HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
On December 9th GROSVENOR celebrated its 25th Anniversary, at the same time holding its 150th Auction.
The British Empire & Foreign Countries auction of December 8/9 was a sale of broad appeal and showcased the first part of the extensive collection formed by Dr Brian Austen. The sale total for ‘GPA 150’ came in at £511,469, well in excess of the pre-sale estimate.
Although collections are currently in greatest demand and drew most attention, a number of individual realisations caught the eye over the course of this two day sale. Despite some traces of toning the rarity of the used example of the New Zealand 1882-1900 perf. 11 2d. with watermark sideways [lot 1030, S.G. 238ba, cat. £3,000] resulted in a price of £1,798. Unique features identified on an 1890 cover from Sandakan, North Borneo franked by two 1886-87 1c. with the 1888-92 10c. [lot 1289] resulted in an unanticipated but inexorable climb in bidding to a final price of £2,604.
A strong offering of Egypt featured the comprehensive collection of postal stationery formed by the late Alan Jeyes. The handsome and unique 1890 lettersheet essay showing the profile of Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy [lot 499] matched expectations with a realisation of £3,100. A more surprising result was the £1,800 paid for the unused 1931 3m. postal card with “REPLY” cancelled by bars [lot 600].
The sale also included a concluding offering from the remarkable collection of British Empire countries’ cancellations formed by John Forrest, former managing director of Robson Lowe Ltd. Among the final group of collections from the British West Indies that drew greatest reward were those from the Bahamas [lot 240] and British Honduras [lot 357] which rose in bidding to £4,800 and £5,760 respectively.
Results quoted include buyer’s premium and VAT. Full listings of the prices realised may be downloaded here.
Grosvenor Auctions was formed in 1997, its first home being at 402 Strand, next door to its current offices on the 3rd Floor of Romano House. Further information on the company history may be found at here.
For all further enquiries please contact Tom Margalski or Bethany Pascoe at the London office.