TWO EXCEPTIONAL DECEMBER AUCTIONS WITH OVER 1700 LOTS OF SPECIALISED PHILATELIC MATERIAL

The Wednesday 5^th December 2012 auction of over 700 lots is dedicated the remarkably diverse collection of the late Dr. Adrian Almond. In addition to the mixed collections, a two volume British Empire collection with a pre-sale estimate of £10,000 and the matching Foreign collection in three volumes with a pre-sale estimate of £3,000, stamp boxes and philatelic literature covering a wide range of subjects. The sale includes specialised sections of Levant with an emphasis on Turkish Currency, G.B. used in Constantinople and other smaller offices. The Salonica section is of particular interest with items from the famous Marquise of Bute collection. The fine array of G.B. adhesives inc. an 1840 1d & 2d with inverted watermark varieties. This is followed by the very important Devon postal history collection which contains many unique items.

The Thursday 6^th December 2012 contains in contrast to the previous days sale contains the property of over 100 vendors, but some remarkable specialised collections are included. The sale commences with the usual array of collections estimated from £120 to £2,000. These are followed by good sections of Military postal history and the late R.K. Crier collection of World Wide airmails. The A-Z section of countries includes fine sections of Cayman Islands, a small but interesting section of China, Gambia with one of three recorded examples of the 1886-93 1d Maroon (Ex Sacher & Weldhen), New Zealand with some Chalon issues. Tristan Da Cunha and South Africa.

The G.B. section after a small number of carton and postal reform lots really gains momentum with the remarkable “Alexander” 1840 1d black & 1841 1d red plate 10 study. The section commences with the largest number of “matched” pairs (some being on cover and cancelled with a red Maltese Cross) we can remember being offered at one time (129 lots). The individual plate 10  highlights inc. a very fine used 1840 1d strip of four, 1841 1d red unmounted mint block of sixteen, a mint marginal strip of three and a very fine used block of four (Ex J.B.Seymour).  The later plates inc. 176 & 177 are represented on cover. Followed by SC16 and SC14 1d red sections of fine quality. Small but interesting sections of the later reigns conclude the stamp section of this auction.

The G.B. postal history section inc. a good range  of county lots, however the undoubted highlight of the section is the Isle of Man which includes the long lost Dr Tim Whitney collection. Among the many highlights of which are unique 1781 “RAMSEY” straight line handstamp. 1778 manuscript “ship” on cover with 1^st type “ISLE OF MAN” struck on cover from Madeira to London. 1801 blue “DOUGLAS/SHIP LRE”. 1838 “DOUGLAS/PP” h.s. 1841 cover from Douglas to Newry with a 1d black cancelled by a Douglas “P1” h.s. 1840 Southgates No2 caricature used from Douglas. A range of village and Douglas Christmas cancellations. WWI internment camp mail is well represented with several unique items. The 1937-38 Campaign for Postage stamps comprises seven lots of unique essays. The 1971 & 1979 postal strike section is probably the largest group of such items to have been offered at auction. The last three lots are a remarkable Calf of Man printer’s archive of over 3000 proofs.