AUCTION HIGHLIGHTS
MULREADY TO INDIA
Spink’s first sale of the Klempka Family Collection of Great Britain took place recently at the Royal Philatelic Society London and featured a number of attractive rarities. Amongst the highlights was this 1840 Mulready 2d envelope sent to India in October 1840. The letter was sent to Ajmeer then redirected to Agra, uprated with two pairs of the 2d Blue (plate 1 CI-CJ and DG-DH) and a DI single, paying the 1/- rate to India. The stamps and cover was cancelled by an orange Bristol Maltese Cross with matching circular date stamp on the reverse. The CI stamp also just tied by a Clifton undated postmark. The cover was endorsed ‘via Falmouth/red Sea’ and the reverse showed Indian postmarks and charges for a total of 12 annas. The lot description noted the ‘stunning and beautiful appearance’ of the cover, describing the item as a ‘great rarity being one of only two known Mulready with stamps to India.’
SOLD FOR £75,000
A DELICIOUS RARITY
Cavendish Philatelic Auctions recently sold a very rare menu from the London Philatelic Exhibition held in May 1890. The printed menu featured examples of the 1d stamps issued between 1840 and 1890 including an unused 1d black with close to good margins on all sides. To add to the appeal of the item, the menu was signed on the reverse by J. G. Kellaway who served as H.M. Postmaster from April 1921 to October 1922.
SOLD FOR £800
CATCH THE
RUNNING
CHICKEN!
Three perfect strikes of a ‘fancy cancel’ known as the ‘Running
Chicken’ added appeal to a cover sent to New Haven,
Connecticut in
1829, recently offered by HR Harmer. The cover featured a vertical pair and single 1869 1c Buff along with a ‘Waterbury Ct. Nov 29’ datestamp alongside with portions of two additional datestamps. The lots boasted a long provenance and included a certificate of authenticity.
SOLD FOR £260,455
CHINESE TREASURES
Kelleher and Rogers recently offered ‘Three Select Rarities of The People’s Republic of China’ at a special event held in Hong Kong. The first item on offer was the 1968 ‘The Whole Country is Red’ 8 fen value, which was taken off sale as soon as officials noticed ‘inaccuracies’ in the map, most notably Taiwan being shown in white. The example of offer was ‘wonderfully centered… with glowing colour and immaculate paper’ and sold for just over £80,000.
The second lot was another value from 1968, a top right corner margin example of the unissued ‘Great Victory of the Cultural Revolution’ 8 fen value showing Chairman Mao and Lin Bin Piao. The stamp was described as being ‘one of the rarest stamps of the Cultural Revolution… known to have been released early by the post office in Hebei, which sold the stamp before the officially anticipated date of issue. Therefore, prior to the cancellation of this issue, a few examples actually came on the market before the entire supply of stamps was returned to Beijing.’ The example on offer featured a private heart-shaped margin marking matching the printing ink colour.
Finally, a complete sheet of 1980 ‘Year of the Monkey’ stamps fetched HK$900,000. Said to be ‘post office fresh with shiny gold, clear engraved lines’ the sheet of 80 stamps was listed as ‘a stellar example of this popular item.’ The 1980 stamp was the first People’s Republic of China issue to mark the Chinese new year and the number of surviving complete sheets is very low.
SOLD FOR £96,000
There was a time when relations between China and the United States were a lot friendlier than what is the case today. On 4 July 1939, China released a set of four large pictorial stamps marking the 150th anniversary of the constitution of the United States. The stamps were printed by the American Bank Note Co. using a combination of recess and lithography.
The date of 4 July is of course significant as it is date when the 13 original states declared their independence from Britain in 1776.
It is an attractive set in bold colours featuring the flags of China and the United States along with a map of China and with text in Chinese only. Exactly why the Chinese Post Office decided to honour this important anniversary is unknown but in all probability the idea was to market the set to US stamp collectors.
Over the years this set has slowly increased in value suggesting that available stocks are rather limited. A check of a major online auction site reveals ‘Buy It Now’ prices of £20 to £25 for an unmounted mint set which seem to be on the high side. Shopping around it should be possible to obtain an unmounted mint set for £10 to £15.
China is a popular area with worldwide collectors and this particular set can be expected to increase in value regardless of the relations between the two countries. It certainly belongs in a collection of ‘Americana on Foreign Stamps’ and maps and flags are popular themes.