Nova Scotia Lot 160 Scott 6 - SG 7 Catalogue $14,500 Estimate $20,000-25,000 Realized $48,300   Newfoundland Lot 610 Unitrade C1i - SG 142a Catalogue $35,000 Estimate $50,000-60,000 Realized $80,500 Canada’s Early Stamps Lot 763 Scott 3- SG 4 Catalogue $80,000 Estimate $100,000-120,000 Realized $224,250 Lot 783 Scott 9 - SG 12 Catalogue $19,500 Estimate $40,000-50,000 Realized $86,250 Lot 797 Scott 13 - SG 23 Catalogue $8,000 Estimate $14,000-16,000 Realized $40,250   Lot 1002 Scott 30d - SG 11 Catalogue $9,000 Estimate $10,000-12,000 Realized $36,800 Canada’s Modern Varieties Lot 1530 Scott 693d Catalogue $3,000 Estimate $800-1,000 Realized $2,760 Lot 1555 Scott 888a Catalogue $1,100 Estimate $400-500 Realized $805 Lot 1606 Unitrade 1376 v,vi,b Catalogue $12,000 Estimate $15,000-18,000 Realized $17,250 Conclusion As you can see from the above, this was no ordinary sale. We give much credit to the Sotheby’s auction house for the skill with which they publicized the series of sales, presenting them beautifully in a series of auctions, bringing maximum publicity before hand and, finally, making the results readily available to the philatelic community. This is a management style that merits respect.

©2006, Canadian Stamp Auctions Ltd., Montréal, Québec, Canada