Another day and here's another almost complete world collection, this time covering 1840-1981. Robert A. Siegel is auctioning the first part of the World Traveler Collection as its Sale 1049, June 26-27, 2013. To quote from the catalog,The collection has been formed over 60 years by a father and his son. Together, they started with Great Britain’s 1840 Penny Black and Two-Pence Blue and ended with stamps issued in 1981, a span of 141 years. In that time period there are approximately 260,000 major Scott Catalogue listings and another 33,000 Scott-listed varieties, such as overprint errors, color variations, imperforates, and others.
The World Traveler collection is one of the most complete worldwide collections ever assembled for the time period covered, comprising all but about 1,600 major listings (over 99% complete) and more than 85% of the minor varieties. It is a remarkable collecting achievement...The collection fills more than 725 Scott Specialty Albums!
...Why is the collection dubbed the “World Traveler” sale? The owner now wishes to travel to all of the exotic countries he learned about from collecting stamps and imagined visiting. The sale of the collection will take him there.
The collection is not being sold all at once. The first auction consists of "...interesting stamps from as many different countries as possible, with an eye towards selecting stamps that are rarely offered at auction...."
While you are on the Siegel site, I urge you to take a gander at their other auctions, including the 2013 Rarities of the World sale. Mouthwatering.
UPDATE 7/22/13. By my calculation based on the Prices Realized pdf, the sale brought $1,226.255. Scott Trepel writing on the PhilaMercury discussion board says that only 51 lots estimated at $41K did not sell. He notes that "there were pockets of weakness -- Albania, for example -- but it realized about 50% more than our pre-sale expectation."
The latest Linn's carried an unexpected display advertisement: Bejjco of Florida, Inc. (Arnold H Selengut) is now the agent for the World Traveler Collection. Selections will be at the APS Stamp Show in Milwaukee and serious want lists are also accepted. I was really excited until I saw the word "serious." In any event, for additional information you may email Mr. Selengut at arnsel@verizon.net. What I am wondering, though, is whether this means that there won't be any more Siegel auctions?
If anyone is going to the APS Show and stops by Booths 1502, 1504 & 1506, I would love to hear your impressions, serious or otherwise.
