Part 2 of Langs stock of U.S., possessions stamps and postal history in Dec. 8-11 Kelleher sale

By Charles Snee

Daniel F. Kelleher Auctions will feature the second part of the diverse and expansive holdings of United States and possessions stamps and postal history of the late William S. Langs during a four-day sale to be conducted Dec. 8-11 at the firm’s gallery in Danbury, Conn.

The Dec. 8 session of the auction will begin at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. The Dec. 9-11 sessions will start at 10 a.m. Eastern Time.

Postal history will be the focus of the Dec. 8 session. Featured areas include Wells Fargo, patriotic and advertising covers, Confederate States, postmasters’ provisionals and campaign covers. Numerous covers franked with the 1847 5¢ and 10¢ stamps and the issues of 1857 and 1861-67 also will be up for bids.

Among the more eye-catching advertising covers in the sale is what Kelleher describes as “a beautiful circa 1888” use of a Great White River Flour & Grocery House multicolor envelope sent from Pittsburgh, Pa., to Coalport, Pa. A single 2¢ red brown George Washington stamp (Scott 210) satisfied the required postage at the time of mailing.

Ornate elements on the front include an image of the White River storefront, with people standing outside and horse-drawn wagons in the foreground.

Various items that the store sold are listed on the back of the envelope, including “Snow Flake and Vienna Flour,” “Java Flavored Roast Coffee” and a “Full And Complete Line Of Plug Tobaccos.”

Kelleher estimates this handsome advertising cover at $300 to $400 and lists it with a minimum opening bid of $150.

The Dec. 9-11 sessions offer more than 900 lots of U.S. and possessions stamps. Postmasters’ provisionals through the 1898 Trans-Mississippi issue will cross the auction block Dec. 9. The Dec. 10 session opens with the 1901 Pan-American issue and closes with modern errors from 1962 to 2016.

Various airmail issues open the Dec. 11 session, which continues with more back-of-the-book issues and concludes with 27 lots of U.S. possessions stamps.

Included in the 21 lots of modern U.S. errors is an imperforate bottom right margin vertical pair of the 1989 $2.40 Moon Landing stamp (Scott 2419b). The never-hinged error pair shows two plate numbers in the right margin: 11211 representing the offset-printed red, yellow, blue, black and dark blue, and 1 for the engraved (intaglio) black. Color blocks are visible in the bottom margin.

An imperforate pair of the $2.40 Moon Landing stamp is valued at $375 in the 2021 Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers. The value is italicized to indicate an item that can be difficult to value because of limited market data.

The Scott Catalogue of Errors on U.S. Postage Stamps lists a quantity of 200 imperforate pairs of the $2.40 Moon Landing stamp.

Kelleher is offering this imperforate pair with an estimate of $250 to $350 and a minimum bid of $130.

Kelleher has prepared a single catalog for the four-day Langs sale that is available for viewing on the firm’s website, with online bidding options available.

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

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