Canada 1868 Large Queen on watermarked paper realizes nearly $5,000 at Sparks sale

By Matthew Healey, New York Correspondent

Sparks Auctions, in Ottawa, held a sale on March 1-3. The highlight was an unused 15¢ gray “Large Queen” stamp of 1868, on watermarked paper perforated 11½ by 12.

Just six unused examples of this scarce variety are said to exist (the stamp is normally unwatermarked), and this example, with a thin and a tiny stain, sold for $6,440 Canadian, including the firm’s 15 percent buyer’s premium, or $4,950 in U.S. dollars.

An exceptionally fine mint, never-hinged example of the $3 stamp from the 1897 Jubilee issue (Scott 63), featuring young-and-old twin portraits of Queen Victoria further enhanced by sheet selvage at left, sold for $8,850, several times its catalog value.

A withdrawn souvenir sheet containing a design error, the 2015 $1.20 stamp that was meant to show Dinosaur Provincial Park, but instead showed the Hoodoo formations that are some 60 miles from the park, was offered with an estimate of $100. It sold for about $115. A withdrawn booklet of similar stamps, also containing the design error, fetched $80.

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