Canadian Stamp Auctions

When we look through our collections, few of us can boast of having perfect examples of every stamp, especially amongst the early Canadian stamps. What is perfection? It starts with a nice clean copy that is perfectly centered. Collectors want to see perforations that are even and intact. Then they look at the gum. Is it NH or, if not, is it LH? The list goes on.

These details have a huge impact on the price a stamp will attract at auction. We sometimes wonder, is there a separate market for perfect stamps, one for almost perfect stamps and one for average stamps? These questions go through our mind as we cruise the prices realized as auctions like this one. Let's look at some of the results.

Scott 15

Lot 1615 Scott 15 Catalogue $525 Realized $461

For an early perforated stamp, this is fairly well centered. It is described by Eastern as F-VF OG which is accurate. A stamp like this which is well centered will bring out the bidders big-time. Perhaps the biggest problem with the above stamp however is the existence of the slightly rough perforations at the top, but they are admittedly hard to see. The resulting price strikes us as a strong one in the circumstances.

6¢ Small Queen

Lot 1631 Scott 43 Catalogue $190 Realized $95

This stamp was F+ NH. It is centered to the right and bottom of the stamp. Its perforations look a bit ragged at the top. It is generally a nice-looking copy and, of course, it isn’t often this stamp is found in NH condition. With all these pluses and minuses, the bidders were apparently cautious and a fairly low price resulted.

F-VF Jubilees

Lot 1643 Scott 54 Catalogue $160 Realized $120

Lot 1645 Scott 56 Catalogue $300 Realized $310

Both of these stamps were F-VF and NH. They both seem to have good perforations all round. But they are a bit off center. The Scott 56 seems to be the better of the two and not surprisingly received the better price relative to its catalogue value.

2¢ Admiral Coil

Lot 1703 Scott 133 Catalogue $150 Realized $325

What an excellent copy of Scott 133. It is VF NH and well centered. How good is the resulting price? At $325 it is the 2nd highest price for this stamp in the past 10 years. Not bad!

"A" Stamp Coil

Lot 1782 Scott 908a Catalogue $400 Realized $260

When this unusual “A” stamp was issued in 1981, many collectors thought it would become valuable. So far, this hasn't happened. The same can be said for the above imperforate variety. A quick look at the prices realized for the imperforate over the years shows an average price of around $300. Only once has it sold for the full catalogue value of $400.

Year of the Ram

Lot 1812 Scott 1969a Catalogue $2,500 Realized $1,500

The price for this lot really took off. The variety is found in the two lower stamps of the imprint block where the gold inscriptions are missing. We have recorded the sale of 14 inscription blocks like this since 2004 at prices ranging from $432 to $1150.

Thus the above price of $1,500 is by far the highest price to date for an inscription block of six and clearly a new record price.

We like to end our comments with an exciting result like the above one! For more details on the sale, please click on the highlights button.

This collection had 2 new record prices:

Eastern's next auction will be a public auction to be held on June 23, 2012