Canadian Stamp Auctions

22 January, 2009 - Vance Auctions Ltd.

We couldn’t wait to see how the Scott 3 stamp did in this sale. This is one of Canada’s most famous stamps. A few years ago, a used copy sold for $ 229,600.But that was a very fine large margined copy with a known pedigree and it was sold at a time when the economy was booming.

In this sale, a presentable used copy of the stamp was offered for sale. It was just cut into the margins in a couple of places and had a minute sealed tear at the top. Here’s the stamp, together with a proof copy, also from the sale, that shows clearly what a new mint copy would look like:

Lot 5793 Scott 3 Catalogue $85,000 Realized $36,000

Lot 5794 Unitrade 3Pi Catalogue $2,500 Realized $1,535

Dated Copies

Lot 6040 Scott 46 Catalogue $115 Realized $166

Lot 6063 Scott 53 accumulation Estimate $225 Realized $250

Lot 6096 Scott 59 Catalogue $150 Realized $170

What beauties these are! We find it wonderful that collectors in our hobby give such recognition to well dated stamps such as these. Whenever stamps like these appear at a sale, they really stand out and bidders usually chase them. Well they should because, if properly dated at the correct year or years of use, they are far more desirable than a regular cancelled stamp.

Numeral Imperforates - bottom sheet copies

Lot 6159 Unitrade 75vi Catalogue $900 Realized $505

Lot 6166 Unitrade 79ii Catalogue $900 Realized $515

Lot 6171 Unitrade 82ii Catalogue $900 Realized $525

These are exceptionally nice copies of the Numeral imperforates. They are the ones without gum and usually sell for less than those with gum. What’s special about these, of course, is the fact that each one comes from the bottom margin of the sheet. This makes them shine.

The previous owners will probably regret parting with these beauties. The new owners will be delighted to acquire them, especially at such good prices.

These prices may look low when compared to the catalogue values, but are strong when compared to many of the prices realized for these stamps in recent years.

Admiral Imperforates - not quite perfect

Lot 6278 Scott 115a Catalogue $3,600 Realized $2,460

The above pair is an unusual presentation for one of these Admiral imperforates. They almost always come as a horizontal pair and indeed there were three other Admiral imperforate in the sale and each one was horizontal.

As Vance noted, this 8¢ pair had huge margins. This is what drew our eyes to the image. But unfortunately, although the pair was NH, it had two light diagonal creases and this is what depressed the price.

Here’s how the four Admiral imperforates did in this sale:

Scott 115a was given a higher catalogue value because it was the only one that was NH. We can only guess how the “thins” on the other stamps might have occurred. It was probably because someone who was not knowledgeable about stamps tried to pull the hinges off. What a shame.

Stamps selling at new record prices

Lot 6397 Scott 176a Catalogue $1,500 Realized $1,800

Lot 6704 Scott E6a Catalogue $950 Realized $1,200

With all the bad economic news coming at us every day like a steam roller, we were nicely surprised that new record prices are still being realized at our auctions. In the auctions to date in 2009, we have recorded 37 new records, and now with this sale, we have a total of 39. Not a bad start for the year

U.S. Errors

Canada Post’s printers create printing errors quite regularly. These include missing colours, missing tagging, missing inscriptions, stamps printed on gum, the list is lengthy. But we’re not alone in this as the following U.S. examples in this Vance sale will show:

Lot 4557 Scott 1125a Catalogue $1,250 Realized $590

Lot 4562 Scott 1488b Catalogue $875 Realized $645

Lot 4564 Scott 1610a Catalogue $250 Realized $177

Lot 4565 Scott 1610b Catalogue $275 Realized $208

Lot 4568 Scott 1841b Catalogue $400 Realized $272

We note that all the prices realized for these U.S. errors are less than catalogue. This is similar to the Canadian experience.

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

This sale had two new record prices: