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New York City Auctions Shatter All Pre-Sale Estimates
Thank you to all who participated in our amazing New York City auctions this past weekend.
Intense bidding from the floor, the agents, the phone and the live-bid internet brought
realizations to more than double the pre-sale estimate in the first auction
for the John Barwis Collection. It took 8 hours to call nearly 500 lots, as philatelists
chose to completely ignore the Scott catalogue values while striving to add one or more
of these beautiful, high quality stamps and covers assembled by John Barwis over the past
40 years.
For example, our catalogue cover for this sale featured nine stamps with a total catalogue
value of $1,160. The final realization for those nine stamps was $36,000!
Other highlights from the Barwis sale include:
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Lot 34 1¢ blue, type IV, recut once at top and bottom (9 var.), P.S.E. graded Gem 100 Cat. $130. Realized $5,750. |
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Lot 171 1¢ blue (63), tied by perfect strike of fancy geometric cancellation (Skinner-Eno GE-R 47) duplexed with "Bridgeport Con Apr20" c.d.s. on orange drop cover, Ex-Haas Est. $500. Realized $6,037. |
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Lot 253 1¢ buff (112), choice centering, cancelled by a bright green open grid cancel Cat. $1,175. Realized $9,200. |
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Lot 276 6¢ ultramarine (115), blue quartered cork cancellation Cat. $255. Realized $4,887. |
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Lot 292 12¢ green (117), striking deep red quartered cork cancellation used by the Baltimore foreign mail division, Ex-Lehman, Grunin, Ishikawa Cat. $310. Realized $8,625. |
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Lot 355 10¢ brown (150), beautifully contrasted by a bright red segmented cork cancel, P.S.E. graded XF-Superb 95J Cat. $34. Realized $3,737. |
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Lot 397 6¢ dull pink (159), tied by a superb NYFM canellation on cover to London Est. $750. Realized $6,612. |
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Lot 412 12¢ blackish violet (162), cancelled by a NYFM bold red grid supplementary mail cancellation, Ex-Emerson Cat. $140. Realized $5,175. |
The second auction brought us The Dr. Steven J. Berlin Collection of Outstanding United States Stamps
& Postal History featuring Postmasters' Provisionals. The realizations exceeded our
estimates by 40%. The Provisionals, and, again, the high quality singles, were bringing record prices.
Just a few highlights include:
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Lot 1004 Baltimore, Md., 10¢ blue (3XU3), one of only six recorded examples of this entire, Ex-Caspary, Lilly, Horner, Weill Brothers, J.R. Hill Jr. Cat $19,000. Realized $86,250. |
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Lot 1016 St. Louis, Mo., 10¢ black on greenish (11X2), type III, position 6, the finest of only six recorded unused examples Cat. $10,000. Realized $60,375. |
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Lot 1020 St. Louis, Mo., 10¢ black on gray lilac (11X5), vertical strip of three, types I-II-III, positions 2/4/6 constituting the right half of the sheet, tied on 1846 Charnley & Whelan correspondence folded letter to Philadelphia Pa., Ex-Consul Klep, "Texas Collection", Weill Brothers, J.R. Hill Jr. Cat. $42,500. Realized $161,000. |
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Lot 1044 10¢ green, type I (13), huge margins including a portion of the adjoining stamp at right, unused, an Extremely Fine gem Cat. $7,750. Realized $23,000. |
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Lot 1073 3¢ rose, Z. grill (85C), a superb example of the notoriously difficult 3¢ Z. grill Cat. $3,775. Realized $31,050. |