A remarkable group of Canadian postal history treasures will cross the auction block this month as Eastern Auctions presents the Camellia PLC Collection – Canada Part I, an extraordinary offering of classic material set for Nov. 22 in Bathurst, N.B.
Among the sale’s headline pieces are some of the most celebrated items in Canadian philately, including the only recorded Large Queen cover to Siam, the famous 12-Penny Black cover cancelled in blue, and a 71-cent registered letter to Prussia—the highest known franking to any destination outside the United Kingdom.
Comprising 115 lots of Pence, Cents and Large Queen material, the sale highlights the breadth of the Camellia PLC Collection, which Eastern Auctions’ chief describer Yohann Tanguay has called one of the firm’s most significant postal history offerings to date. Many of the covers, he noted, have not appeared publicly in decades.
Highlights include domestic and international rarities such as an 1866 Fenian Raid-era soldier’s letter, the earliest recorded bisected 10-cent Consort cover, and the earliest known example bearing Canadian postage to Newfoundland. Other standouts include colourful multi-stamp frankings to destinations as diverse as China, Norway and British Guiana.
Tanguay said demand for specialized postal history has been climbing steadily, with the market responding strongly to high-quality classic material. He expects 2025 and 2026 to be landmark years for collectors of Canadian Pence, Cents and Large Queen issues.
The Nov. 22 auction will begin at 12:30 p.m. EDT, with live bidding and a full illustrated catalogue available at easternauctions.com.
Read the full story, “Camellia Collection delivers postal history masterpieces,” in the latest issue of Canadian Stamp News (Vol. 50 No. 16), released today, Nov. 4, 2025.
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