1923-24 Kabul Inter-Urban Booklet Issue: 2 Paisa black in booklet panes of four, plus the unique large part booklet containing seven of the eight booklet panes affixed in booklet with one flap (the other missing), the cover is made from King Edward VII watermarked paper, a stunning showpiece and possibly one of the world’s rarest booklets Note: Item refered to in Patterson’s ‘Afganistan – The 20th Century Postal Issues’ (Image)

THE OUTSTANDING JOHN WILKINS EXHIBIT COLLECTION 1871-2006, Ambitious and astounding exhibit collection on some 550 pages in four file boxes, plus extra pages, extra full sheets, numerous extra covers and important literature, with plating (incl. plate varieties) and usages on non-philatelic covers throughout. Many items of the early 20th Century are from the collections of the late Major Adrian Hopkins and Frank Patterson with whom the vendor had a long association. The write up to the collection displays the latest findings with images and Dari translations to assist in understanding the Afghan culture. The vendor’s research included preparing a 50 page booklet on “Afghanistan Postage Stamp Issues Errors Flaws & Oddities 1870-1989”. Box 1 shows the 1871-1931 period, with highly specialised Tiger’s Heads incl. rare 1872 6sh & 1R values, excellent covers from the beginning incl. mixed frankings with India and one Anglo-Afghan War cover, later issues include studies of paper and platings, e.g. the scarce to rare 1907-08 Recess issues perf. and imperf. with sheets, the Zig Zag Roulette issues (the rarest of the 20th century issues) with only about fifty known extant, the two Double Impressions which are extremely rare, the Abasi Plate A trial perforation ON COVER (the only used copy seen by the vendor in 40 years). The Plate A & B issues that form the rest of the section are also rare and under-catalogued, and included are early postal stationery from 1909 and a delightful section of the Parcel Posts and Officials. The rare Transit Cancel period of 1927 is included on covers including the civil war 1928-29 period overprints. Box 2 presents 1930 to modern Officials and other special purpose issues, plus 1931-51 postage, airmails and ps, with many covers, scarce imperfs, WWII censored, and much more, difficult to assemble in this depth Box 3 includes both the 1951-63 issues printed in Kabul (incl. some “back of book”), and the notorious 1961-64 New York contract agency period, with many of the latter acquired after the expiration of the contract and sent down for use on letters (usually reg’d airmail) from Kabul as the stamps remained valid and very few had been sent there originally. Probably the largest if not the only such collection of legitimate covers in existence! Finally, the 1964-65 Kabul post-contract issues incl. stationery. The vendor displays his recent identifying of the the 1951 UPU substituted cliché that replaced the 35 Poul error of value in the 125 Poul sheet. The 125 Poul imperf. sheet displayed contains the error of value and is one of only 250 issued. Also seen is the 50 Poul green sheet with the 25 Poul issue which was withdrawn and a substituted cliché in this 1960-72 regular issue has been identified on a rare cover with three copies of the substituted cliché. Box 4 presents the 1965-2006 period including postal stationery, FDCs and reg’d airmail covers up to 1977, then the 1978-2004 Communist Revolution & Soviet Occupation (to 1990), and 1990-2006 Civil War and Reconstruction period with many covers, incl. both the Taliban and the Karzhai government periods. The Russian invasion period 1978-1989 is only represented by issues printed in Afghanistan and includes archive 1971-72 Air and Independence day issues bisected by the Soviet Russian puppet government to remove King Zahir Shah’s image and used during 1979-80. This collection also includes some additional sheets incl. large full sheet of unissued 1892-93 1R black on green Registration issue, two stockbooks with extra items from all periods incl. many varieties and imperfs. A thorough examination is highly recommended, as all the major catalogues have shown significant recent price growth and few large in-depth collections of the modern period could even attempt to match this one, while the early period, with partial platings and interesting usages, could easily be developed into several superlative competitive exhibits. We feel strongly that it would take many years and far more money than our estimate to begin to approximate this collection on all its levels! The vendor’s collection has received 3 silver medals from 1960-1988 but has not been exhibited, except privately, since that period with many further additions after 1988. Estimate: € 28’000 – € 32’000 (Image)

1891-1953, Small collection on Scott pages, mostly mint hinged, a few used, mostly very fine (Est. € 100/150)

1893-1960 Collection on 10 medium-size stock cards, mostly mint hinge remainder or used, a nice assembly of this difficult area, please inspect (Est. € 100/200) (Image)

1872-1914, Austrian P.O., Selection of 8 covers & 1 postcard bearing cancellations of ANTIVARI (blue), DURAZZO (3, including 1 registered from court of Prince), SAN GIOVANNI DI MEDUA & VALONA (4), fine to very fine specialist group (Image)

1913-1961 Small collection on Scott pages, mostly mint hinged or used, a few never hinged, fine to very fine (Est. € 100/200)

1870 Folded entire from Venice via Trieste to Scutari, Albania, franked Italy 60c tied Venice numeral & cds, with Turkish 1pi applied on arrival in Scutarti & tied by Arabic double-circle & blue thimble SCUTARI D’ALBANIE alongside, very fine & scarce (Image)

1935-43 1p without control number on reverse, very fine, very rare, cert. (Image)

1862 1st Republic Issue Selection on stockcard of 5C red with & without accent over Republica, different shades & clichee stads, mostly used, mostly very fine specialised group (Image)

1927 (25 Nov.) Buenos Aires to Asuncion (Paraguay) flight by Costas & Le Brix, stamps of each country tied by respective Nov. 25 cds to cover with printed cachet, only 85 carried, unaddressed, vert. fold, fine (Mü. 26, 7’500pts) (Image)

1930 (May 10) Crash of C.G.A. plane flying from Buenos Aires to Montevideo (all but one passenger killed), cover to Germany with violet three-line hs, “Accident d’Avion / Correspondances recueillies en mer / NE PAS TAXER,” opened for display, fine (Nierinck 300510a) (Image)

1930 Zeppelin South America Flight, cover and 5c postal card with add’l overprint frankings (card with 1P & 50c, cover with pair of 1P, two 50c and Bolivar 12c) all tied by Buenos Aires cds (21 May), F’hafen bs (6.6.30), diamond cachets plus special Argentina cachet, very clean, very fine (Sieger 63 B) (Image)

1903-85, Over 200 mostly commercially used covers and cards mostly addressed to the US, postal stationery, airmails, registered mail, etc. a great lot for studying 20th century rates (Est. € 200/300) (Image)

1916 FISCALS: Selection on 9 Scott pages of 300 values of the 1916 Buenos Aires fiscal set starting at $0.01 up to $100.000, most probably complete , very fresh mint hinged and mostly very fine to superb quality, never seen before (Est. € 200/300) (Image)

CORREO MARITIMO… RIO DE LA PLATA, 1913, by Del Pont, privately HB, plus similarly titled works by Walter Bose (1938) and the Colonial Period work (n.d., ca. 1980), all very fine

1858 1p blue tied diamond of dots on cover from Buenos Aires to Concepcion de Uruguay, CORREOS DE BUENOS AIRES 12 SET 58 cds alongside, the 1p slightly touched on one side else fine (Image)

1859 1p blue, clear margins, on 1859 cover to Rosario, very fine, scarce, signed A.Diena (Image)

1859-1862 ‘Liberty Heads’ Selection on stockcard noted 4R green (2), 1P blue (14, including 6 unused), 2P red (2), 1P rose (7, including 2 unused), 2P blue (2), with different shades, mostly used, mostly very fine specialised group (Image)

1856-80, Fantastic assembly of mint and used (98 stamps and one cover) carefully selected in view of an exhibit, a great array of shades & cancels, multiples incl. pairs, blocks and a sheet of 32 with tete-beches, etc., very fine, scarce offering (Image)

1920-1930s, Forgery reference collection of over 1000 items, well written up and categorised, one man’s lifetime work from buying numerous collections, featuring items he thought were forged ovpts or of a clandestine nature he would then research and categorise in this reference collection, incl. a study of forged postmarks, surcharges, framed monograms including large multiples, etc., a valuable study for the specialist (Est. € 1’200/1’800) (Image)

1850 (May 27) Entire letter from Vienna to Pesth with a top marginal example of the 1850 6 kreuzer brown (technically issued June 1st), huge margins all round and in a rich reddish shade, tied clearly by “WIEN / 27. MAI” two line datestamp in black with repeated strike at right, adhesive also cancelled in red crayon manuscript also used to denote pre-payment, reverse of entire with “Briefs No. 93” datestamp (May 27) and Pesth arrival cds (May 29), thus both the sending and the delivery occurred prior to the intended date of issue. A fantastic world and first issue rarity in unbelievably fine quality. Expertise: Signed Alberto Bolaffi, certified Ferchenbauer and Puschmann Price on request (Image)

1854 Folded lettersheet franked 1850 issue 2Kr handmade paper, Ferchenbauer type Ib in horizontal strip of 3 bearing oval ‘PRAG KLEINS: 5.3.(54)’ ds’s to Schlackenwerth (arrival marking at back), strip with white margins all around (on 3 sides large to very large, on left side smaller but still clearly white), bottom of letter with some browning but 2Kr strip very fine, Ferchenb. €2’600 (Image)

1858-1859 Selection of St. Andrews Crosses, noted green, red (3, including 1 pair), blue (2), brown (5), all mint hinge remainder, mostly fine to very fine (Image)

1870 Printed matter to DENMARK with 2k yellow in pair, very fine, rare rate (Image)

1935 Airmail 5g to 10s set of 15 in imperf. pairs, no gum, very fine (Mi. €1’100) (Image)