We hold general stamp auctions, usually on the first Wednesday of each month. Each auction contains between £200,000 and £300,000 of world stamps and covers, single country ranges, specialised items, including proofs, topical ranges, accumulations and collections offered intact, in fact something for every collector and dealer. Additionally, specialised auctions of named collections are held periodically.

The dates of our 2010 sales are October 6th, November 3rd and December 1st.

Our next general public auction of Stamps will be held at the Court House, Warwick, on Wednesday the 6th October from 12 noon. To view the online catalogue, once it is uploaded, and place bids on items in the sale click here. To download a catalogue (without illustrations) click here.

The sales take place at the Court House, Jury Street, Warwick, in the ballroom, which is on the first floor. The building has a lift. The entrance to the building is in Castle Street and the nearest car park is in New Street. The nearest railway station is Warwick Town and the nearest major international airport is Birmingham. For directions please visit our How to Find Us page.

Public viewing for all of our auctions is held at our own premises, the sales being too large to transport to the auction venue. Account settlement and lot allocation takes place progressively at our premises whilst the auction continues, so as soon as the section which interests you has been knocked down, you can pay and collect your lots without waiting for the end of the sale.

Public viewing for this sale is available at our offices on the following dates:

• Friday 1st October from 09.00 – 17.00
• Monday 4th October from 09.00 - 17.00
• Tuesday 5th October from 09.00 - 17.00
• Wednesday 6th October from 08.00 onwards

There is no need to attend an auction in person, as commission bids can be placed in advance of the sale via our online facility, or by telephone, mail, fax or e-mail. For further details please visit our Online Catalogue.

If you would like to receive a free sample printed catalogue, or alternatively to apply for a catalogue subscription, please complete our catalogue enquiry form. However please remember that the printed catalogue contains far fewer illustrations of lots than the online catalogue.

Contemplating Selling?

Are you thinking of selling your entire collection or part of it? Would you like us to value it and give you advise on how best to market it? Visit our Marketing Your Collection page.

Rare Bechuanaland Stamp Sells for £2,530

A rare Victorian stamp from the southern African state of Bechuanaland realised £2,530 in Warwick and Warwick’s September 1st auction. It was the 1888 2d on 2d with surcharge in green, fine used (SG 23a). It was offered together with a current B.P.A.certificate and estimated at £1,500. The 1888 (Sept) 4d on 4d o.g. (SG 25) realised £172 and the 1/- on 1/- o.g. (SG 28) realised £69. The 1888 (8 Dec) ½ d on 3d M. (SG 29) realised £92.

In Hong Kong, an 1863-71 wmk CC 18c, cancelled by a French mailboat octagonal “POSS ANGL / PAQ FR N No 8” in red went for £310. A New Guinea 1939 Air set, U.M., made £448 and a Northern Rhodesia 1925-9 set, M., made £253.A Uganda 1898 – 1902 1a carmine-rose, imperforate between stamp and top margin, o.g., estimated £250, realised £276. A Tristan 1963 Resettlement 3d, with black printed double, was one of only 60 known. Estimated at £100, it realised £184.

The sale was strong in foreign countries and an impressive collection of world zeppelin-flown covers, containing 87 items, estimated at £1,200, realised £2,645.

There was a strong section of German Allied Occupation material and a society gold medal winning collection of O.P.D. Dresden, 1945-49 issues, estimated £300, sold for £517 and a cover taken from the collection and offered separately, bearing the 1945 (23 June) 12pf red, with Russian inscription, estimated at £200, sold for £253. The Thuringia 1945 Christmas 2 RM sheetlet of 3 stamps, in a complete shheet of 6 sheetlets, with full outer margins, U.M., realised £632 and the 1946 Bridge Fund miniature sheet, U.M., made £115.

In Italy, a 1930 Rome to Rio de Janeiro Balbo transatlantic mass flight souvenir pilot-signed flown cover, bearing the 7.70 l commemorative together with a 1.25 l definitive, realised £506. A pair of commemorative postcards of the Japanese Tokyo – Osaka pioneer flight in 1919, bearing the overprinted pair of stamps, sold for £264.

The Russian 1922 Philately for the Children is a scarce set and a first day cover bearing the 1k imperf. marginal pair and the perf. 2k, 3k, 5k and 10k values, with Moscow special cancels, sold for £391, against a pre-sale estimate of £250.

Classic Switzerland cantonals always sell well and an 1843 Zurich 6r black, with background of vertical red lines and 4 good margins, on large part wrapper, identified as stamp 54 from the sheet of 100, estimated at £400, made £632.

R.A.F. Flight Covers Collection sells for £4,600.

A collection of G.B. R.A.F. flown and signed covers, contained in 34 albums and estimated at £600, made the staggering sum of £4,600 in the August 4th Warwick and Warwick auction. It contained covers from many of the early series and included signatures of Brian Trubshaw, William Reid, Arthur “Bomber” Harris, Leonard Cheshire and Barnes Wallis.

In the British Commonwealth section, a large early to modern collection of British Guiana was estimated at £3,300 and realised £4,255. A rare 1967-8 24c black and orange, with watermark script, U.M. (SG426a) was lotted separately and realised £265.

An Australian 1913-4 £2 black and rose, F.U. (SG16), realised £2,242.

The sale had a large foreign section and many collections were sold at figures in excess of estimate. The highest realisation was the £4,370 paid for an early to middle period collection of Brazil, which had a pre-sale estimate of £3,500. In Austria, a 1910 80th Birthday set, U.M. (SG229-39), realised £391 and in France a 1936 South American Flight set, U.M. (Yvert 320-1), realised £218.

Was this Cover from Captain Scott?

This cover from the 1901-4 National Antarctic Expedition realised £3,320 in our July 7th auction. This expedition was the first British expedition to the continent of Antarctica. It was under the leadership of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, the Royal Naval captain who with 2 companions would die heroically on their return from their trip to the South Pole on the 1911-12 expedition.

In December 1902 the Morning, under the command of Captain Colbeck, sailed from Lyttleton, New Zealand, bound for McMurdo Sound, to relieve the expedition vessel Discovery, which was trapped in the ice. The Discovery could not be freed and the relief ship Morning returned to Lytteton, in March 1903, in order to overwinter in New Zealand and return at a later date to free the vessel. Captain Colbeck returned to Lyttleton with the letters written by the expedition members, the envelopes of which bore the expedition labels. They were franked with New Zealand 1d Universals and posted in Lyttleton on March 25th.

Initially we thought the cover was written in the hand of Captain Scott himself, but comparing it with a cover described by Paul Wales at http://www.rpsl.org.uk/polar/ it was clearly written by the same person and Mr Wales attributed his cover to the expedition physicist, Louis Bernacchi, writing to his girlfriend, Miss Durham. We discovered that Louis Bernacchi married Winifred Harris in 1906 and Scott was his best man. Although Bernacchi could have changed his girlfriends, our suspicions of a mis-attribution were confirmed when we viewed a cover addressed to Mr Richard Bernacchi, from Louis, in the auction catalogue of a rival auctioneer. The handwriting was quite different.

“New Zealand Antarctic Postal History to 1941” by Robert Duns of New Zealand lists a total of only 9 envelopes, posted at Lytteleton, including one from Captain Scott to Mrs Millington. Although Robert Duns does not remember the reasoning behind this attribution, when the book was written in 1997, it seems entirely possible.

Elsewhere in this general, all-world auction varieties performed well. The following results were recorded:

• Bahamas 1906-11 6d with malformed E, F.U. (SG74a) realised £195.
• Cyprus 1880 ½ on ½d emerald green , overprint 6mm apart, with large 2 at right, F.U. (SG 27a) realised £322.

• Seychelles 1897-1900 75c yellow and violet, with repaired S, F.U. (SG 33a) realised £471.

The best result in the Great Britain section was the £1,840 recorded by a superb unmounted mint example of the 1858-79 1d plate 225.

An 1867-83 wmk. Cross £1, used with a neat Birmingham thimble cancel made £1,150.

Australian States Collection realises £11,200

A fine and valuable, mainly mint collection of Australian States, housed in an attractive Philatelic album, realised £11,212 in the Warwick and Warwick June 9th sale, against a pre-sale estimate of £7,500. One stamp had been removed from the collection, to be lotted as a separate item. This was a Victoria 1854 Half Length 1d. orange-red, from the Campbell printings. It was lower marginal, with good margins and part original gum. It was offered with a B.P.A. certificate of 1976 and showed considerable plate wear on the right and the left. The catalogue value of the stamp (SG 23) is £2,000 and this was exceeded by the realisation of £2,012.

The 1931-40 thick Cowan paper Postal Fiscals of New Zealand were popular; the £2/10/- U.M. (SG F163) made £322; the £3/10/- M. (SG F165) made £833; and the £4/10/- M. (slight crease) made £718.

Other realisations worth noting included the following:

• Bermuda 1962-8 10/- watermark inverted, F.U., £207
• Ireland 1935 re-enraved set, U.M., £299
• Newfoundland 1933 Balbo, U.M., £184
• France 1929 Le Havre U.M., £230
• France 1929 Pont du Gard 20f bright red-brown, P.11, M., £230
• Iran 1956-7 100r magenta and reddish lilac, U.M., £138
• Great Britain 1887-92 Jubilee 1/- colour trial in yellow, mounted, £660.

However the highest realisation of the auction was achieved by a substantial British Commonwealth K.G. VI and early Q.E. II M /U.M. collection in 24 albums. The pre-sale estimate was £12,000 and the final realisation was £15,525.

Rachmanow Kingdom of Poland Collection sells for £680,000

The gold medal collection of the Kingdom of Poland, formed by the late Wladimir Rachmanow, realised a total figure of £680,000 when offered in the Warwick and Warwick May 5th auction. Some of the many gems from the collection are listed below.

Prior to the issue of the first stamp in the Kingdom of Poland the Russian postal authorities authorised a trial use in Warsaw of the St. Petersburg local Postal Stationery envelope. Although there were three sizes of the St. Petersburg envelope only those of the medium format are known to have been used in Warsaw. They are among the great rarities of Polish philately, only 8 having been recorded, of which the Rachmanow collection possessed 3. Realisations were £6,612 (illustrated above), £4,255 and £1,610..

Of the postal stationery envelopes issued for use in the Kingdom of Poland, by far the rarest was the Warsaw type 1 provisional red local envelope of 1859. Only 10 used examples have been recorded and the Rachmanow collection contained 2 of them, realising £4,715 (illustrated above) and £3,565. An unused example went for the astonishing sum of £7,187 and an essay of the type II envelope, estimated at £200, realised £3,565.

Examples of the 10 Kopeck stationery envelope uprated with the first stamp of Poland are exceptional rarities and rightly take their place among the gems of Polish philately. M. A. Bojanowicz recorded just five examples, one of which has had the adhesive stamp removed by a postal clerk. The Rachmanow collection contains a double weight letter and an exquisite triple rate letter, being one of only two known, the other being ex the Bojanowicz collection. This attractive cover realised £18,975.

Rachmanow formed a superb collection of Russian stamps used in the Kingdom of Poland. Amongst the many covers bearing the 1858 imperforate 10 Kop was one bearing a 4 large margined example, of exceptional colour, tied to an outer wrapper addressed to Warszawa by an oval firm’s cachet ‘J.W. PASTOR / IN / BIALYSTOK’, further tied by a light circular town mark in red. This usage may be unique. The realisation was £2,760.

The highest realisation for a cover bearing Russian stamps used in Poland was the £8,050 paid for this exquisite cover used in Warszawa.

A further cover of spectacular beauty was this one to Warszawa, the stamp with 4 large margins and neat manuscript “X” cancel. Alongside is the “MARYPOLE” Cyrillic datestamp in red. Realisation was £1,322.

The collection contained the only known cover bearing a Poland no.1 10 Kop block of four. This cover is illustrated in the book published by Bojanovicz in 1979. It is without doubt one of the top rarities of Polish philately. Estimated at £8,000, bidding eventually stopped at £35,075.

Three further covers were on offer bearing quadruple weight frankings. Realisations achieved were £17,537 (illustrated above), £16,387 and £11,500.

Used multiples of Poland No. 1 are rare. The above strip of 3, with exceptional colour, made £4,945 and a vertical strip of 3 made £4,255.

It is thought that the general rule, or practice, was that post offices removed the outer margins from sheets of stamps prior to sale. This is evidenced by the extraordinarily few examples of marginal stamps that have been recorded. Some larger users of stamps, such as business houses, may have been sold complete sheets with the sheet margins still attached. Stamps with sheet margins are rare, unused or used, and can prove to be valuable plating guides. The Rachmanow collection contained a 10 Kop vertical corner margin pair, with brilliant, rich colours, tied to a wrapper addressed to Warszawa by Mariampol ‘23’ concentric circle cancellations and circular red ‘KALWARJA’ town mark. This is likely to be the finest cover with a marginal franking in private ownership. This cover is described in Bojanowicz and illustrated on plate 16 – but with the erroneous comment that the cover is housed in the Polish Postal Museum. This unique item was the highlight of the sale and achieved the highest realisation, namely £58,650.

Three million copies of the first stamp of The Kingdom of Poland were printed, but only six fully imperforate examples have been recorded. The known examples were used at Warsaw (two copies), Plonsk, Mlawa and Tyszowce (two copies). If full imperforate sheets of 100 (four panes each of 25) had been placed in use in the four locations it would be reasonable to expect more examples to have been found. Possibly these varieties occurred because of folded sheets in which just a few stamps failed to be perforated, but that is conjecture unless further information becomes available. The above illustrated imperforate stamp was recorded by Bojanowicz as having been purchased by Rachmanow from Dr Farina of Warsaw in 1926. The amount paid was 700 zlotys, or approximately £35 at the then rate of exchange. The realisation was £7,475.

The above cover, bearing an imperforate Poland No. 1 was recorded by Bojanowicz as having been purchased by Rachmanow in a 1926 auction in Vienna. Estimated at £2,000, it realised £25,300.

The Rachmanow collection was exceptionally strong in Kingdom of Poland cancellations.

This cover from Kutno to Warszawa is one of three known bearing the Kutno circular dated town mark. The realisation was £4,715.

This stunning cover bears the Koszyce 119 numeral cancellation in red. Bojanowicz states that only 2 are known. The pre-sale estimate of £500 was well and truly beaten by the realisation of £4,945.

A few copies of the auction catalogue and realisation list are available at £15 each, post paid.

Rare G.B. Presentation Packs Popular

The Warwick and Warwick April 7th auction contained a range of rare early G.B. presentation packs, all of which sold for figures well in excess of estimate.

• 1951 Festival High Values Waterlow presentation pack, estimated at £200, realised £253.
• 1955 Waterlow Castles printer’s presentation pack, estimated at £200, realised £265.
• 1958-65 sealed presentation pack, inscribed “10/6d”, for sale in the U.K., estimated £50, because of a slight stain, realised £126. The similar pack, inscribed “”$1.80”, for sale in the U.S.A., went for £207.
• 1959 phosphor graphite sealed presentation pack, inscribed “3/8d”, for sale in the U.K., estimated £60, realised £115 and the U.S.A. version, inscribed “50c”, made £184.

• 1960 2nd De La Rue sealed presentation pack, inscribed “£1: 18 :0”, for sale in the U.K, estimated at £400, realised £776, but the U.S.A version, inscribed “$6.50” made only £345 because of damage to the flap.
• 1960 regionals sealed presentation packs, inscribed for both U.K. and U.S.A. estimated at £60, realised £265.
• In the G.B. modern errors section a U.M. vertical strip of 4 of the 1965 Lister 4d ordinary, from the south-west corner of the sheet, was missing the brown tube on the top 2 stamps. Estimated at £1,500, it realised £1,438.

• The 1902-4 Inland Revenue 5/- official is a rare stamp. It is catalogued used at £8,000. The sale contained a fine used copy with both a Kohler certificate (1948) and a Brandon 2006 certificate, which stated, somewhat harshly that the stamp had surface faults at the top. This overly harsh criticism did not put off the buyers and it made £2,357.
• The British Commonwealth section of the sale was particularly strong and the following results were achieved.
• De La Rue photographic essay of K.G.VI key type head, sunk in thick card, 100 x 75 mm. estimated at £300, realised £310.
• Bermuda 18938-53 12/6d P14 grey and yellow marginal U.M. (SG 120d), estimated at £280, realised £402.
  Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika 1912-21 50r dull rose-red and dull greyish grenn, U.M. (SG 61), estimated at £300, realised £529
• Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika 1922-7 £2 green and purple M. (SG 96), estimated at £360, realised ££460.
• Leeward Is. 1938-51 £1 purple and black / carmine, with “gash in chin” variety, F.U. (SG 114af), estimated at £300, realised £414.

• Leeward Is. 1938-51 £1 brown-purple and black / salmon, with”missing pearl” variety, U.M. (SG114ba), estimated at £600, realised £1,265.
• Long Is.1916 imperf. 2½ d blue, unused (SG 15), estimated at £400, realised £949.
• Malta 1948-53 Self Government 5/-, with “semaphore” flaw, with minor toning, F.U. (SG 247b), estimated at £500, realised £949.

Prisoner of War Envelopes attract Interest

Two unusual prisoner of war envelopes attracted a lot of attention when offered in the Warwick and Warwick March 3rd auction. They were dated 1917 and were sent to the same addressee in Germany, by the same prisoner in a camp in Portuguese East Africa. They both bore the unusual “EXEMPTE / Prisonniers de Guerre” label in black on green, with censor cachets in Portuguese and English. The second item was in fact a lettersheet which contained a message describing the daily routine within the camp. It also bore a Red Cross handstamp of Lourenco Marques. The cover made £253 and the lettersheet made £207.

Commonwealth varieties were popular and several realisations exceeded estimate by considerable margins. The Malta 1914-21 2/- with “damaged leaf at bottom right” is unpriced used in Gibbon’s catalogue. Estimated at £200, it realised £287.

The G.B. section was rich in high values of the reigns of King Edward VII and King George V and the following results were achieved:

• 1911-13 Somerset House £1 corner marginal, fresh o.g., estimated £650, realised £1,006;
• 1913 Waterlow 2/6d sepia brown, bottom marginal U.M., estimated £120, realised £172, despite a few imperfections;
• 1913 £1 green, F.U., estimated £400, realised £575;
• 1915 De la Rue 5/- pale carmine, U.M, estimated £350, realised £604;
• 1929 P.U.C. £1, top marginal U.M., estimated £220, because of slight bends, realised £471;
• 1929 P.U.C. £1, F.U., estimated £250, realised £356.

In the modern G.B. the best result amongst the booklets was the £207 realised by a 1969 £1 Cooks stapled booklet, which had been estimated at £100.

GB George VI Cylinder Blocks in demand

Warwick and Warwick’s February 3rd auction contained a specialised collection of Edward VIII and George VI GB cylinder blocks, which was offered in two lots, each bearing an estimate of £1,000. There was enormous interest in these collections with the final result being a massive realisation of £4,600 each.

The principal item in the G.B. line engraved section was an attractive unused vertical strip of 5 of the 1840 1d black from plate 4. It had original gum and 3 stamps appeared to be unmounted. Margins varied but the overall appearance was attractive. It was estimated at £10,000 and realised £12,075.

Malta is one of the best collected areas in the British Commonwealth and the sale contained an excellent collection broken down into its constituent parts. Perhaps the most interesting section was a collection of 44 items of postal history, containing entires from the 18th and 19th centuries, including the scarce “MARSEILLE / DE MALTHE” and an 1855 unstamped cover to Malta bearing the manuscript marking “Officer letter from Crimea”. This collection was estimated at £2,200 and realised £2,070. From the same collection a study of 115 KGV to early QEII flight covers with an estimate of £1,200 realised £1,120 and a collection of 54 postage due covers, estimated at £120 make £299. A collection of 144 Maltese village postmarks, mainly on adhesives, which was estimated at £600, made £552.

A collection of Boer War letters and postcards sold at a figure in excess of estimate. What added to the attraction of this collection was a correspondence between an army captain and his family. At one stage he was taken prisoner and had to complete a claim form for indemnification against the cost of replacing his captured equipment. The estimate was £2,500 and the realisation was £3,105.

Rare Hong Kong Treaty Port Cancels find a Ready Market

The Warwick and Warwick January 13th sale contained a fine section of Hong Kong stamps and covers. Perhaps the rarest stamp on offer was the 1874 – 1902 P.14 $10 grey-green postal fiscal M. Despite a crease and other faults, it still managed to realise £2,242. Another rare postal fiscal on offer was the 1897 P 15½ $1 on olive green, with the scarce variety “both Chinese characters omitted”, F.U. Catalogued at ££2,750, it realised £2,128.

Included in the Hong Kong section was a range of rare Treaty Port cancels on Honk Kong adhesives. The highest result was the £661 paid for the very rare “checker board” rhomboid of Bangkok on a 1863-71 12c blue. This cancel remained unrecorded in Webb’s book, but a cover was sold in the Ishikawa sale, in 1980. Another rare cancel, which was also duplicated by a similar example in the Ishikawa sale was the Anping A c.d.s. in black. This particular strike was accompanied by a partial Moncrieff Wright firm’s chop on a 1882-91 5c blue. Estimated at £350, it realised £529. The “D28” cancel of Kiungchow, almost complete, on a 1880 5c blue, made £241. The rare “2H62” barred oval cancel is an enigma and no-one is sure where it was applied. An almost complete strike on a 1882 10c mauve made £374. The remainder of this superb collection was broken into 3 lots with estimates of £1,200, £400 and £200. They realised £3,910, £1,265 and £805 respectively.

Gambia was strong in the sale and a specialised collection was broken down into several lots, all of which sold at figures above estimate. A collection of 50 Q.V. to K.G.V covers, estimated at £1,800, made £2,070 and a K.G. V and K.G.VI specialised collection, with a £1,500 estimate made £1,840. A collection of about 170 cancellations on stamps, estimated at £300 attracted competitive bidding which eventually stopped at £414.

In the foreign offerings an item from China stood out. This was a 1949 airmail unit stamp of West Szechwan $10,000 on 30c red, with watermark, in a block of 25 (5 x 5), with original gum. This rare multiple was estimated at £3,000 and sold for £3,680.

China makes Full Catalogue

The strength of the market for modern China was demonstrated in our December 2nd auction, when a 1979 Study of Science from Childhood miniature sheet U.M. (SG MS2900), catalogued £700, realised £600. When the 15% buyer’s premium is added, this makes a total realisation of £690, just short of the full catalogue value.

Other good results were as follows:

• Ascension 1938-53 2d black and scarlet with “mountaineer” flaw F.U. (SG 41ca), catalogued £250, realised £165;
• Australia 1913-14 £1 brown and ultramarine F.U. (SG 15), catalogued £1,900, realised £718;
• Bechuanaland 1961 1r on 10/- type 1 U.M. (SG167), catalogued £400, realised £195;
• Cyprus 1928 £5 black/yellow U.M. (SG 117a), catalogued £3,000, realised £2,415;

Samoa 1914 GRI 3/- on 3m M. (SG113), catalogued £1,400, realised £977.

Malta paquebot covers are always in demand and lot 338 was an 1898 cover, franked with a 1d and 4d adhesive, tied by the “anchor in diamond of spots” red cancellation of the Royal Hungarian Steam Navigation Co. (Adria). The cover was addressed to Fiume and bore the handstamp “Via Venise / Par V. Szechenyi.” Estimated at £250, it realised £230.

The Great Britain section saw impressive results for high values:

• 1840 2d deep full blue, plate 1, with 4 good to large margins, F.U. with red M.C., catalogued £900, realised £241;
• 1867-83 10/- wmk. M.C. F.U. (SG 128), catalogued £2,800, realised £862;
• 1867-83 £1 wmk. M.C. F.U. (SG 129), catalogued £4,000, realised £1,495;
• 1867-83 £5 wmk. anchor F.U. (SG 137), catalogued £4,500, realised £2,127;

• 1913 Waterlow £1 green fine M. (SG 403), catalogued £2,800, realised £1,150.

An impressive block of 19 1841 1d reds, from the right side of a sheet from plate 61, had a part marginal insciption “In Wetting the Back be careful”. Despite several faults, it realised £2,127.

Inverted Jenny takes off at Warwick!

The U.S.A. 1918 24c airmail with inverted centre, the iconic “inverted Jenny”, certainly got airborne at Warwick, on March 4th 2009, when Warwick and Warwick sold a mint copy, with a tiny paper thin, for a hammer price of £160,000 plus the buyer’s premium of £24,000, making a total realisation of £184,000. It was the first time this famous stamp had been offered in this country in over 50 years and the most expensive stamp ever auctioned by Warwick and Warwick. Auctioneer Colin Such stated that it was an honour and a privilege to offer such an iconic philatelic item and he was pleased with the outcome. He was particularly surprised by the fact that there were no less than six bidders contesting to secure the stamp, three present in the room and three on telephones, including two from U.S.A. The successful bidder was a British collector who was present in the room.

The “Jenny” was part of the “Excelsior” single vendor sale and other highlights were as follows:

• British Guiana 1898 Jubilee 2c brown and indigo corner marginal, imperf. at right and between stamp and margin, M., with vertical crease. BPA cert (2009), estmated £150, realised £1,725.
• Canada 1852-7 handmade paper 7½d unused, close to good margins, with RPS cert (1974), stating “creased”, which was difficult to see. (SG 12), cat. £9,000, estimated £800, realised £1,782.
• Canada 1859 10c black-brown, unused (SG 33), cat. £9,500, estimated £800, realised £1,552.
• Cape of Good Hope 1861 Woodblock 1d pale milky blue error of colour, U, with 2 margins, possibly repaired (SG 13c), cat. £28,000, estimated £2,000, realised £3,795.
• Cape of Good Hope 1861 Woodblock 4d vermilion error of colour, U, with Diena cert (1974), stating defective and repaired (SG 14e), cat. £40,000, estimated £2,500, realised £5,290.

• Cape of Good Hope 1863-4 1/- bright emerald green o.g. block of 8, with sheet margin at right, small to large margins (SG 21), estimated £450, realised £1,782.

• Newfoundland 1857-64 1/- part o.g., very close to small margins, vivid colour, with BPA cert (2009) (SG 9), cat. £18,000, estimated £2,500, realised £4,255.
• Newfoundland 1862-4 1/- bisected and tied to small piece (SG 23a), estimated £500, realised £1,610.
• U.S.A. 1851-7 10c unused block of 9, rows 1 and 3 being type ii and row 2 being type iii, with faults, incl. creases, BPA cert (2009) (Scott 14 – 15), estimated £800, realised £2,990.

• U.S.A. 1893 Columbus 4c deep blue o.g., light overall gum toning, with P.F.cert (1976) stating “minute pin hole top left” (Scott 233a), cat. $19,000, estimated £2,500, realised £6,900.
• U.S.A 1898 Omaha $1 top marginal imprint block of 4, part o.g., tiny corner repair, some separated perfs (Scott 292), cat. $5,750, estimated £500, realised £1,380.

• U.S.A 1901 Buffalo 1c with centre inverted error, o.g., with P.F. cert (1971) (Scott 294a), cat. $11,000, estimated £2,000, realised £2,875.
• U.S.A. Newspaper Stamps 1879 $60 U.M. horizontal pair, with BPA cert (2009) (Scott PR79), cat. $1,700+, estimated £400, realised £949.

Double Head Covers sell for many times Estimate

The collection of Rhodesian Double Head covers formed by the late Norman Levin was offered by Warwick and Warwick as part of their general philatelic sale, on February 4th 2009. Just how scarce such covers are was well demonstrated by the realisations, many exceeding the pre-sale estimate by several times. During the sale 3 telephone lines were constantly in use by bidders in U.S.A. as well as inland and many bids were recorded from specialists resident in South Africa.

The cover achieving the highest realisation was the 1919 4d registered envelope, addressed to Germany, franked with a perf. 14 3d and the rare 5d purple-brown and ochre error of colour, ex the Robert Gibbs collection. Regarded by many collectors as the most desirable Double Head cover in existence, it achieved the impressive final realisation of £10,062, or 4 times estimate.

The 5d Double Head is particularly rare on cover and lot 406 was a 1912 registered envelope to England, franked with the perf. 14 5d, with the “gash in Queen’s ear” variety. This cover was franked with the correct rate of postage and appeared commercial and very atractive. Estimated at £300, it made £2,530, or more than 8 times estimate.

A further attractive registered cover had been sent from Shamva to the rare destination of Rehoboth in German South-West Africa. It was franked with a 1898-1908 4d and a Double Head perf. 14 5d. The estimate of £200 appeared conservative when compared with the realisation of £1,840.

The 6d Double Head is also rare on cover and a cover to U.S.A., franked with a perf. 14 2½d and 6d, estimated at £250, achieved £3,105, or over 12 times estimate!

A 1913 envelope to Edinburgh was franked with the perf. 14 1d and 8d and was most attractive. The 8d is rarely seen on cover and in combination with the 1d value is constituted a rare and desirable item. The estimate of £300 was exceeded by the magnificent realisation of £3,680! Again over 12 times estimate!

Obviously the 7/6d value would not have been used commercially on a small envelope and it is believed that only 2 such covers exist. That in the Levin collection was addressed to London. Estimated at £1,500, it realised £4,255.

Of the lower denomination Double Heads on cover, a 1911 envelope to Cape Province was described as being of “exhibition quality”, being neatly addressed and franked with the perf. 14 2d, correctly pre-paying the rate to South Africa. Its attractive appearance meant a realisation of over 7 times estimate, at £1,552.