Eastern Auctions has announced a landmark series of auctions set to begin this autumn featuring the Camellia PLC collections of Canada and Newfoundland, described by the firm as “the finest of their kind ever formed.”
A marquee highlight of the Canada Part I Sale is the famous “Jarret (Gill) Baillie” mint block of 25 – by far the largest surviving mint multiple of the six-cent Large Queen.
The Canada collection is devoted entirely to the classic era, spanning from Pence to Large Queens, while the Newfoundland holdings cover the full spectrum, from the stampless period through the first issue of 1857 to the final King George VI stamps. Collectors can expect extensive pioneer airmail material, a remarkable range of proofs and essays, and some of the largest surviving multiples. Postal history is especially strong, with what Eastern calls “the most extensive offering ever to appear at auction.”
The collection was quietly assembled over six decades by experienced philatelic professionals with substantial resources. Rarely shown publicly and never exhibited competitively, it includes important acquisitions from celebrated collections of the past. Notably, large intact portions of the Frank Laycock, Geoffrey Whitworth, and H.E. Duckworth collections are present. Whitworth authored The First Decimal Issue of Canada 1859-1868 in 1966, while Duckworth co-authored The Large Queen Stamps of Canada and Their Use, published by the Vincent Graves Greene Philatelic Research Foundation in 1986 and updated in 2008.
Eastern Auctions said the breadth of material will astonish collectors and place the Camellia holdings in the company of legendary collections such as Dale-Lichtenstein and Ron Brigham. The firm launched its “From the Camellia PLC Vault” article series in late August, highlighting noteworthy but lesser-known items, and a printed and online preview brochure is being released this month. The first sale – Camellia PLC Collections, Canada Part I – is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 22, with catalogues expected to be available beginning Oct. 17.
More detailed coverage of this amazing collection will be published in upcoming issues of CSN.