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Current Auction Highlights
The star of the 2009 Autumn sale on Oct 31 and Nov 1, will have to be the PRC Cultural Revolution stamps, the “Whole Country is Red”. John Bull is offering 7 copies in this in this sale. No auction house in China has offered 7 copies in one auction, a record by itself. The breakdown of these 7 stamps are: one mint never hinged copy, a mint never hinged top right corner block of 4 with all margins. a very good looking used copy and the mint never hinged large format stamp. The star of the star will be the mint never hinged “Large Whole Country is Red”. Rumoured that only 7 mint copies existed, this stamp has not been offered in the market place for at least 5 years and this is only offered for the very first time in an auction in Hong Kong. This copy is expected to fetch a record price further pushing the rest of the PRC stamp prices to new highs. It may even reach a new record high as the most valuable stamp of China, period.
The mint top corner block of 4 of the small “Whole Country is Red” has also be unrecorded so far. This block will also be expected to reach a new record for this stamp.
Of particular interest to the HK collector will be the “King of Kings”, the most valuable single HK stamp for all 3 kings, the KGV 50c olive back top right corner copy with requisition number. This is believed to be the first time in auction that this stamp has surfaced with a requisition number. This may be the only survived copy with requisition number of the 200 sheets recorded to be sent to HK from London. An important find. Also offered are many Queen Victoria stamps with wing margin, some with inverted watermarks. This particular sale reads like a catalogue where many QV sets are offered either as a set or singles, while later issues are in corner blocks are with plates. Also offered are later issues with varieties, for example Y of Cock missing red or HK by night missing silver. Also included is a FDC of tramway centenary S/S with missing black, thought to be 1 of only 2 or 3 FDCs to have existed. There are also about 30 to 40 requisition number blocks or pairs for KGV. For China overprint collectors, another booklet cover (without stamps) has been found. For China Imperial material, there is much strength in Dowager varieties, with many of the listed inverts present. Also of particular interest is the 1/2c on 3c large figure wide interval inverted overprint used block of 4. Many sources have quoted that are about a dozen used single copies recorded, but never has a block of 4 been recorded. No mint copies for this variety have ever been recorded. For large dragon collectors, both the pelure paper of the 1 ca and 3ca wide margin are offered. Also 3 used copies of 5ca wide margins are offered. For red revenue collectors, there are 70-80 lots of red revenues with about a dozen or more $1 offered. Also offered are many sets of the Cultural revolution together with 3 mint copies of the Mei Lang Feng S/S and 2 imperf. sets with big margins.
About John Bull Stamp Auctions
John Bull Stamps Auctions Ltd. is a full service auction firm. We conduct regular public auctions of stamps, coins and paper money in Hong Kong 3 times a year. In addition, we maintain offices and a full time staff in Hong Kong. Our staff is fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin as well as English.
We create full-color catalogs, compete with outstanding illustrations and elaborate detailed descriptions. Though we naturally specialize in all Hong Kong and Chinese issues, we also always have strong offering in most other Asia material including Taiwan, Macau, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore etc.
Lots ranges from HK$1,000 to suite the budget of the average collector and up to six or seven figure rarities. And, of course, we are very famous for always offering major selection of intact collections, accumulations and mixed lots.
With over 30 years of doing business in stamp auctions, our mailing list is the envy of the industry. Not only do we have clients in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Macau, but we also have many clients in Japan, US, Europe and elsewhere.