Lot
1895 
/o
Worldwide, The Kensington Canyon Collection Part 1, This magnificent holding represents the first installment of a substantial collection assembled by a self-described "old school" philatelist, who has been buying intact collections over the years, and removing "the chaff", usually any stamps later than the 1950's, while augmenting the earlier period with higher-value items, seemingly always with the aim of creating a higher "value-to-bulk ratio", so that whatever he held onto would represent a high concentration of quality and value in a relatively small package. Those efforts are well represented by this first offering of numerous albums, folders, stock pages, all well filled with valuable items, presenting us with a difficult task to provide a description that could possibly do this marvelous lot justice. A list of all the highlights to be found here would be far too extensive to be sensible as $100, 500+, 1000+, and even multi-thousand $ items (noting relevant certificates and expert signatures on these) are peppered throughout, so our best advice for coming up with a valuation here, would be to make an intensive and thorough in-person viewing, or at least a review of the many photos posted on-line.Just to establish a good sense of the nature of this delectable offering, we can say that quality is far above the norm with very few faults to be found, and a great proportion of VF with a huge presence of NEVER HINGED among the mint, nearly all of which in some areas is found in that condition here, even in earlier issues seldom found NH, where huge premiums apply. While some countries or areas may be predominantly represented by used, and other, mint, or mint never hinged, there are some with both mint and used, with some used hiding behind the mint. Also, to give good sense of the nature of this assemblage, we comment on some of the more impressive sections as follows: among the extensive British Commonwealth, abounding in better sets of the ever popular late QV through KGVI area, we note virtually complete Falkland Islands mint (except for 2½d South Georgia provisional), with Centenary set to £1 value, plus a specialized complete run of QV and later shades including rare KGVI; Leeward Islands complete mint and good George VI shades to £1, Caymans near complete, Ireland with Seahorses complete plus scarce varieties, great early mint Canada with Jubilee complete, much GB with numerous £ values, also plenty of good British Africa, America, Asia, Oceania, and Europe. Among the impressive Europe we note Andorra (Spanish and French) complete mint, Austria near complete with WIPA and Renner souvenir sheets, Belgium with good semi posted sets like 1918 Red Cross completes, Mercier, Orval, plus seldom seen scarce overprints on these; beautiful Baltic States collection; Denmark extensive specialized with rare advertising booklet panes, good early Finland, terrific France with semi portals complete including B3-10, great airmails including C5a never hinged with cert, much of France never hinged; Germany represented by a gorgeous collection in 3 hingeless albums with much present BOTH mint (most never hinged) and used (often behind the mint) with airmail complete used and many also mint NH, plus private air issues, extensive 3rd Reich near complete with nearly all mint represented by never hinged corner margin examples! Also, there are scarce WWII issues including Feldpost, UBoat, French Legion Polar Bear souvenir sheet; we note stunning Italian Colonies and offices group full of $500 and 1000+ sets plus multi $1000 items, including near complete offices in Turkey with #11* cat $17,500 with certificate and Constantinople J1-6 used with certificate, nice full Liechtenstein Collection, Luxembourg with nice classics and an Intellectuals set; Monaco mint complete to 1940 but for rare B18 and J4, good Iceland like 1930 Parliament officials used! Norway also present, decent Portugal, great Spain with submarine and other scarce civil war era items plus scarce semi postal and airmail issues; Sweden not to be overlooked with rare items like 90, 92 mint Varnamo provisionals rarely seen in a collection lot! Switzerland also impressive with good souvenir sheets, better sets, scarce early mint officials.
This lot, certainly the most valuable single lot we have ever offered, represents a rare opportunity for a worldwide collector to significantly improve their collection or for the mail auctioneer, retailer, or internet seller to put forth a spectacular range of material including iconic items galore, which will be certain to bring new customers while strengthening one's base; also works well for the public auctioneer or wholesale seller of collections, as it will break down nicely into a great group of mouth watering lots. If you fall into one of the above categories, you ought to give this lot some serious attention and a strong bid.
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000.
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