Rare Stamps & Postal History of the World
September 13-14, 2022
We are pleased to present our September 13-14 auction of Rare Stamps and Postal History of the World. An important sale, with a number of highlights, starting with United States graded stamps, 1847 Issue on cover, 1869 Pictorials Proofs and Essays, including a complete set of Atlanta Trial Colors, two different sets of Columbian Large Die Proofs, a collection of rare Plate Blocks, a newly discovered holding of sheets, blocks of four of the CIA and Stock Exchange Inverts, Flight covers and U.S. Possessions. There are rarities from Bolivia, China including an Inverted Hall of Classics, France and French Colonies, with better Zanzibar, Great Britain and British Commonwealth, Dr. Leslie Rose's collection of Germany and Colonies, Hungary with First Issues on cover and pre-WWII Imperforate souvenir sheets. From Latvia, there is a world-renown collection formed by Imants Timma, with stamps and covers, Occupation Issues, Kurland and a splendid collection of Wenden. The sale also includes a sensational, long-forgotten collection of Imperial Russia. Brought to the United States just after WWII, this collection, only recently unearthed, includes the remarkable unused pair of Russia Number One with original gum, a splendid holding of proofs and essays, (including a collection of 140 different Romanov Proofs) and much more. Many of these items were exhibited in New York in 1927 and until now, had been presumed lost during the War. Finally, the sale includes close to 300 large lots and collections.
| Images | Description | Current Bid |
 | Lot #258 United States - Air Post Flight Covers 1927 (29 June) Byrd Transatlantic Flight, Post Office Department Second Assistant Postmaster General cover, franked with 5c Roosevelt and 10c Lindbergh Air Post adhesives, tied by Mineola, June 21 cds, addressed to Mr. R.C.Wood in Neuilly-sur-Seine, "Via Commander Byrd New York to Paris" instructions typewritten at left, with 3.7.27 arrival pmk alongside and "Kindest Regards R.E.Byrd" autographed below. The monoplane "America" took off from New York and after a 42 hour flight was forced to land on the beach. The mail pouch was soaked, most of the recovered mail shows some evidence of waterlogging. This cover was personally carried by Byrd, hence it is in fine condition and is further accompanied by a personal signed card from Second Assistant Postmaster General "Air Mail Greeting via Commander Byrd's three-motored ship - New York to Paris Flight" (R.C. Wood served in WWI as US-France Liaison officer at Brest Naval Base, and later stayed in France. He was active in the Paris Post (chapter) of the American Legion and was elected the Aviation Committee Chair. He became intimately involved in the preparations for the upcoming Orteig Prize competition and was widely recognized as instrumental in setting up flights on the French side of Atlantic. Here's a telling excerpt from his April 20, 1927 letter to the National Aviation Association President Porter Adams."There is a great deal of interest over here now concerning the Trans Atlantic Flights that should soon take place. At this writing it seems as if Commander Davis would be the first American to 'take off. His plane is christened 'American Legion' as you know and the Paris Post is making preparations to receive him. I am Chairman of the Aviation Committee and am attending to the details on the Aviation end, such as getting le Bourget Airport lighted up and the Paris-London Route. La Direction Generale de l'Aeronautique here have also promised me to operate the big new search light of Mont Valerien that night. We are also asking the Navy Department to light Lesay Search Light at Cherbourg. After Davis got killed in Aon takeoff, Wood had switched to assisting the subsequent American attempts, those by Lindbergh, and later by Byrd. Not surprisingly, an Assistant PMG had sent a personal letter to Wood, and had asked Byrd to treat it in a special manner)  | Price Realized $1,000.00 |
 | Lot #259 United States - Air Post Flight Covers 1931 "Justice for Hungary" flown card from Flint, Michigan, with pre-printed bilingual cachet, 1c franking and 32f Postage Due affixed on arrival, fine (in July, 1931, newspapers all over the world reported on the front page that two Hungarian pilots, Alexander Magyar and George Endresz crossed the Atlantic Ocean from the United States to Hungary in a Lockheed-Sirius airplane named "Justice for Hungary." The flight was intended to call attention to the dismemberment of Hungary after World War I. It was a spectacular success. On July 15, 1931, the trans-Oceanic flight left Harbor-Grace for Budapest on a non-stop flight of 26 hours and 20 minutes (Charles Lindbergh's flight in 1927 took six hours longer) and marked the first time that an airplane crossing the ocean had radio contact both with the starting and landing aerodromes. It was also the first time such a flight was used for political purposes. The pilots were received as heroes in Budapest) | Price Realized $160.00 |
 | Lot #260 United States - Air Post Flight Covers 1933 (3 June) Attempted Round the World Flight by Jimmie Mattern; flight failed as his plane crashed in Siberia on June 14th. He was eventually rescued by Eskimos and flown to Nome, Alaska by the famous Russian pilot, Sigismund Levanevsky (in a twist of fate, Mattern would join the search for Levanevsky after he went missing in 1937. Levanevsky was never found). Mattern flew the rest of the way back to New York. A small cover with Russian and U.S. adhesives on front and back, signed by Mattern, with all cancels showing the complete history of this flight (New York, Jomfruland, Moscow, Krasnoyarsk, Omsk, Khabarovsk, Fairbanks, Juneau, Nome, Alaska etc.), minor adhesive toning showing through, otherwise unusually nice and v.f. cover, signed Mikulski | Price Realized $2,400.00 |
