Canada’s four issues of the late Victoria era featured in second Brigham collection auction

Part II of the Brigham collection of Canada will be offered at auction June 6-7 at the Hilton Toronto Airport Hotel and Suites, 5875 Airport Road, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, a Toronto suburb.

The sale is presented by Brigham Auctions Ltd. in association with the German firm Auktionshaus Christoph Gaertner.

Part I of the collection, auctioned Feb. 22, offered Canada’s 1868-97 Large Queens issue (Linn’s, March 17, page 14).

The sale of part II will include the four issues of the late Victorian era: the Jubilee issue, the Maple Leaf issue, the Numeral issue, and the Imperial Penny Postage commemorative (also known as the 2¢ Map stamp, and considered by some to be the world’s first Christmas stamp).

Collectors will find a broad selection of proofs, regular issues and blocks, and a strong showing of postal history. Essays, specimens, imperforate varieties and other items will also be included.

Among the early lots in the Friday session will be a set of 16 small die proofs in black of the 1897 Jubilee issue, printed on India paper and mounted on very thin card.

Believed to have been cut from the Bank Note Co. record book, the proofs represent the 16 denominations featured on the issued stamps.

Some of the values exhibit light toning, but it is the only such set ever offered publicly, according to the auction description.

The proof set is listed with an auction estimate of $60,000. All Brigham estimates noted here are in Canadian dollars.

A complete plate 27 top margin imprint block of 10 of the $1 lake Jubilee stamp is also on offer. Described as well-centered and post office fresh, the block is hinged on the selvage and bottom center stamp, and is otherwise never hinged.

The imprint block is offered with a presale estimate of $20,000.

The many postal history offerings include bisects on cover from the Jubilee, Maple Leaf and Numeral issues. The 1¢ orange Jubilee stamp is bisected diagonally to pay the ½¢ newspapers and periodicals rate on a newspaper wrapper mailed to Fargo, N.D., with a neatly struck 1897 Cascade, B.C., postmark. The cover is offered with a $6,000 estimate.

Six lots from the Saturday session include 11 covers from the 1898 correspondence of Francis Robert Latchford to the postmasters of the 37 countries and British colonies participating in the Imperial penny postage scheme.

The lots include six of Latchford’s original mailed envelopes and five reply covers from Bahamas, Barbados, British Guiana, British Honduras and Scotland.

The Latchford covers have Ottawa machine cancels dated Dec. 25, 1898, the first day of use for the 2¢ Map stamp.

Additional auction details can be found online at http://brighamauctions.com; or may be obtained by contacting Brigham Auctions Ltd., Suite 223, Plaza 2, 350 Rutherford Road. S. Brampton, ON L6W 4N6, Canada.