Corinphila Auctions, Zurich (3–8 June)

The forthcoming auction week at Corinphila in Zurich from 3 to 8 June offers a diverse and comprehensive range of material from around the world, with a total of 12 auction catalogues, of which 11 are single-owner sales.

During the week, there will be specialised collections of Great Britain, British Commonwealth, Romania, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, worldwide postal history, rarities of the world and a comprehensive assembly of Panama, which covers the colonial period through to the building of the canal (1807–1904). There is also a substantial general catalogue of Europe and overseas, featuring collections, single lots and five ‘special’ sales –the Lady Mcleod issue, ‘unused’ Australian states, the 1850 6 cuartos black from Spain, the Mike Roberts Collection of African Airmail 1911–45 and the ‘Huntingfield Block’, Australia’s unissued Edward VIII stamp of 1936, which is possibly the greatest rarity in Australian philately.

Among the other highlights is an example of Sweden’s famous first issue, the 3 skilling banco green, on cover, which has been underpaid by 1 skilling banco, and used from ‘NEDER-KALIX 6/1 1858’. Offered as lot 5266 in part 1 of the Enzo Carnio collection, the cover derives from a known provenance going back to Lars Hedberg (1955), Sven Sandstedt (1983) and Kersti Larsson (2004), all three of whom formed important collections and exhibits of Swedish traditional philately.

From the ‘Besançon’ collection of Great Britain, the auction includes a full sheet of 12 of the 1840 1d Rainbow Trial (state 3b). Printed in pale red-brown on thin wove paper, it has a watermark to one side of the sheet.