STAMPS, COINS & POSTAL HISTORY
The sale begins with an interesting group of commemorative medals and moves quickly to a lovely 1790 Spade Guinea (Lot 19), a superb 1863 Sydney Mint Sovereign (Lot 20), 1932 (Lot 27) and 1934/35 (Lot 28) Florins, a substantial holding of collectable investment grade gold and platinum issues and many accumulations, Australian and foreign, that will be ideal for the reseller.
The Australian stamp section features several collections/accumulations from a highly specialized KGV 1½d Red Study offered intact (Lot 221) to a stockbook of used Roos and KGV Heads (Lot 138). Highlights of the Roos section include the probably unique 9d perf.OS Imprint blk.(4) (Lot 202), the 10/- First Watermark with “Double print of frame” (Lot 172), also probably unique, the superb CTO £1 brown & blue (Lot 192) and the rarely seen MUH £2 Third wmk (Lot 195). Literally, something for all tastes and pockets.
There are a lot of 1d Reds in the KGV section; don’t miss Lots 217, 222, 224 – 235 and 245 – 250. Two notable multiples are the 4½d Violet perf OS blk.4 (Lot 243) and the 2d Red No Watermark error blk.4 (Lot 256). Later pre-decimals of note include the 6d Engraved Kookaburra in a gorgeous block of 4 (Lot 263), a superb 3d green Airmail booklet pane with the “Long wing to plane” variety (Lot 271), a magnificent 5/- Sydney Harbour Bridge Imprint strip of 3 (Lot 276) and a couple of nice BCOF Overprint varieties in positional blocks (Lots 294 and 295).
There are some spectacular decimal era varieties, for example Lots 309, 310, 311, 317 and 322, as well as the recently discovered complete sheet (Lot 327) which catalogues at $20,000 in the new ACSC! It’s becoming unusual to see the very early decimal issues in complete sheets, so the $4 King sheet (Lot 313), although reserved at only face value, should be a popular lot.
Other Australian Commonwealth items we are proud to be offering include the 20/- Postage Due (Lot 342), the 6d Postage Due Ash Imprint blk.4 (Lot 345), the exceptional range of illustrated Lettercards (Lots 350 – 383), which would be a fine start for a new collection, and the exceptionally rich offering of Australian Aviation history (Lots 402 to 446).
The Australian Colonial period includes several highlights, notably Lots 458 and 459, NSW OS Overprint varieties, (Lot 471) the Queensland 1/- strip with missing watermark error, (Lot 474) the 1885 HERBERTON to CANADA cover, (Lot 481) the South Australian 1/- Long Tom, vertical pair IMPERF BETWEEN, and (Lot 509) the Western Australian 4d Blue positional block of 4 with “Coloured line above AGE” catalogued variety.
Some terrific collections and accumulations kick-off the foreign section of the sale, (Lots 513 – 542), closely followed by some useful AUSTRIA (Lots 547 – 550), CHINA (Lots 560 – 567), GERMAN States & Colonies (Lots 579 – 594), later Germany (Lots 595 – 600) and GREAT BRITAIN (Lots 602 – 614).
The next section of the catalogue (Lots 615 – 700) is devoted to the stamp and postcard collections formed by the late LESTER RALPH DINSDALE KINSLEY, of Sydney. With the exception of a few high value GB stamps we have done our best to offer these collections as Mr Kinsey assembled them. If you would like to read something of his fascinating life, please see page 84 in the printed or online catalogue. For your convenience, the collections of GB, Australian and foreign stamps and postcards are clearly listed in the contents page of both forms of the catalogue.
The HONG KONG 1940 airmail cover with exceptional franking (Lot 704) was a recent discovery, as was the PNG 10/- Map single-franking airmail cover (Lot 757). The complete sheets of early PNG look very desirable at today’s prices (Lots 758 – 761) and the UNIQUE Courvoisier colour proof sets (Lots 763 and 764) will certainly enhance an exhibit.
It’s hard to imagine a more appropriate thematic area than PEACE, at the moment. The Swiss PAX series of 1945 (Lot 788) was issued to celebrate the end of the Second World War. Let’s hope there will be the need to issue more such commemoratives in the very near future.
We hope you enjoy leafing through the following pages and we hope to see many of you during the forthcoming viewing days.