Admiral issue featured in Feb. 23-24 Eastern Auctions sale

Auction News — By Michael Baadke

Eastern Auctions in New Brunswick, Canada, will offer a remarkable 646-lot auction of the John Smallman collection of Canada’s Admiral issue on Feb. 23.

Additional Canada, British North America and worldwide stamps and postal history will be auctioned the following day, including a selection of United States classics as singles, collections and more.

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The Smallman collection studies the Admiral issue that honored King George V with stamps issued from 1911 through the 1920s. The series has revealed a spectrum of fascinating varieties.

The auction opens with a complete set of eight imperforate margin pairs of the 4¢ to $1 denominations (Canada Scott 110a-122a), plus an elusive imperforate margin pair of die II of the 2¢+1¢ War Tax stamp (MR4c), all originating from the upper-right corner of the sheet, left of the guide arrow.

The guide arrow shows on all but the $1 orange, where the plate imprint was very lightly printed. The pairs are hinged in the sheet margin only, so the stamps themselves are never hinged.

The set is listed by Eastern with a value of $46,000 Canadian (about US$37,200 in early February).

The auction presents a great array of single stamps, small and large blocks and strips, and coils. A multitude of extraordinary lathework and imprint rarities are also included, including pyramid lines and R-GAUGE marginal inscriptions. Nearly all items are unused or never hinged, with a few items of postal history included as well.

The Feb. 24 auction includes Newfoundland proofs, along with provisionals, airmails, and Canada and British North America stampless covers. Among the Canada proofs are several from the Admiral issue, including a set of 12 trial color die proofs in black on India paper and affixed to individual archival cards.

“All twelve denominations are represented including the unissued 6 cent,” Eastern notes. The set is offered with an estimate of $10,000-plus Canadian (roughly US$8,090).

The U.S. material in the Saturday auction includes a never-hinged 1926 2¢ Battle of White Plains souvenir sheet (Scott 630) with the dot over S in “States” constant variety, and a block of 12 containing two of the 1917 5¢ carmine error of color (467), also never hinged.

Eastern’s public auctions are taking place at the Lord Nelson Hotel and Suites, 1515 South Park St., Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

The auction lots can be viewed online, with online bidding options available.

For additional information, contact Eastern Auctions, Box 250, Bathurst, New Brunswick E2A 3Z2 Canada.