Stanley Gibbons' June postage stamp auction perfectly demonstrated the strength of Asian stamps and how valuable they are at the moment, with a bidding frenzy for rare Indian errors and 60% of Chinese lots selling for double their estimate or more.
Wednesday June 15 saw collectors and investors worldwide turn their attention to the Stanley Gibbons bi-annual public postage stamp auction, held in London, as more than 1000 international philatelic lots went under the hammer.
Starting with foreign countries, the auction got off to an excellent start, with all the Chinese postage stamp lots finding buyers.
Stanley Gibbons saw more than 60% of the lots went for double or more their pre-auction estimate including the ever popular 1964 Chinese Peonies 2y miniature sheet (SG MS2199a) fine u/m postage stamp. It sold for £2,760 ($4,415).
 Franked with four rare postage stamps, this cover attracted lots of interest and a high price |
Rare foreign postage stamps
The highlight of the foreign section however was a 1862 Neapolitan Provinces cover to Glasgow franked with the 1861 1g, 2g, 5g and 20g, which were cancelled by two Napoli al Porto circular date stamps.
This superb quadruple franking cover with two other covers sold for £16,100 ($25,751) after a long struggle between bidders.
The highlight from the British Commonwealth offering was a very strong section of India, where errors were strongly fought over. A 1976 Wildlife 25p with black omitted (SG 825a) fine u/m with a catalogue value of just £500 ($799) reached £1,610 ($2,571), but this was quickly outdone by the next lot, a 1992 Birds of Prey error of value (SG 1525a) fresh and fine u/m which reached a price of £11,500 ($18,389) against a catalogue value of £1,000 ($1,599), selling for more than times that amount.
Rare Great Britain postage stamps
The Great Britain session held in the afternoon saw an impressive collection of approximately 350 RAF Covers in seven volumes, most being signed by such as William Reid VC, Douglas Bader and Sir Barnes Wallis, selling for more than double its pre-auction estimate, at £2,530 ($4,043).
 This sensational and rare 1992 Indian error of value sold for $18,389 |
Interestingly for a philatelic auction, one of the final items to go under the hammer, a mixed accumulation of coins, made more than five times its pre-auction estimate, selling for £506 ($808).
It has been an impressive week all-round for philatelic items and stamp collectors, with the highly anticipated two-day sale of the Chartwell Collection at Spink selling off the incredibly rare 1840 Penny Black for $345,100, along with other unique items.
The values being achieved at these sales, and others internationally at auction houses like Interasia, are evidence that now is a good time to invest your money in stamps, as indications suggest you'll get a better return on your money that way than you would with traditional methods.
