Every once in awhile, we noticed something special as we skim through old catalogues, enjoying some of the special items people have collected. In looking through the catalogue for Eastern’s recent sale of the Ted Nixon collection of Small Queens, we noticed a beautiful block of the 6¢ red brown (Scott 43) and it reminded us of others we had seen. So we decided to show our viewers a few of the large blocks that exist and hope you will find this of interest. As you will note, the blocks shown below get bigger and bigger!

Top Imprint Plate Strip of 20
Ted Nixon Collection
Eastern, March 10, 2012

Lot 244 Realized $2,300

Top Margin Imprint Block of 28
The “Midland” Collection
Charles G. Firby, January 24, 2004

Lot 238 Realized 3,000 U.S.

Left Margin Imprint Block of 30
Sparks Auctions, February 21, 2012

Lot 80 Realized $8,500

Complete Half Sheet of 50
The “Bill Simpson” Collection
R. Maresch & Son, March 19, 1996

Lot 265 Realized $3,500

Conclusion

We hope you’ve enjoyed this brief review of some of the largest blocks of the 6¢ red brown Small Queens that have appeared at auction in recent years. We find it extraordinary to think that any Small Queens still exist in such large blocks and hope that whoever owns these pieces will keep them intact for future posterity. Not mentioned above is the fact that some of them contain special features such as re-entries.

When Firby offered his block of 28 back in 2004, he stated it was that it was possibly the largest multiple extant. We now know from this survey that two larger blocks existed. In the recent Sparks auction in Ottawa, it was stated that their block of 30 was “quite possibly the second largest multiple extant”. As can be seen, Sparks was correct in this statement. We hope that if our viewers are aware of any larger multiples that beat a block of 50, they will let us know so that we can add them to the above survey.