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Glen Stephens
Forever - and EVER
Sir Gawaine Baillie
Most readers
would by now
have heard of
Sir Gawaine
Baillie.
This was a
rather eccentric
English stamp
collector who
died in 2003
aged 69.
Almost none of
his family or
closest friends
knew he even
collected
stamps.
Baillie did not
exhibit, belong
to clubs, attend
auctions, or
even discuss
stamps with
those in his
closest circle.
Sotheby’s
auctioned his
superb stamp
collection over
ten sales, and
it realised
£15,975,438 -
or near on
$A40 million.
This sum
represents the
highest total
ever achieved
for any single
owner series of
stamp sales in
Europe.
"It was like
walking into
Aladdin's cave,"
recalled
Sotheby's stamp
specialist
Richard Ashton,
recounting the
first time he
saw the
collection of
rare stamps
owned by Baillie
The final
scheduled sale,
which took place
on January 19,
achieved a
record for any
philatelic item
of the reign of
King George VI
- which sold for
£81,600 =
$A204,000
approx.
This was for a
Solomon Islands
1939-51 2½d
magenta and
sage-green
imperforate
pair.
In the large
section
dedicated to
Sperati forgery
items at that
sale, the
Australian 1913
£2 black and
rose Kangaroo
die proof
brought £3,720
(then =
$A9,300) - a
world record
price for any
individual
Sperati forgery
item.
Sperati Forgery
This price
was
comfortably
ahead of the
identical
Arthur Gray
example
auctioned a
few weeks
later in
NY.
I bought the
Gray £2
Sperati
forgery “used”
example
illustrated
nearby for
stock.
I was
delighted to
see Rodney
Perry
nominate
this as one
of his "Top
10 Best
Value buys"
from the 849
lot Gray
sale in the
April "Stamp
News".
The other £2
Roo on offer
at Gray was
not a
Sperati
forgery at
all, but a
genuine
stamp some
dealers
thought.
Offered with
a 1999 BPA
Cert saying
it was a
Sperati, it
sold for
about
$A4,350.
I also
bought the
Baillie “used”
£1 1892 QV
Tasmania
“Tablet"
Sperati
forgery for
stock, and
now own both
the copies
thought to
exist of his
very rarest
forgery!
“Sell
them for £1”
Lady Baillie was
understandably delighted with
the results of these 10 auctions
of stamps.
Each sale had
unsold lots and she has
instructed Sotheby’s to offer
all 1,342 unsolds at one last
Baillie “Missed Opportunities”
sale on May 2/3, 2007.
Bargain at £1!
This sale
is stated to be totally unreserved. Unless other bids
dictate otherwise each lot will open at £1.
This sale of course has some magnificent
pieces, as Baillie was most condition conscious.
For one reason or another they did not sell
first time around, and this time they will all sell - even
for £1.
One item that I’d be rather pleased to buy at
£1 is the 1903 20/- (£1) green Australian Postage Due.
The stamp being offered is illustrated
nearby, and it is described as being fresh with original
gum. Estimate is £2000-3000. The Australia 10/-
mono-colour Postage Due is estimated £1000-1500.
In this exceptional centering for the
20/- issue, I’d mark it retail at $7,500 if it were in my
stock, so I have a strong feeling the £1 start price will
not be needed on this one.
Another Baillie unsold
Naturally there are some very expensive
items in this "unreserved" auction. Some in the
£20,000+ mark original estimate.
One such item is illustrated nearby - the
Canada 1959 5¢ "Seaway" inverted centre block, had an
original estimate of £25,000-£28,000.
(=$A62,500-$A70,000.)
It is all good marketing of course, as
near all will sell this time around - and most at or
above original estimate is my guess.
Sotheby's sadly have a barely functional
website, so good luck trying to locate anything
specific without a hard copy catalogue!
A Federer First
"PRC" becomes "TAIWAN"
The new stamp
This is a new move by the government aimed at (they say)
“rectifying the name of the island, a sovereign entity detached
from the People’s Republic of China”.
Instant sell-out
The stamp was an instant sell-out. Only a million were printed.
Of those 400,000 were sold on the first day of issue.
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Monthly "Stamp
News"
Market Tipster Column
May 2007
First Class - FOREVER!
A "Forever" stamp has been debated in the USA for
several years - by the public, the PO and the politicians.
This month that debate was settled for all time and the "FOREVER" stamps
were issued on April 12.
A clever move as the next postage rate increase does not take effect until
May 14!
The idea is that once you own this stamp you are able to use it at ANY time
in the future to post a first class standard size (under 1 ounce) letter
domestically in the USA.
So for the Maths brains experts among us, it really comes down to whether
you feel postage rates will increase faster than money invested in the bank
will return to you! (Which of course is taxable - stamp rises are not.)
Until May 14, USA domestic postage is 39¢. Thereafter it increases to 41¢,
and is expected to increase again in 2008. The "Forever" stamp
will cunningly cost 41¢ from date of issue - which was a month before the
rate hike.
When the postage rate next increases (presumably to 43¢) "Forever" stamps
will then sell for 43¢ - and so on.
However this 41¢ stamp may still be used ... FOREVER as fully pre-paying
First Class postage.
The stamp as per
the illustration nearby depicts the Liberty
Bell. There is no denomination - simply the
words FIRST CLASS FOREVER.
If such a stamp has
been issued in the past and you bought
up big, would you be in front or behind
financially?
Remember in the USA a domestic letter
was 6¢ as recently as 1971. Heck in
Australia when we changed to decimal
currency in 1966 a standard letter cost
only 4¢!
Can some actuary or accountant out there
tell me if you invested 4¢ in a bank in
1966 whether it would be worth (after
tax) more or less than the 50¢ postage
rate of today?
The US Post Office feels that a lot of
these will be sold now, and never used.
They will be lost in purses, drawers,
car consoles, workshops, and goodness
knows where else.
They may well be correct. This is called
"breakage" in the marketing world.
Things or products folks are entitled to
use or redeem - but never do.
The other "plus" for the PO is that you
cannot just buy one stamp, or a block of
four.
They are sold only in panes or booklets
of 20 or an ATM machine vended pane of
18. All are self-stick format. So the
minium you can outlay to obtain these is
$US7.38 from an ATM, or $US8 from the
Post Office.
The catalogue includes every unsold lot from the ten
previous sales. Each lot carries the original description
and estimate, with the original lot number referenced at the
end of each description.
“If there are no commission bids before the sale, or
only one commission bid, the lot will start at £1. That
should be enticing, even if you are thinking in Australian
Dollars” Sotheby's stamp specialist Richard Ashton
told me by email.
Edwardian Sotheby's
A note of warning - buying stamps off
Sotheby's can be an exercise in total frustration,
and can raise your blood pressure several times
normal levels!
Getting my purchase mailed after the
Baillie Sperati sale was a many hours long saga.
They had a signed and dated bid form
from me, agreeing to their 6 pages of fine print
terms and conditions. They know me, I've met their
stamp consultant, and their press office had been in
contact with me seeking this article prior to my
Accounts Department exchange.
The Sotheby's accounts department
were recruited from Dickensian England Central
Casting it seems, and then all carefully trained by
Sir Humphrey Appleton.
They refused to take any notice of
any of the above, and demanded PHOTO ID before
they'd debit my credit card and mail the goods.
Now I am a card merchant too and know
that verifying the identity of buyer is essential,
but someone in the stamp world not believing or
verifying Glen Stephens of Castlecrag was a real
person, is someone simply not doing their job.
I emailed the credit card details 4
or 5 times, emailed my background, emailed referees
they were free to check with (including the PTS in
London and their own in-house stamp "expert") - all
to no avail.
This exasperating nonsense took -
and I am not kidding - about 20 emails. I was "cc"
ing 4 staffers (Stamp Department head
included) in on all emails and suggesting if they
were unable or unwilling to make a decision, to
please escalate it to someone who could, and stop
being so obstructionist and irritating. No chance.
Also £1
The Dalek running their accounts department to
whom this had been escalated was then emailed a full
size signature, and I suggested she cut out my signature, and
paste it onto all her precious vellum or parchment file scrolls,
and please mail my purchase.
"Forgery"
She replied this
would amount to "forgery" and
refused to do it! I swear this was
her actual wording. It was like a
bad Monty Python script. A
monocolour Fax she was happy with,
but a colour email signature
sent from my account was "forgery!
At this point I did
my block, and emailed all the
Directors of Sotheby's, politely
suggesting their accounts department
be urged to toss away their quill
pens, button-up boots, and pink
ribbons, and be invited to join the
21st century like everyone else in
the stamp business had done long
ago.
The you-know-what
then hit the fan. I was inundated
with concerned emails from Directors
and their personal
secretaries, apparently appalled at
the petty nonsense responses I'd
attached.
All kinds of managers
and functionaries all down the
line were booted up the Khyber it
seems, and grovelling apologies were
coming in from all directions to my
inbox.
They offered to waive
their 1.5% credit card fee (I'd
never at any time minded paying
that, or objected to it) and offered
to waive the postage and insurance
cost, and in general apologised
profusely for the antics of Ms Dalek
and her cronies.
I just hope they
hired a new accounts department
staff, so that any readers who care
to bid in future will at least have
benefited from my hours of
bureaucratic frustration.
It is no wonder that
American auction houses like Shreves
are fast emerging as the preferred
place to sell good British
Commonwealth material. These British
dinosaurs simply refuse to move with
the times.
Like the buggy whip
makers, if you do not keep pace and
adapt, you will vanish into
obscurity.
The super
professional way the Arthur Gray
auction was presented and publicised by
Shreves would be impossible to
beat. All 849 lots sold in the
room, and that is believed a world
first for a major stamp sale.
When it came to
payment Shreves did not want photo
ID, or DNA samples, or a Statutory
Declaration from my Priest or Rabbi
or Mullah. Quite an interesting
comparison to Sotheby's, as I paid
both bills in the same month.
Switzerland's postal
service issued a special stamp celebrating
tennis legend Roger Federer on April 10.
The one franc stamp - the First Class
domestic letter rate value most commonly used in
Switzerland - depicts Federer lifting the
Wimbledon trophy over his right shoulder.
It is the first time that Swiss
Post has ever issued a stamp featuring someone
still alive.
Swiss Post had announced plans
for the stamp on February 26. This was the day
Federer reached his 161st successive week at
Number 1 - to break Jimmy Connors' 30-year-old
mark, but the design was kept a secret.
The stamp went on sale on Tuesday April 10, 2007
at all post offices across Switzerland, and can
also be bought online and from New Issue
dealers.
I flew down to see Federer play
at the Australian Open in January. I was guest
of my Swiss friend Rudi who turned up at the
tennis wearing the full Swiss traditional
costume, to the great amusement of the crowd!
I flew to Basel Switzerland in
February after the Gray auction for "Fastnacht". Basel
is Federer's home town of course and he very
deservedly is a hero there.
An
attractive stamp, and at about $A1 face value,
one that thankfully is affordable by all
sporting fans.
An interesting
thing occurred late February.
Stamps from the "People's
Republic Of China" ceased to
bear that name, and appeared
inscribed "TAIWAN".
As this is the name commonly
given to the country by
westerners, it might not come as
a surprise to anyone, but it
caused a near riot on the
island.
And the reaction from Beijing
was not far behind!
The decision to change the
island’s name on stamps was
taken by President Chen
Shui-bian, who describes Taiwan
as a sovereign entity - one not
related to China.
The Post Office released a
single $NT5 stamp February 28,
commemorating the opening of a
Memorial Museum in Taipei.
Thousands of collectors - and
supporters of Taiwanese
Independence, queued outside
Post Offices all over the island
on issue day, waiting to buy a
stamp that marks a significant
event in the country's history.
Taiwan’s postal services issued
this stamp without the long
established "Republic of China"
title, describing the island
simply as “Taiwan”.
Legal?
The state-owned "Chunghwa
(China) Post' also changed its
name to "Taiwan Post" in
February in a move which has
angered China, the Taiwan
opposition and deeply angered
the Taiwan postal unions.
Many have contested the legality
of such a name change, because
there was no amendment or
approval from the legislature.
The government has stated that
it is prepared to change the
company back to the Chunghwa
Post if necessary.
A residual legal issue was that
the postal monopoly in Taiwan is
by law given to the "Chunghwa
Post", not "Taiwan Post". Thus
any company named other than
"Chunghwa Post" providing mail
service is technically doing so
illegally.
The Government claimed that the
name change is lawful and would
not affect mail service.
A recent government attempt to
introduce bills amending four
pieces of legislation to
facilitate the name change at
law were blocked by the Pan-Blue
coalition, which controls the
Taiwan Legislature.
The post Office claims the name
change would facilitate better
delivery of inward mail in the
future. Some mail is now sent
to China they say, because mail
personnel in other countries
often confuse Taiwan with China.
This is one of the first moves
of a government
"name-rectification campaign"
that aims to assert the island's
identity, distancing it from the
Chinese identity.
Throughout the campaign, several
state enterprises – including
the public transport agency –
have changed their name,
dropping all reference to the
word "China".
On issue date, during a rally, President Chen said the new
stamp: "served to mark the 60th anniversary of the bloody '2-28
Incident' and to: "prevent Kuomintang (the nationalist
party spawned by Chiang, which was in power on the island until
2000) from returning to harm our people”.
On February 28, 1947, police opened fire on a crowd of
protesters in Taipei. An uprising followed, which was
suppressed in a bloody crackdown by Kuomintang troops sent from
Beijing. Referring to the killing of tens of thousands of
civilians by the army.
100,000 were reserved for sale to New Issue subscribers, and
500,000 were set side for the annual year books and for sale
nationally on day two of issue.
Issue date February 28 was a national holiday but "China
Post" newspaper reported that 51 post Offices around the
country opened to offer this stamp for sale.
The report also says that long lines were formed to buy the
historic new issue. They report about 1000 people lined up at
the North Gate Post Office to buy this stamp.
The Taipei Post Office had only 500 sheets of 20 of memorial
stamps on hand on day of issue, all of which it sold to eager
customers within half an hour of opening its doors
Customers were only permitted to purchase two to four stamps at
a time, but most collectors wanted to buy the entire set of 20
stamps.
"What is the purpose of collecting the stamps if you can
only buy four of them?" one stamp collector asked. "It
is not worth it!"
"The quality of the design is poor," another stamp
collector complained to the "Taipei Times" on March 1.
"It
looks like it was done in a hurry."
Enthusiasm soon turned into anger as police tried in vain
to prevent unruly queuers from sneaking forward in the line to
purchase a second set of stamps.
Beijing fears this new wave of revisionism that once again
attacks ties with the “motherland”. For China, the island is
just a "rebel province" that must be united once again, even
with the use of force, to the rest of the nation.
A very interesting story, and proves once again that a country's
history can sometimes by influenced and facilitated in small
part by postage stamp issues!
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GLEN $TEPHEN$ Full Time Stamp Dealer in Australia for over 25 years.
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