Canadian Stamp Auctions

30 November , 2011 - Vance Auctions Ltd.

This was a strong auction from Vance with much excellent Canadian material. The prices were generally strong. While we have come to expect this from this auction house it is always nice to see.

We start off with this unusual Small Queen variety.

Rare re-entry with horizontal lines

Lot 5013 Unitrade 36iv Catalogue $650 Realized $665

The re-entry is found in the LR margin and consists of horizontal lines. We have a record of only one other copy of this variety being sold at auction in the past 10 years. That copy, with similar horizontal lines in the LR margin, sold in June 2007 for $240.

Fully dated Small Queens

189 Copies	327 Copies
Lot 5026 Scott 41 Estimate $110 Realized $148	Lot 5027 Scott 41 Estimate $175 Realized $226

The first group contains dates from 1891-1894 and the second from 1895-1898. The popularity of these early stamps with fancy cancels or fully dated cancels is very evident judging from the demand for them in today’s markets with auctioneers’ estimates regularly being exceeded.

Imperforate Numerals

Lot 5177 Unitrade 75vi Catalogue $900 Realized $510

Lot 5195 Unitrade 82ii Catalogue $900 Realized $615

What beautiful copies. Both are described as extremely fine by Vance. But two things strike us. Neither of them has gum. No problem as they originally came that way. Second, the prices realized were well below catalogue.

This is the fate of the imperforates without gum from the early Maple Leaf and Numeral sets. Offer an “extremely fine” regular stamp from these sets with nice perforations and the prices realized will usually, if not always, exceed the catalogue values by a large margin. But such is not the case with these imperforates without gum. How fickle are our collectors!

Confederation Imperforates

Lot 5425 Unitrade 141c-145c NH Catalogue $1,200 Realized $1,100

This set of 5 stamps was issued in 1927 to celebrate the anniversary of Canada’s confederation. It comes with 3 imperforate varieties, which are fully imperforate, imperforate horizontally, as above, and imperforate vertically. The catalogue values are the same for each variety. The price realized above was just slightly below the record price of $1,158 which was set in 2008.

Ghost Town Error

Lot 5751 Scott 723Ab Catalogue $2,250 Realized $1,625

Who makes up these funny names? This variety, called the ghost town error, is missing its brown inscriptions, poles and wires. It was described as VF NH, but you may note that it is centered a bit to the left. It attracted a strong price. By the way, catchy names like this are fine with us!

Walrus with Rare Perforations

Lot 5779 Scott 1171c Catalogue $450 Realized $390

What a beautiful copy of this scarce stamp with its rare perforations. It is VF NH and has borders that are most generous and has two sheet margins that add to its quality. It’s as nice as they come.

Spectacular Imperforate Inscription Block

Lot 5822 Unitrade 1932a Catalogue $3,600 Realized $1,590

We don’t usually like to use the work spectacular in describing stamps, but if it’s good enough for the people at Vance Auctions, it’s good enough for us. The price realized was the second best we have on record. The best was a copy that sold at a Vance sale last March for $1,710. Vance notes that only 40 pairs of this variety were found.

Colourful Imperforate Souvenir Sheet

Lot 5825 Unitrade 2206ii Catalogue $3,000 Realized $2,075

This is a new variety and quite a beautiful one to look at. It was offered in a Vance sale last August but apparently didn’t sell. The price realized is a strong one for a modern variety.

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