Canada’s 1903 2¢ King Edward VII definitive led recent Sparks Auction

Auction Roundup — By Matthew Healey

In Ottawa, Sparks Auctions held a sale May 23-24 of Canadian, British North American, and worldwide stamps. The top item was an imperforate block of 12 of Canada’s 1903 2¢ King Edward VII definitive.

The left six stamps are upside-down, because the partial sheet is two tete-beche booklet panes (Scott 90d). Sheets intended for booklets were laid out this way so that each pane of six would have a margin at left for binding the booklets.

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The corner of the sheet margin is cut away diagonally, though this apparently had little effect on the price of the rarity. It sold for $13,800 in Canadian dollars, including the 15 percent buyer’s premium added by Sparks, or about US$10,400.

A gorgeous set of plate proofs of Canada’s 1935 King George V pictorial definitives from 1¢ to $1 (Scott 217-227), on India paper mounted on card, was offered in gutter-margin blocks of four and eight. The set sold for about $3,300.

A set of die proofs of the set issued by Newfoundland honoring Sir Humphrey Gilbert in 1933 (Scott 212-225) showed each of the 14 designs in black on watermarked paper. The lot fetched $3,800.

Want to see what other international auction houses had to offer? 

Matthew Healey provides a detailed roundup of other auctions that took place recently. The content can be found in the latest issue of Linn's Stamp News. If you would like to read more, subscribing to either the print or digital edition of Linn's is easy and fast.