Submitted by aarAdmin on Tue, 11/29/2022 - 00:00
Always surrounded by mystery, an enthusiastic buyer paid $40,120 (including buyer’s premium) against a $25,000 catalogue estimate for a 1930 penny in very fine condition (lot 3142) at Melbourne-based Abacus Auctions three-day November Stamps, Postal History and Postcards, Coins and Banknotes, Sporting Memorabilia and Collectables sale.
Pennies from that year were not officially struck at the Melbourne Mint – possibly because it coincided with the start of the Great Depression – but were thought to be produced for tourists visiting the venue, later becoming valuable and much sought after collector coins.
The auction realised $1.32 million and when added to the previous one-day sale of collector Don Pearce stamps totalled $2.237 million for the month.
Various stamps performed well beyond expectations, including a Kangaroo Third Watermark 6d blue mint Substituted Cliché (lot 2091) which sparked a bidding frenzy to change hands for $10,620 on a $2000 catalogue estimate.
Two collections of Georgian head stamps – estimated at $3000 and $500 – were so popular that they sold respectively for $7080 and $2830, while a very rare Single Watermark 2d brown (lot 2158) estimated at $20,000 brought $22,420.
Lot 2064, an entry in Australia’s 1911 Stamp Design Competition for a Ten Shilling Note by Kihn Brothers Bank Note Co, sold for $10,620 – not quite reaching its $12,000 estimate, but notable because it was one of the few professionally designed stamps in a competition characterised by uninspiring and poorly executed entries.
Publicity cards dating from the 1950s to the 1970s issued by the former Post Master General’s Department (now Telstra) – apparently considered by many to be useful as birdcage liners – surprised auction goers when they sold for a combined total of $7730 against an $1850 estimate.
In postal stationery, one of only two recorded 1946 food parcel labels from Sydney’s Anthony Horden & Sons (lot 2206) changed hands for $6490 – while a plain registered First Day Cover of the 1938 One Pound Robes more than quadrupled its $600 estimate to bring $2710.
Scanlen’s football cards bring back lots of nostalgic memories, particularly among Australian collectors over the age of 60.
In this auction the standout was the 1963 set of 18, regarded as the Holy Grail for trade card collectors, which defied all predictions to sell for an aggregate $18,435 against a $4300 estimate.
Among the sporting memorabilia on offer were hundreds of horse racing books including Melbourne Cup editions.
Anything to do with the legendary Australian champion racehorse Phar Lap is always in demand and this time it was the 1931 Cox Plate race book – in which he is featured – which sold for $14,160, almost three times its $5000 estimate.
