Stamps collection could fetch up to £10,000 at Shrewsbury auction
A quality collection of British stamps from 1840-1970, including some rare examples, is expected to fetch around £10,000 at a Shropshire fine art auction house later this month.
The collection, which includes a Penny Black, 2d Blues, the Embossed set, most of the Queen Victoria and Edward VII values to £1 and the iconic £5 Orange and £1 Postal Union Congress (PUC), will go under the hammer at Halls Fine Art’s books, coins and stamps auction in Shrewsbury on July 24.
Featuring the profile of Queen Victoria, the Penny Black was the world’s first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was first issued in Great Britain on May 1, 1840, but was not valid for use until May 6.
The 2d Blue was the world’s second official postage stamp while the first £5 Orange was not a postage stamp but issued to cover the cost of sending lengthy telegrams.
Issued in 1929, the £1 PUC stamp was the second commemorative stamp to be released after the British Empire Exhibition stamps of 1924-’25.
Another collection of a dozen Penny Blacks, one from each plate, carries a pre-sale estimate of around £3,000 while two specialised lots of good quality Stanley Gibbons investment stamps are valued at up to £350 and £1,200, respectively.
The auction also features good Netherlands and Poland stamp collections valued at up to £120 each, excellent collections of India and GB postal history at up to £300 and £400, respectively, several good selections of mint GB decimal stamps and a range of mixed lots to suit all collectors’ pockets.
For more information about the stamp collections in the auction, contact Andy Neal, stamps expert at Halls Fine Art, on 01743 450700.
