New Brunswick’s Eastern Auctions recently offered a 685-lot sale of worldwide and British North America stamps and postal history, including a number of “noteworthy” rarities. The June 17 sale, which was held at the Lord Nelson Hotel and Suites in Halifax, N.S., saw several serious bidders drive up the hammer price on a handful of key items. “The British Columbia section – one of the highlights of the sale – went well above expectations, especially some of the postal history,” said Yohann Tanguay, chief describer of Eastern Auctions’ public sales, who added it was “a very strong sale” overall. “Valuable and important stamps were keenly sought-after. Several serious bidders were often contesting against each other, pushing up the prices, notably New Guinea (New Britain) G.R.I. (Georgius Rex Imperator, referring to the incumbent British King George V) stamps, early classic stamps of British North America, Canada plate multiples, choice mint NH (never hinged) singles, among others.” Continue reading →
Lot 48 was a rare, used example of the surcharged five-shilling-on-five-mark stamp featuring a missing period after the ‘I’ in the ‘G.R.I.’ overprint. This example hammered down for $25,000 at the June 17 Eastern Auctions sale.
