Gaertner auction offering original Picasso on a postcard

By Michael Baadke

Germany’s Christoph Gaertner auction firm offers what it describes as “incomparable diversity” in its Oct. 16-20 philatelic auction.

The auction opens Monday morning with a selection of more than 5,100 lots of Asia, in single lots and collections.

The Asia selection includes the recent discovery of a single 1882 China 3-candareen Large Dragon brown red stamp with wide margins on cover to Tientsin (Tianjin). The stamp is tied by a Peking (Beijing) blue seal, and the small Western-style cover is postmarked Peking March 29, 1882, on the reverse. The envelope came to light one year ago as part of the Meyer & Co. correspondence.

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Gaertner reports that very few inland covers franked with the 3ca Large Dragon and mailed from Peking are known. This new discovery is offered with a starting value of €15,000 (approximately $17,670).

Along with the special Asia catalog, additional catalogs have been prepared offering thematics and worldwide material, Europe and Germany, plus picture postcards, overseas and thematic collections, and collections of Germany and Europe.

Among the Germany offerings is a collection of Bavarian rarities and additional lots resulting from the liquidation of two collections of German occupation in World War II built over decades, according to Gaertner.

The auction also offers a newly discovered postcard written by famed artist Pablo Picasso in 1923 and including his continuous line drawing of a horse’s head, along with his signature. Bidding for the original Picasso, franked with a pair of the 5-centime orange Sower stamps from France and mailed to Paris, begins at €75,000 ($88,370).

Information about the upcoming Christoph Gaertner auction is available online, including illustrated listings of individual lots and options to bid, and by postal mail from Auktionshaus Christoph Gaertner GmbH & Co., Steinbeisstrasse 6 + 8, 74321 Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany.