Malz Israel and Palestine collections in Dec. 8 Kelleher auction

By Charles Snee

On Dec. 8 Daniel F. Kelleher Auctions will offer the Leo Malz specialized collections of Israel and Palestine. The sale will begin at 10 a.m. Eastern Time at the firm’s office in Danbury, Conn.

A total of 1,295 lots will be presented in the following categories: Palestine during the Turkish period, Palestine during the British Mandate, Israel forerunners and interim period, Israel, and Jordan and Arab Palestine.

The more than 250 lots of Israel material include regular issues, airmail, postage due, military stamps, occupation issues and more.

Leading off the sale is a fascinating 1768 document signed by Luigi di Bastia, a member of the Corsican branch of the Order of St. Francis. Kelleher noted that di Bastia also was a lecturer in theology of Mount Zion and president of the Monastery of the Sepulchre and Superior in the Holy Land.

The document was issued to acknowledge the “receipt of alms from three members of the Order coming from Vienna,” according to Kelleher.

Kelleher is offering this important piece of postal history from Palestine during the Turkish period with an estimate of $300 to $500.

Particular strength can be found in Israel’s 1948 first regular issue, a set of nine stamps picturing ancient Judean coins (Scott 1-9). A number of plate blocks and an eye-catching array of first-day covers of this First Coins issue will cross the auction block.

One of the featured First Coins FDCs is franked with the first six stamps in the set (Scott 1-6), each with attached bottom margin selvage, which collectors call a tab. Six strikes of a May 16, 1948, Tiberias Mandate circular datestamp tie the stamps to the unaddressed cover. A seventh Tiberias postmark, clear of the stamps, was applied in the upper right corner.

An accompanying 2007 Tsachor certificate describes this First Coins FDC as being in “very fine condition.” Kelleher is offering the FDC with an estimate of $300 to $400.

Closing out the Malz sale is a collection of 1951-98 Palestine anti-Israel propaganda issues. Kelleher estimates the collection at $800 to $1,200 and states that it includes “approximately 60 covers and numerous propaganda labels or vignettes from various Middle Eastern countries.”

A single catalog has been prepared for the Malz Israel and Palestine collections auction and can be viewed on the Kelleher website, with online bidding options available.

On Dec. 5, three days prior to the Malz sale, Kelleher will present its auction of collections, stocks and accumulations of the world. Numerous items to suit a wide range of budgets will be offered.

Up for bids will be material from the holdings of C. Stetson Thomas, the estate of Robert T. Abrams and Elizabeth Friedman Adams, the holdings of Allen Fink, the Allenwood United States collection and the Michael J. Kelley U.S. collection. The catalog for the Dec. 5 collections sale is also available for viewing on the Kelleher website.

For additional information, contact Daniel F. Kelleher Auctions, 22 Shelter Rock Lane, Unit 53, Danbury, CT 06810.

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