P O S T A L A U C T I O N S 5d very deep chestnut ½d green cracked electro Lot 535 Lot 421 Kayville - Lot 2234 213 of Fisher’s Creek - Lot 1496 4d blue - Lot 1672 1956 of Kempton - Lot 1271 Postal Auction No. 72 World Stamps, Postal History & Postal Stationery Plus Specialised Australian Postmarks closing 10:00am Sunday, 16th September 2007 www.premierpostal.com email: [email protected] Phone: 03 5968 3499 Int: +613 5968 3499 Fax: 03 5968 6981 Int: +613 5968 6981 PO Box 91, Belgrave, Victoria 3160, Australia Page 2 Auction 72 - 10:00am Sunday 16th September 2007 PPA Preamble Welcome to Auction 72. This is the first of our monthly auctions. Our auctions will now be held on the 3rd Sunday in the month. This has been done to keep our auctions smaller and more manageable for both of us. We have kept this auction down to just under 4000 lots. An unexpected benefit of this regular schedule is that we are now able to offer formal viewing on the Saturday before the auction. This will be held at the 21st Century Auction rooms, 107 Station Street, Ferntree Gully. This will usually co-incide with the Ferntree Gully Stamp & Coin Fair which is held on the 3rd Saturday in the month so you get the double benefit of being able to browse through the stock of other dealers as well. Viewing for this auction will be held on Saturday 15th August from 9am-4pm. Now that Alanna has joined us we are able to scan even more lots every auction and we are now scanning most of the PPCs and covers. We now have 67% of all lots scanned and available on our website. With nearly 4000 lots there is still a wide selection of material to view. There is our usual selection of stamps, varieties, postmarks, postal history, picture postcards and postal stationary. We also have a much larger selection of pre-decimal Australian FDCs. Our selection of Australian varieties continues to be very popular and we are pleased to offer another extensive selection in this auction. This section includes 2 rare cracked electros, One of which is a fine, and rarely offered, ½d green 1st wmk with the large crack through the left wattles and roo’s arms. We also have a fine example of the rare very deep chestnut shade of the 5d KGV single line perf. While we have always offered a selection of NSW numerals every auction, this section will now become larger as we break down a large comprehensive collection which covers the whole period from 1850 to the 1900s. Our world material is always extensive and this time both our Fiji and New Zealand collectors will be pleased to see large selections of KGVI and early QEII plate and control number blocks. Even though this auction is a little smaller it is still a lot to read so don’t forget that we are happy to provide a comprehensive extract service to make it easier and more efficient for you to use our catalogues. The best way of bidding is to use our website www.premierpostal.com. However if you don’t have access to the internet or you are not comfortable placing bids on our website then, of course, you can still use the printed bidsheet that comes with the catalogue and fax or mail it to us, or you can phone your bids through if you prefer. We will take bids any way they come. David, Debbie, Freedom, Lida & Alanna Auction 72 - 10:00am Sunday 16th September 2007 Page 3 HOW TO GET THE MOST FROM OUR CATALOGUE [These notes are offered as a guide to understanding the information given as symbols.] 1. Firstly, we have the lot number. If it is in bold and underlined, the item is illustrated on the website: e.g. 1234. 2. The second column contains a symbol, which represents the item(s) in the lot: ** Mint, unmounted o.g. * Mint, mounted o.g. W Unused, no gum D Piece (“Postmarks” lots) C Cover or card (“Postmarks” lots) A Albums and accessories L Literature P Proof S Stamp (“Postmarks” lots) or, in the case of used stamps, covers & Postal Stationery a grading of the cancellation: V Neat postmark, leaving most of the stamp design clear F Neat postmark, across at least half of the stamp design GUntidy or indistinct postmark H Heavy or poorly struck postmark 3. The third column gives an overall quality assessment for the lot, from ‘A’ to ‘D’. The same standard applies to mint and used stamps, to covers, postal stationery, literature etc. An item graded ‘A’ is very fine; it has no faults. ‘B’ items are fine and may have minor imperfections. A ‘C’ item will exhibit obvious faults. Items in poor condition are rated ‘D’. Occasionally, an item in truly superb condition will be rated ‘A+’. This grading is used sparingly and is not applied to modern material, which one would normally expect to be in very fine to superb condition. An otherwise very fine item which has a subsidiary problem may be allocated an ‘A-’. This may be a stamp with writing or a hinge remainder on the reverse. A cover may have a receiver’s endorsement on the face. The halves of a letter card may be stuck together. A book may have a previous owner’s notations. Whether this factor makes the item an ‘A-’ or ‘B’ is a matter of degree. 4. The fourth column is relevant to perforated stamps, and also to lots listed under the sub-heading ‘Postmarks’. For perforated stamps, this column gives a grading for both centring and perforations. The letter ‘A’ to ‘D’ relates to centring. ‘A’ stamps are very well centred; ‘B’ stamps are slightly off-centre; ‘C’ stamps are significantly off-centre, and may have the perforations slightly into the design; ‘D’ stamps are badly off-centre, with the perforations well into the design. [NB: These gradings are the same for all perforated issues, whether Australian Decimals, De La Rue Colonial keyplates or 19th Century American issues. However, it should be understood that for many issues poor centring is the norm. Thus ‘C’, and even ‘D’, gradings should be expected and accepted. For such issues a ‘B’ stamp will be above-average and an ‘A’ stamp will be considered an exceptional copy.] Following the letter ‘A’ to ‘D’ is a number ‘1’ to ‘4’. A stamp with all perforations intact is ‘1’. One or two short perfs, or normal rough perforations, will drop the grading to ‘2’. More notable perforation problems such as the perfs down one side being trimmed will result in a ‘3’ grading. A stamp with major perforation faults will be a ‘4’. [NB: A stamp graded ‘A1’ is well-centred with all perforations intact. In many cases, particularly with modern issues, this is the norm. However, for many issues, ‘B2’ or even ‘C3’ may be normal and quite acceptable.] For lots listed under the sub-headings “Postmarks” and “Ship/Paquebot Markings”, this column gives a grading for quality of the strike, and completeness. Quality is graded from ‘A’ (very fine) to ‘D’ (poor). Completeness is graded from ‘1’ (complete) to ‘5’ (identifiable only). ‘+’ is used for superb strikes; ‘-’ is used for postmarks which are lightly struck, a little doubled, or otherwise a bit short of the mark. 5. The 5th column contains the general description of the of the lot and should be self-evident, however the following notes apply specifically to postmark description. Whenever possible postmarks will be described in full, except that if the top portion of a postmark is not spelt out then it exactly matches the post office name. Bracketed shaded text within a description indicates that these characters cannot be read, while greyed characters are hard to read or are only partly present, as is the case when part of the postmark is on the edge of a stamp. Very large or small letters are represented by large and small fonts respectively; small fonts are particularly used to indicate the presence of small nylon wheels in the datestamp. The following example illustrates these points: '[POST] OFFICE/21DE86/GARAH'. For postmark lots the condition of the postmark is the most important aspect of our descriptions. Minor defects in the stamp or cover are mentioned only when the value of the item is significant. Naturally, major defects will always be described. 6. The symbols in the second, third and fourth columns, and the illustrations of lots, form part of the lot description. 7. Figures in the right-hand column are our estimate of value. You may bid at, above or below estimate. The reserve price for almost every lot is 80% of estimate (rounded to the nearest bidding step). Bids below this level will not be considered. Lots with an estimate of $3 or less have no reserve. 8. Australian residents will have GST added to the hammer price of all lots. 9. We use the following standardised abbreviations: o.g. original gum opt(d) overprint(ed) d/s datestamp cds circular datestamp h/s handstamp mss manuscript; handwritten ERD earliest recorded date LRD latest recorded date o/o opened-out RLabel registration label M/S(s) miniature sheet(s) PPC picture postcard cnr corner blk block impt imprint mtd mounted provl provisional wmk watermark LDL large dateline (postmarks) SDL small dateline (postmarks) TLC,TRC,LLC,LRC Top Left Cnr, Top Right Cnr, Lower Left Cnr, Lower Right Cnr Page 4 Auction 72 - 10:00am Sunday 16th September 2007 OMNIBUS ISSUES PICTURE POSTCARDS 1 W A 1953 Coronation: 60+ different issues, about half mint, good 64 FA Antigua: unaddressed PPC of ‘Walling’s Reservoir, from south, condition.