Last week, a perforated official stamp from the 1933 commemorative series sold for more than four times its pre-sale estimate as part of All Nations Stamp and Coin’s weekly auction #1123.
In the first half of the 20th century, Canada’s Post Office Department (now Canada Post)—the department responsible for perforating official stamps for government offices—added a five-hole “OHMS” (On Her Majesty’s Service) perfin to a five-cent Royal William commemorative stamp (Scott #204) originally issued in 1933. The OHMS official stamp is catalogued as Scott #OA204 in The Unitrade Specialized Catalogue of Canadian Stamps.
“Five-hole perfins are missing from most collections, and the Royal William steamship is still loved by stamp enthusiasts,” said Brian Grant Duff, owner and auctioneer of the Vancouver-based auction house. “A Toronto teacher David Bastedo once formed a specialized collection of Royal William stamps and postal history.”
In Fine/Very Fine condition, Lot 86 also included an Oct. 16, 1933 Ottawa circular date stamp. This lot sold for $220, greatly exceeding its estimate of $50.
Lot 108 realized $500 at the Sept. 2 sale hosted by Vancouver’s All Nations Stamp and Coin.
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Other highlights include two lots of 1960s People’s Republic of China (PRC) material, the first of which was Lot 108, a used 1961 souvenir sheet (Scott #566a) celebrating the 1961 World Table Tennis Championships, which took place in Beijing from April 5-14, 1961. This lot realized $500, nearly doubling its pre-sale estimate of $300.
Rounding out the highlights was Lot 109, a mint set of 30 “Butterflies” stamps issued by China in 1963 (Scott #661-90). This lot crossed the block for $275, also topping its pre-sale estimate of $200.
This 30-stamp set sold for $275 as Lot 109.
“PRC material continues to be sought after globally, and the market for it still seems to be growing,” said Grant Duff, who added “many local bidders on PRC use their smart phones to check market prices before bidding.”