Lot
578 
British Columbia & Vancouver Island, Dietz & Nelsons British Columbia & Victoria Express, printed first type ribbon frank (DIE-001) on 1863 cover to Victoria, with blue "Paid" in oval handstamp and bold "New Westminster, British Columbia, Post Office" oval handstamp frank (DIE-601); trivial opening tear at top, Extremely Fine. Estimate $3,000 - 4,000.
A VERY RARE USAGE OF THE DIETZ & NELSONS BRITISH COLUMBIA & VICTORIA EXPRESS FIRST TYPE FRANK ON COVER.
Only four examples of this rare frank are recorded. All are dated to late March or April of 1863 and are used locally.
Lot
579
British Columbia & Vancouver Island, Nanaimo Post Office, Vancouver Island, red oval handstamp on cover to New Westminster, B.C.; cover slightly reduced at right, Very Fine. Estimate $500 - 750.
Realized: $950
Lot
580
British Columbia & Vancouver Island, Victoria, Post Office, oval handstamp on cover to Toronto, Canada, red crayon "15" and "Paid" in oval handstamp, entering the U.S. mails with red "San Francisco, Cal., Paid, Dec 30, 1859" cds and straight line "Overland" routing handstamp and carried over the Butterfield route, reverse with "Toronto, Ja 27, 60" receiving cds, Very Fine, ex-Dale-Lichtenstein, Walske. Estimate $2,000 - 3,000.
A RARE USAGE OF THE SAN FRANCISCO "OVERLAND" ROUTING HANDSTAMP ON COVER FROM VICTORIA, VANCOUVER ISLAND TO TORONTO, CANADA.
Realized: $1,200
Lot
581
British Columbia & Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver Island, Post Office, Paid, blue oval handstamp on cover addressed to Oldham, England, entered the U.S. mails and franked with U.S. 1861, 3¢ rose, vertical pair + 1862, 24¢ lilac (65+78), canceled by cog wheel handstamps with matching "San Francisco, Cal, May 18, 1863" cds below, red New York exchange and Liverpool entry cds's, receiving backstamp; cover edge wear and slight soiling, Fine; with 2013 V.G. Greene certificate. Estimate $750 - 1,000.
Lot
582
British Columbia & Vancouver Island, 1860, 2½d Dull Rose, Perf 14, Vertical Pair and Single, tied by "10" barred oval handstamps of Williams Creek on cover to Stamford, Canada West, matching bold "Paid" handstamp, red crayon "15¢" rating and entering the U.S. mails with "San Francisco, Cal, Sep 3, 1864" cds, red arched "U. States" exchange handstamp and reverse with light transit backstamp; margin nick and small surface scuff in right stamp, sealed cover tear at bottom, F.-V.F. SG No. 2. Scott No. 2 Estimate $1,000 - 1,500.
Realized: $1,600
Lot
583 (
)
British Columbia & Vancouver Island, 1865, 5¢ Rose, Imperf, margins large to just shaving frameline at bottom left, strong bright color, 3mm cut at bottom not detracting from appearance, Fine; with 1987 R.P.S. certificate. SG No. 11. Scott No. 3 $42,500.
AN EXTREMELY RARE MINT EXAMPLE OF THE 1865, 5¢ QUEEN VICTORIA IMPERFORATE ISSUE.
Vancouver Island's five cent imperforate unused is one of British North America's rarest stamps. In 1865 De La Rue sent five and ten stamps to Victoria. An undetermined number of sheets of each value were sent without perforations and so were issued in that state. A census of satisfactory four margin unused copies of the five cents follows:
1.Vertical pair, lot 24 Harmers New York Dale-Lichtenstein sale of May 11, 2004, described as full original gum - realized $115,000. This was the only BC&VI item illustrated in Life Magazine's May 3, 1954 "World's Rarest Stamps" article.
2. Large margin o.g. single ex-Ferrary Sale VI, lot 229, also ex Amundsen and Baillie (Sotheby NY May 10-12, 2006, lot 6, realized $86,250).
3. Similar large margin unused single most recently sold in Spink Shreve Dauer sale of January 30, 2014 as lot 2.
4. Smaller margin part o.g. single ex-Burrus and Baille lot 7 described as "small paper mark showing through at the right".
5. Smaller margin part o.g. single ex-Wellburn collection (Eaton & Sons October 6, 1988, Toronto, lot 1136).
Realized: $9,500
Lot
584
British Columbia & Vancouver Island, 1865, 5¢ Rose, Perf 14, tied by blue "35" barred oval handstamp on 1861, 10¢ yellow green entire to San Francisco, indicia canceled by clear blue "Wells Fargo & Co., Victoria, Apr 23" oval datestamp; trivial small opening edge tear at top left corner, Extremely Fine. SG No. 13. Scott No. 5 Estimate $1,000 - 1,500.
Realized: $1,200
Lot
585
British Columbia & Vancouver Island, 1867, 2¢ on 3d Brown, Perf 14, Horizontal Strip of Three, natural s.e. at left, tied by "35" barred oval handstamp on cover to the captain of the ship Zahara in Fort Discovery, W.T., indistinct blue Victoria, B.C. cds at left, Very Fine. SG No. 28. Scott No. 8 Estimate $750 - 1,000.
Realized: $625
Lot
586
New Brunswick, 1860, 5¢ Brown, Connell, Unissued, full o.g. (rare thus), exceptional centering for this notoriously off-centered issue, rich deep color and remarkable freshness, full intact perfs all around, couple small thins, Very Fine appearance; with 1999 V.G. Greene certificate. SG No. 13. Scott No. 5 $16,000.
WITHOUT QUESTION ONE OF THE FINEST EXAMPLES OF THE UNISSUED 1860 5¢ CONNELL ISSUES IN EXISTENCE.
The Scott catalog footnotes this issue as most examples have creases or other flaws. With many others lacking most or all the original gum, having shortened perfs or poorly centered.
Realized: $5,000
Lot
587 ()
Newfoundland, 1860, 1s Orange Vermilion, large well balanced margins all around, rich brilliant color which is unusual for this issue, Extremely Fine and choice, ex-Ferrary, Moody, Lilly, Cartier, Schneider ; with 1968 R.P.S. certificate. SG No. 15. Scott No. 15 $35,000.
A GREAT BRITISH NORTH AMERICA RARITY - ONE OF THE FINEST MINT EXAMPLES OF THE 1860 1 SHILLING ORANGE VERMILION ISSUE IN EXISTENCE.
The unused one shilling orange-vermilion of Newfoundland (1,000 issued) is possibly the rarest classic imperforate stamp of British North America. A census compiled from a study of auction catalogs finds no unused multiples and only three satisfactory four margin copies with good color. These are:
1. ex-Dale-Lichtenstein (H.R. Harmer Nov 18-21, sale 1968, lot 654) three large margins with smaller margin at left. Later appeared in Dallas and Ballie collection where described as "clear to large margins, exceptional color, slight creasing, part O.G.", realizing $48,300 in 2006.
2. This example, first appearing as lot 579 at the 7th Ferrary sale of June 18-20, 1924, later appeared in the Moody, Lilly, Cartier and Schneider collections.
3.The four margin example in the Pratt sale (Harmers London October of 1986, lot 157) which later appeared in Harmer's N.Y. Gilbert sale on October 2004.
The Pratt book states "Most of the 1/ (orange-vermilion) stamps that have appeared on the market are dispirited looking and lacking good color." Two four-margin copies fitting that description have been seen. The second Dale-Lichtenstein copy (lot 55 in January 26, 1970 sale) was returned and reappeared in the clean-up sale of July 1, 1971 with an RPSL certificate stating "badly soiled and treated". This stamp was later sold (without certificate) in Christies Robson Lowe's Weill Bros. stock sale of November 22, 1987. A very similar four margin copy with the same weak color sold as lot 129 in Siegel's Clifford Cole sale of March 17, 1988 and later appeared as lot 314 in Spink-Shreve's November 19, 2009 William Gross sale. In both these sales the stamp was described as being of good color, but the color is much duller than examples 1-3 above.
Realized: $32,500