Great Britain and British Commonwealth Other Pre - Decimals
Sale No: 237
Lot No: 1306
Symbol: **/*
Cat No: Collection
Collection with Kookaburra 6d Engraved fine **, just a few KGV Heads, then reasonably complete from Commemoratives onwards including 'OS' overprints & punctures, noted 5/- Bridge ** very well-centred (minor gum disturbance), KGVI 3d Die I ** plus Whitle Wattles very lightly mounted & Die II **, Robes Thick & Thin Paper sets ** (Thin Paper £1 with top perf toning) plus £1 'SPECIMEN' overprint (toned corner perf; no cert), Arms set plus 'SPECIMEN' overprints **, 5/- Cattle White Paper **, Navigators set (8) ** (£1 Cream Paper toned perf), KGVI 2½d booklet with only one pane remaining, also a few packets of used, condition variable but generally fine.
(100s)
Complete sheets including KGVI 2½d chocolate (160) & 6½d green (160) both with imprints, 1954 Olympic Publicity 2/- blue (80), 1955 Coaching 2/- (80), 1956 Olympics 1/- (80), 1958 Qantas 2/- (80), a few with minor toning, also Norfolk Island sheets & part-sheets with quantity of Birds & Buildings values, condition generally fine.
(100s)
Packet of Coil Perfs duplicated pairs & strips including KGVI 2d scarlet strip of 3 & 1942 Wmk 2d strip of 4, some coil joins noted, also blocks of 4 of the ½d Roo & QM 2d x4, and 1959 3d block of 12 with Plate Number ' 5 =', generally very fine & unmounted.
(100+)
Sale No: 237
Lot No: 1309
Symbol: **
Cat No: Collection
1941-65 mint accumulation sorted by in envelopes including larger blocks & imprints, noted complete sheet of QE 1½d green folded into an envelope, otherwise unchecked by us.
(100s)
Coil lovers, your waiting is over! This box contains virtually complete coils of ½d Kangaroo, 1d Princess & 2d Queen Mother plus two coils of QEII 3c - one complete - plus oddments including KGVI 2d scarlet pair with Universally Large Holes ACSC #188bh (tiny tonespot & mounted).
High Values postally used blocks comprising Robes Thick Paper 10/- & £1 blocks of 6 and Thin Paper £1 block of 4 (a couple of minor defects), Arms 10/- block of 8, £1 block of 4 and £2 blocks of 4 & 6 (a few short perfs), Navigators £1 White Paper block of 4. A very scarce & desirable lot.
(8 blocks)
Sale No: 237
Lot No: 1313
Symbol: */**O
Cat No: Collection
Large stockbook with stuff all over the place including a perfectly centred Engraved 6d, KSmith 'OS' 2d postally used (rare), 3d mint (**, no certificate) & CTO duo x4, Bridge 5/- mint x2, CTO x5 & postally used (thinned), Large Lyrebird imprint block of 4 (**), Macarthur 9d used block of 4, Jubilee 2/- Plate '1' block of 4 (**), Arms mint x2 (one **) & 'SPECIMEN' sets plus used blocks of 4 & Roller Flaw mint, £sd Navigators set of 6 blocks of 4 (**) & 10/- used block of 15, etc, condition variable but generally fine to very fine. Calling all ebay sellers!
(100s)
Sale No: 237
Lot No: 1314
Symbol: **/*O
Cat No: Collection
Another large stockbook with stuff all over the place including a superb mint Engraved 6d, 1928 3d Air Plates '1' to '4' unmounted blocks of 4, Sturt 'OS' blocks of 4 (**), Bridge 5/- CTO, Vic Centenary Perf 10½ imprint blocks of 4 & Perf 11½ 1/- strip of 3 (all **), Robes Thick Paper imprint blocks of 4 (**), Arms imprint blocks of 4 & 'SPECIMEN' set (all **), No Wmk 2/- Crocodile Plate Number '9' strip of 4, BCOF set to 5/- Thick Paper (**), etc, generally fine to very fine.
(100s)
Large blocks including Bridge 2d 'OS' x30, Vic Centenary 3d x86 in four blocks, KGVI 1½d brown x40 & 1/4d x40, '5½d' on 5d Ram x40, Qantas 2/- x40, 1959 9d & 1/- half-sheets of 80, 5/- Dampier x24, Postage Due 1957 8d complete sheet of 120, etc, generally very fine with most units being unmounted.
(100s)
Sturt Plate Number blocks 2d #1-8 & 3d #1 & 2, Navigators sets of 6 & 8 x2 (all **), plus oddments; also Australia Used in PNG 1946 Re-Opening of Post Offices registered pieces x5.
(150 approx)
Array on Hagners with numerous large blocks including Canberra block of 14, 3d Kookburra block of 9, Sturt 1½d block of 24 & 3d block of 21, Bridge 2d Typo block of 24, plate number or imprint blocks of 4 including Vic Centenary 3d x9, etc, also Engraved 6d Kookaburra (**), etc, condition variable, most units are unmounted.
(100s)
1913-14 Engraved Kookaburra 6d marginal block of 4 from the left of the sheet with the paper attractively tinted, well centred, unmounted, Cat $1000+. Superb!
1927 Opening of Federal Parliament House 1½d horizontal pair Imperforate Between BW #132ba (SG 105b), minor perf damage at left, minor wrinkles & hinge remainder, Cat $20,000 (£10,000). Ex Arthur Gray: sold at our auction of 30.10.2015 for $10,710. The ACSC states "seven pairs have been identified...[including] a block of 4 in the Royal Collection & a pair in the Australia Post Archives..." & a lightly cancelled pair. That means only three mint pairs are available to collectors. Illustrated in the ACSC at page 5/7 & by Geoff Kellow at page 55. [Stuart Hardy's very fine mint pair sold in November 2012 for $17,475. The extraordinary & unique postally used pair sold at our auction of 22.6.2019 for $15,340]
Sale No: 237
Lot No: 1323
Symbol: */**
Cat No: 132z-zk
1927 Opening of Federal Parliament House 1½d upper-left corner blocks of 4 with Plate Numbers '1' to '12' complete BW #132z-zk, the plate numbers are mostly lightly printed as is usually the case, Number '2' shows 50% only but all other numbers are complete, most are well centred, Number '3' has a blemish in the margin at left and Number '6' has some split/rejoined perfs & a repaired tear into the corner stamp, all others are very fine to superb, most have two units unmounted, Numbers '1' '2' '3' and '5' have all units unmounted, Cat $27,000+ (mounted). A remarkable opportunity to acquire a complete set, in well above-average condition. Ex Dr Leslie Abramovich and Arthur Gray: sold at our auction of 30.10.2015 for $13,090.
The census of recorded plate blocks published in the ACSC was compiled by Alec Rosenblum very soon after the issue of the stamps: see Geoff Kellow at pages 52-53 where he notes that the census has largely survived the passing of almost 90 years although "it is likely that these numbers are now under-estimates". Having said that, there is no doubt that Numbers '1' to '5' are all rare, and that Numbers '6' to '11' range from scarce to very scarce. Certainly complete sets are very rarely encountered. There is a complete set in the Australia Post Archives but the Royal Collection is missing Numbers '1' '2' '4' and '8'.
(12 blocks)
1928 Kookaburra M/S Kookaburra 3d M/S tied to cover by four strikes of 'MELBOURNE/10/30OC28/VIC' cds being the Second Day of Issue, a couple of minor tone spots, Cat $450 for used M/S.
1931 Kingsford Smith 'OS' Overprints 2d red & 3d blue ACSC 141(OS) & 142(OS), the gum a little aged but unmounted, Cat $1175. Chris Ceremuga Certificate (2009).
(2)
Sale No: 237
Lot No: 1332
Symbol: **
Cat No: Collection
1938-51 Coil Perf pairs group with large & small holes comprising 1941 Kangaroo ½d Wmk (coil join) & No Wmk, KGVI 2d scarlet, QE 1d red-brown, KGVI 2d mauve strip of 3, plus 1942 QE 1d purple-brown (coil join) and KGVI 2d purple Wmk & No Wmk, condition generally fine.
(8 items)
1948-56 Arms £2 green Roller Flaw ACSC # 271d (SG 224da) on both left-hand units in a postally used block of 6, well centred, light cds cancels clear of the varieties. An extraordinary used multiple, from which the imprint was removed!
1953 QEII Coronation 3½d stamp-size photographic essays on thin card, three of them unadopted designs dated "14.11.52" on the back, the last very similar to the issued stamp & dated "8.1.53" on the back. Unlisted in the ACSC. [Although we know nothing of the origin of these designs, the fact that two of them utilise the portrait of the issued stamp, and the others use the embossed portrait used for the new postal stationery, we are confident that they were produced by the Post Office]
(4)
Sale No: 237
Lot No: 1347
Symbol: E
Cat No: 421(E)3
1964-65 Birds second undenominated essay with 'AUSTRALIA' added for the 2/6d Robin (with a grub in its beak) in watercolours on art paper (277x196mm) initialled "BTW" (= Betty Temple Watts) and endorsed at the right "Green/Black/Grey/Red" ACSC #421(E)3, Cat $3000. Delightful! [The similar finished design for the 2/- but on tracing paper sold at our last auction for $2276]