Welcome Letter
ACE STAMP AUCTIONS SALE No. 30
Saturday 27th November 11.00am Coins & Banknotes
2.00pm Box lots, World & Australian Collections, Aviation Heritage, Airmails, Zeppelins, Thematics & Literature
Sunday 18th November 10.00pm Western Australia collections, stamps, postmarks, postal history & Revenues
2.00pm Aust Kangaroo & KGV issues, pre-dec & decimals, States & Terrs, Great Britain, China & single Country
Cannington Exhibition Centre, Corner Albany Highway & Station St, Cannington
Auctioneers: Rob Mandanici & Terry Finlayson
Dear Collector
Welcome to our final auction for 2021 and what a year it has been. It has been so refreshing, in a time of news headlines dominated by Covid and Global Warming, to see the massive uptake and return to collectables and other past times. These hobbies were continuing to suffer as society generally was working longer hours, having less disposable income and ever greater social media distractions. Covid and the resulting home quarantines has seen stamp collecting return as a form of recreation especially when house bound. We have seen this through the number of increased bidders in our auctions and sales generally, especially for box lots and collections, where people want stamps to sort or a new collecting field to explore.
In this auction, with total reserves of $500,000 and 2450 lots, we have endeavoured to meet this demand with 66 mixed box lots, 430+ World and Australian collections and numerous other lots to meet all budgets. We have also been fortunate to secure several collections where the owners have decided to allow others to enjoy the benefit of owning material that they have derived pleasure from over the years. The highlight in this auction being the section titled "Aviation Heritage". Having concentrated my own collecting as a teenager in the field of aerophilately concentrating on Charles Kingsford Smith, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to auction items directly linked to him and his fellow aviators of the day including Ross & Keith Smith, Charles Ulm and Bert Hinkler. Rarely do individuals have the opportunity to bid and own items such as Sir Keith Smiths cigarette case (lot 727), a flag signed by both him and his brother Ross Smith (lot 728), Kingsford Smiths leather flying jacket and boots (lots 741 & 742) and a hail damaged propellor from the "Southern Cross" (lot 733) plus a recorded farewell message from the Cockpit of the Southern Cross" on a Columbia original 78 Record signed by Kingsford Smith & Ulm (lot 734). In addition we are privileged to offer 2 of the 1919 Ross & Keith Smith flown covers (lots 748 & 749) plus a vignette on piece (lot 747) and one of the highly sought after Hans Bertram covers carried on the eventful 1932 flight from Germany to Australia almost leading to their deaths (lot 761). The Airmail section has been further enhanced by a specialist collection of Zeppelin flight covers allowing the collector to relive this amazing period of flight. (lots 810-855)
The Australian Kangaroos & KGV lots plus the Western Australian section have also been blessed with gems assigned by collectors who wanted to see to these items be appreciated by fellow collectors. Lot 1319 deserves a special mention being the 1920 KGV 4d colour trials in brown/purple shades, each identified by a letter on reverse and catalogued in the ACSC at $60,000. Special attention should also be shown to the WA Revenues as this features some proof sheets & artwork that were saved from sure destruction with the shutting of the WA State Government Printing Works back in the 1980’s and have not seen the light of day since! (lots 1091-1103)
The start of the auction presents the usual selection of coins & banknotes including a range of gold sovereigns (lots 1-15 & 53-60) and an extensive range of uncirculated, pristine Australian banknotes. (lots 91-222)
Another item that we rarely have the opportunity to sell but is always popular is the 1928 Kookaburra Exhibition complete sheet of 15 Miniature Sheets, striking in its appearance and a favourite of many. (lot 1378) This is also an excellent opportunity to fill that gap left by the 5/- Sydney Harbour Bridge with 20 examples on offer. (lots 1403-1416) It has also been interesting to introduce and describe Australian Customs Duty stamps that are gaining increased popularity as a new collecting field. (lots 1504-1532)
There are many other lots worthy of mention but space does not permit, however please visit the WWI Postcards section that includes some black & white Gallipoli cards (lots 856-871) We also have the final China lots from the huge collection we have broken down over the last 3 auctions (lots 2132-2173) which was headlined by the 1968 8f "The Whole Country is Red" CTO stamp selling in our last auction for $51,750 incl BP!
Another one of our 82 vendors in this auction submitted a wonderful collection of New Guinea & Papua featuring numerous G.R.I. surcharge issues, rarely seen complete sheets in superb condition and matching multiples in the definitive issues. (lots 1839-1957)
We have tried to use additional colour plates to illustrate the many highlights in our largest auction catalogue to date with 104 pages & 114,000+ words but please do visit our website to view an additional 1000+ images at www.acestampauctions.com And remember, we still have the lowest Buyers Premium at only 12.5% plus GST!
I have recently purchased the business of Robin Linke here in Perth and it seemed fitting that this was 35 years to the month since he employed me in my first job in philately at 17! We will be auctioning some of this material in our next auction as well as adding to our retail stock which I hope to be able to bring to the Eastern States shows once borders re-open and we return to some normality. In the meantime, my sincere thanks to all those that assist in making these auctions possible including John McPhee & Trevor Lacy, the many vendors and of course, you the collector! After 30 auctions, it is difficult to say anything new in this letter but my eternal gratitude to my wife Christine who has been actively involved in them all!
Ian Boulton