Weeda Stamps Bidboard Auction -- Closing January 24/04

WEEDA STAMPS (VANCOUVER) WEEKLY BIDBOARD AUCTION
Closing 12:30 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on Saturday, January 24, 2004

Every week, Weeda Stamps* of Vancouver, British Columbia offers 150 or more
lots of Canada and worldwide stamps, postal history, collections, and
accumulations in its bidboard auction.

Each week, I highlight particular lots which catch my attention. This week,
I found two interesting Canada lots and one Germany lot. The descriptions
are Beverly's; my comments follow in parentheses:

Lot # 17: http://www.weeda.com/stampimages/17.jpg -- Canada #96, 97, 98,
99. Used 1908 Quebec Tercentenaries. Nicely centered, some nice cancels.

(A "nicely centered" Quebec Tecentenary is just a bit of an oxymoron! This
set is notoriously badly centered. But Beverly's right, as usual: these
stamps *ar*e especially well centered, and all have decent cancels.)

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Lot #20: http://www.weeda.com/stampimages/20.jpg -- Canada #122, 122b.
Both wet and dry printings of the $1 Admiral, mint hinged. Distinguishing
printings on this issue is tricky but notice design size. Nice to have them
both at once.

(The "wet" printings of the Admirals should really be called "damp"
printings, because that's what the printing paper was -- damp. As it dried
it shrank, resulting in stamps with smaller dimensions than the so-called
"dry" printings, which were printed in later years on dry, pre-gummed paper.
These varieties belong in every Admiral specialty collection. And these
particular stamp are attractive and fresh copies.)

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Lot #113: http://www.weeda.com/stampimages/113.jpg -- Germany #C46-C56.
Complete 1934 airmail set of 11. Choice mint, post office fresh and NH.

(What an attractive set of this interesting issue. It's the second time in
recent weeks that Beverly has listed a set of these stamps, but this one
includes the tabs showing the cumulative price of strips or blocks of
stamps. Do you remember the design error in the lower-value stamps? They
show the sun *setting* on a Nazi-dominated world. I suppose that Hitler's
spin doctors would have said that the stamps showed that, at the end of the
day, Naziism would rule the world. I've always thought it was a bit strange
that C55 and C56 were included in this set. They picture those two
cornerstones of German aviation, Lilienthal and von Zeppelin, but the
designs are utterly unlike the lower values.)

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Except for large items such as collections, box lots and accumulations, most
of Weeda's auction lots are illustrated. For the full list, as well as
prices realized in the previous four auctions, go to the Weeda Stamps web
site at http://www.weeda.com.

BIDS, IN CANADIAN DOLLARS, CAN BE PLACED IN PERSON, BY TELEPHONE, OR ON-LINE
UNTIL 12:30 P.M. PACIFIC STANDARD TIME ON SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 2004.

A note about "prices realized": Only rarely does bidding in philatelic
auctions reach estimated values. If you study the listings and the
prices realized, you'll see that bargains are waiting for any collector. It
is common for expensive and even rare stamps, covers and other philatelic
items to sell in auctions for as little as 10% or 20% of the estimate.

Bob Ingraham

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* Weeda Stamps is owned and operated by Beverly Fox. Here's a recent
photograph of Beverly, taken in her stamp shop at in the Seymour Building at
525 Seymour Street in Vancouver: http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/beverly1.jpg.
Here is a photo of the Seymour Building where her Weeda Stamps is located:
http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/seymourbldgwidebw.jpg.