China, 1878 Large Dragon thin paper 1ca. green, Setting II, horizontal pair [20-5], right stamp shows plate variety "broken frame at top left corner", centrally cancelled by light Peking seal, one lightly toned perf. at bottom right, fine. Chan 1, c.
Estimate 6,000 - 8,000 Est. HK$6,000-8,000 (Image1)

Est. HK$6,000-8,000

China, 1878 Large Dragon thin paper 3ca. brown-red, Setting I, block of four [17-18/22-23], deep intense colour, very fine and fresh unused with practically full original gum, top left stamp has a couple of blunt perfs. and lower right stamp has gum wrinkle. Chan 2.
Estimate 25,000 - 30,000 Est. HK$25,000-30,000 (Image1)

Est. HK$25,000-30,000

China, 1878 Large Dragon thin paper 5ca. orange, Setting I, block of four [11-12/16-17], vibrant colour, choice centring, extremely fine unused with much original gum. Chan 3.
Estimate 30,000 - 40,000 Est. HK$30,000-40,000 (Image1)

Est. HK$30,000-40,000

China, 1878 Large Dragon thin paper 5ca. yellow-orange, Setting I, block of four [3-4/8-9], cancelled by Tientsin type 1 small seal, bright colour, well centred, very fine and fresh. Chan 3.
Estimate 15,000 - 20,000 Est. HK$15,000-20,000 (Image1)

Est. HK$15,000-20,000

China, 1878 Large Dragon thin paper 5ca. yellow-orange, Setting II, the remarkable used reconstruction, comprising :

•     Irregular block of eight [13-6/23-15-14/2-9-17] cancelled by brush strokes, toned
•     Horizontal strip of three [7-5-4] cancelled by brush strokes ([5] has vertical tear at right)
•     Horizontal strip of three [4-12-8] cancelled by Peking seal in blue
•     Horizontal strip of three [16-24-13] cancelled by "Customs/Shanghai" double-ring d.s. of "Oct 30 82" in red
•     Horizontal strip of three [9-17-21] cancelled by Tientsin large type 2 seal
•     Horizontal strip of three [11-3-25] cancelled by Peking seal in blue
•     Vertical strip of three [7/16/22] cancelled by Tientsin large type 2 seal
•     Horizontal pair [1-2] cancelled by Tientsin seal in black
•     Horizontal pair [10-18] cancelled by brush strokes
•     Vertical pair [19/20] cancelled by Peking seal in blue

Mainly fine to very fine. A remarkable philatelic achievement. Chan 3.
Estimate 100,000 - 120,000

Provenance: Richard Canman, Stanley Gibbons (London), lot 220; Paul Hock, Christie's Robson Lowe (Zurich), 19.10.1983, lot 119. For the block of eight.
Georges Alevizos (Santa Monica), 8.2.1979, lot 1035. For the horizontal strip of three cancelled by "Customs/Shanghai" double-ring d.s. in red.

ONLY A FEW COMPLETE RECONSTRUCTIONS OF SETTING II HAVE BEEN ACHIEVED. THE LARGEST RECORDED MULTIPLE IS A BLOCK OF TEN. Est. HK$100,000-120,000 (Image1)

Est. HK$100,000-120,000

China, 1882 Large Dragon wide margin 1ca. green, Setting III, horizontal pair [3-24], clear colour, centrally cancelled by "Customs/Shanghai" double-ring d.s. of "Nov 24 82" in red, right stamp has two slightly short perfs. at top, nevertheless very fine. Chan 4.
Estimate 18,000 - 22,000

Provenance: Paul Hock, Christie's Robson Lowe (Zurich), 19.10.1983, lot 47. Est. HK$18,000-22,000 (Image1)

Est. HK$18,000-22,000

China, 1882 Large Dragon wide margin 3ca. brown-red, Setting VI or VII, vertical pair [10/9] with sheet margin at top, centrally cancelled by Shanghai seal, very fine. Chan 5.
Estimate 6,000 - 8,000 Est. HK$6,000-8,000 (Image1)

Est. HK$6,000-8,000

China, 1882 Large Dragon wide margin 5ca. yellow-ochre, Setting III, vertical pair [17/21], cancelled by Shanghai seal, top stamp has a few minor creases, very fine. Chan 6.
Estimate 12,000 - 15,000

Provenance: Philip Ireland, Christie's Robson Lowe (Zurich), 25.5.1989, lot 2133. Est. HK$12,000-15,000 (Image1)

Est. HK$12,000-15,000

China, 1883-85 Large Dragon thick paper 1ca. bright green, rough perfs., Setting VI, the magnificent complete sheet of twenty with selvedge all round, bright colour, and excellent state of conservation, fine unused with much original gum, defects in selvedge at top and faint tropicalised spots on gum. A great rarity in this complete sheet format. Chan 10.
Estimate 800,000 - 1,000,000

Expertisation: Signed SEB (Sven-Eric Beckeman).

Provenance: "Nordenfelt Find", Corinphila (Zurich), 30.10.1992, lot 5186
Anna-Lisa and Sven-Eric Beckeman, Sotheby's and Corinphila (Hong Kong), 7.10.1997, lot C22.

THE ONLY RECORDED COMPLETE SHEET FROM SETTING VI WITH SELVEDGE ALL ROUND.

THERE ARE ONLY TWO COMPLETE SHEETS OF THE 1 CANDARIN IN THE FORMAT OF TWENTY (4 X 5) WITH SELVEDGE ALL ROUND RECORDED. THE OTHER IS 1883 THICK PAPER, SETTING V, CLEAN-CUT PERFS. (EX GEORGE WORTHINGTON, E.H. FINEGAN, SIR PERCIVAL DAVID, PAUL HOCK, PHILIP IRELAND, AND ANNA-LISA AND SVEN-ERIC BECKEMAN).

This unique sheet emanates from the famous "Nordenfelt Find", which comprised the philatelic holdings of a Norwegian naval officer and former Customs official. This find, which surfaced in the early 1990's, included hitherto unknown complete sheets of the 1883-85 thick paper 1 candarin, 3 candarins and 5 candarins in the rare format of twenty stamps and all with complete selvedge. All three sheets were acquired by Anna-Lisa and Sven-Eric Beckeman. Est. HK$800,000-1,000,000 (Image1)

Est. HK$800,000-1,000,000

China, 1883-85 Large Dragon thick paper 3ca. brown-red, Setting XII, block of fifteen [9-15-13/14-17-6/10-25-24/20-11-3/23-4-8], superb colour, uneven impression particularly noticeable on [6], very fine and wonderfully fresh unused with much original gum, [23] has minor thinning in left margin. Chan 8.
Estimate 200,000 - 250,000

Provenance: Major James Starr, Sotheby's (London), 11.9.1991, lot 81.

THE SECOND LARGEST UNUSED MULTIPLE RECORDED FROM SETTING XII. Est. HK$200,000-250,000 (Image1)

Est. HK$200,000-250,000

China, 1883-85 Large Dragon thick paper 3ca. brown-red, clean-cut perfs., Setting VIII, horizontal pair [23-24], distinct red colour, cancelled by two complete to large part complete strikes of Chefoo seal, fine to very fine appearance, small faults (right stamp has 1.5mm. tear at foot just into frame line) and light peripheral toning. Chan 8.
Estimate 3,000 - 4,000 Est. HK$3,000-4,000 (Image1)

Est. HK$3,000-4,000

China, 1883-85 Large Dragon thick paper 3ca. vermilion, clean-cut perfs., Setting IX, horizontal pair [17-11], bright colour, centrally cancelled by complete strike of Peking seal in blue, right stamp has slight thinning, otherwise very fine and rare Setting. Chan 8b.
Estimate 6,000 - 8,000

ONLY EIGHT POSITIONS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED FROM SETTING IX. Est. HK$6,000-8,000 (Image1)

Est. HK$6,000-8,000

China, 1883-85 Large Dragon thick paper 3ca. vermilion, rough perfs., Setting XIV, vertical strip of three [23/14/24], fresh colour verging on red, cancelled by Tientsin seal in blue, light yellowing/ageing in margins, otherwise very fine. Chan 11a.
Estimate 15,000 - 20,000 Est. HK$15,000-20,000 (Image1)

Est. HK$15,000-20,000

China, 1883-85 Large Dragon thick paper 3ca. vermilion [4], clean-cut perfs., variety semi-circle to right of lower left "3", pale distinctive shade, cancelled by "Customs" double-ring d.s. without year date leaving variety clear, most probably Newchwang and, therefore, from Setting XIII, fine to very fine. Chan 8c.
Estimate 3,000 - 4,000 Est. HK$3,000-4,000 (Image1)

Est. HK$3,000-4,000

China, 1883-85 Large Dragon thick paper 3ca. brown-red, clean-cut perfs., Unknown Setting, vertical pair [26/8?], variety imperforate between, bright colour, excellent impression, cancelled by Tientsin seal in blue, small wedge shaped piece cut out of top and minor age spot in margin between stamps, fine appearance for this very rare variety. Chan 8j.
Estimate 400,000 - 500,000

Provenance: Philippe Renotière de Ferrary, Gilbert (Paris), Sale XIII, 22-24.4.1925, lot 490
Arthur Hind, H.R. Harmer (New York), 21.5.1935, lot 109
Major James Starr, Sotheby's (London), 11.9.1991, lot 105.

ONLY FOUR IMPERFORATE BETWEEN PAIRS OF THE 3 CANDARINS ARE RECORDED.

This is undoubtedly the most historical example of this iconic variety from a philatelic aspect, with a pedigree dating back to the Ferrary collection (1925), which was universally recognised as the greatest stamp collection ever formed, and the nearly comparable Hind collection (1935), from which Major James Starr acquired this variety ten years after the famous textile industrialist's agent had purchased it in the Ferrary auction in Paris.

The four recorded imperforate between pairs are :

1.) Unknown Setting [26/8?]. Philippe Renotière de Ferrary, Gilbert (Paris), Sale XIII, 22-24.4.1925, lot 490; Arthur Hind, H.R. Harmer (New York), 21.5.1935, lot 109; Major James Starr, Sotheby's (London), lot 105. This is the Olsson example.

2.) Unknown Setting [24/14]. Sir Percival David, Robson Lowe (London), 22.10.1970, lot 38; Giulio Mochi, David Feldman (Geneva), 24.10.1984, lot 40604; Anna-Lisa and Sven-Eric Beckeman, Sotheby's and Corinphila (Zurich), 7.11.1996, lot A46; M.F. Huang, Zurich Asia (Hong Kong), 21.6.2003, lot 59.

3.) Setting XII [26/21]. Dr. Warren G. Kauder, Robson Lowe (London), 10.11.1971, lot 99; Mizuhara Meiso, Spink (Hong Kong), 17.1.2016, lot 1640.

4.) Unknown Setting. Interasia (Hong Kong), 28.4.2012 lot 75.

In addition, there are nine examples (including two rejoined horizontal pairs) with imperforate margins at top or foot indicating that these came from vertical imperforate between pairs and had been separated either by scissors or roughly separated. Furthermore, two stamps actually show portions of the adjoining stamp in the imperforate margin at the top, and one of these stamps originally formed a remarkable horizontal pair [20-11] with another example. Est. HK$400,000-500,000 (Image1)

Est. HK$400,000-500,000

China, 1883-85 Large Dragon thick paper 5ca. chrome-yellow, clean-cut perfs., Setting IV, the used reconstruction of twenty-one of the twenty-five positions of this Setting, comprising block of four [19-11/10-9], horizontal strips of three (2, with [9-2-12]) and [4-20-3]), horizontal pairs (6, with [7-19], [22-8], [16-1], [23-14], [3-13] and [13-15]), and vertical pairs (2, with [1/25] and [18/21]), cancelled by Chefoo, Peking (blue) or Shanghai seals, the block of four has a couple of defects and one strip is toned, overall fine to very fine, some small faults. Chan 9.
Estimate 75,000 - 90,000 Est. HK$75,000-90,000 (Image1)

Est. HK$75,000-90,000

China, 1883-85 Large Dragon thick paper 5ca. chrome-yellow, clean-cut perfs., Setting V, block of four [18-6/22-9], bright colour, well centred, cancelled by two strikes of Peking seal in blue, a couple of irregular perfs. at lower right, fine to very fine. Chan 9.
Estimate 15,000 - 20,000 Est. HK$15,000-20,000 (Image1)

Est. HK$15,000-20,000

China, 1883-85 Large Dragon thick paper 5ca. chrome-yellow, rough perfs., Setting VI, vertical pair [15/21], cancelled by Chefoo seals, very fine appearance, top stamp has extensive vertical tear at right and lower stamp has manuscript numbers on reverse. Chan 12.
Estimate 4,000 - 5,000 Est. HK$4,000-5,000 (Image1)

Est. HK$4,000-5,000

China, 1883-85 Large Dragon thick paper 5ca. chrome-yellow, rough perfs., Setting VII, horizontal strip of four [8-17-7-3] showing small part of sheet margin at right, representing the top row of the sheet, intense shade verging on lemon-yellow, toned perf. at left and a few light bends/creases, fine to very fine and a scarce multiple. Chan 11.
Estimate 20,000 - 25,000

Provenance: Philip Ireland, Christie's Robson Lowe (Zurich), 25.5.1989, lot 2149. Est. HK$20,000-25,000 (Image1)

Est. HK$20,000-25,000