A spectacular example of an India 1854-5 1st printing 4a attracted much interest in the February auction. With an auction estimate of £150, the particularly large stamp went on to sell for £1,320 despite some evident faults.
Also in the Commonwealth section, a well-centred Australia 1915-27 £2 Map & Kangaroo design sold for £1,440. A Sierra Leone 1912-21 £2 with SPECIMEN overprint reached £120.
A pair of covers with the Trengganu 1922 Exhibition set to $1, each stamp tied with a cds cancel and some with overprint varieties sold for £336.
Great Britain
As ever, the early British issues were in demand. An sold for £384. An 1867-80 3d in an impressive marginal block of 6 sold for £990. An 1883-4 5/- in a corner marginal pair achieved £720.
The modern errors market is undergoing some changes at the moment with many catalogue valuations being heavily reduced to a more realistic level. It was still surprising that a 2003 imperforate Fruit & Veg sheet, with claims to being unique, failed to find a buyer. The sheet is one of only 7 known imperforate and is said to be the only one still in its cellophane cover.
A first day cover of the 1924-6 2½d & 3d sent to the London stamp dealer Oswald Marsh sold for over double the auction estimate at £1,680.
An 1883-6 Government Parcels official 6d in block of 4 with additional SPECIMEN overprint achieved £550.
Foreign
In the foreign section of the auction a China Dowager 1897 ½c in block of 4 sold for £780.
An 1868 envelope sent from the Netherlands and addressed to ‘Lady Napier’ in Madras via Marseilles, with various cancels & receiving marks reached £336.
By Phill Stowe
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