tradition and experience in classic philately since 1919

Press Release June Sale 2019

Six days, ten catalogues and a record-breaking, high-class programme! Corinphila offers a top class series of auctions (11-15 & 17 June 2019)

With top class material on offer, the traditional Swiss company of Corinphila invites you to Zurich, in the year of the company's centenary, for the series of auctions, Nos. 234 to 243. From 11 to 15 June and also on 17 June 2019, the largest and most valuable range of material in the past 20 years will come up for sale. Ten auction catalogues, nine of which are special catalogues, offer philatelic and postal history material of the highest standard. Desirable rarities, unique collections and countless highlights await collectors on all the auction days. Due to the wide range of material, the Monday of the following week has also been made an auction day for the first time in the company's recent history, although it is to be expected that on all the days the auction hammer will not come to rest until late in the evening!

From Europe via Australia to Africa and South America - each special catalogue more beautiful than the other...

The other special catalogues are noted for many sought-after "gems" of philately and postal history from all over the world. Australia is represented with an outstanding range of "Australia & Australian Commonwealth" including the Hess collection (special catalogue No. 235). A spectacular highlight here is the well-known Tasmania corner pair of the 1853 1d. Blue with printer’s imprint in the sheet margin, ex-Boker (Lot 3628, starting price CHF 12,500.-).

South America is also represented in two special catalogues: one is the "Chile" collection (Part 2) of Joseph Hackmey (Catalogue 236), which among other things offers the famous unused "Desmadryl printing" blocks of the 5 centavos brown and 10 centavos blue from the Galvez collection. In addition, the "South America" collection from the Brian Moorhouse estate (Catalogue 237) offers an excellent selection of various South American countries, especially Argentina and Brazil.

The special catalogue No. 238 offers the eagerly awaited second part of the BESANÇON collection "Cape of Good Hope and Pre-Union South Africa". Not only the top item, the famous "Woodblock" error of colour 4d. red (instead of blue) from the Philipp von Ferrary and Dale Lichtenstein collections (Lot 4093, starting price CHF 50,000.-) will cause a sensation. Also from the BESANÇON collection, Part 1 of the Great Britain collection (Catalogue 239) is now being offered. Here too, the material includes, almost without exception, excellent classical beauties, including the mint block of four of the Penny Black ex-Philipp von Ferrary (Lot 3009, starting price CHF 30,000.-) as well as the mint strip of four of the 1840 Two Pence Blue ex-King Carol II of Romania, which was sold by Corinphila in 1930 (Lot 3016, starting price CHF 60,000.-).

A rare offer of "Ducato di Parma" material (Catalogue 240) will make the hearts of lovers of Old Italy beat faster. The most important item is a four-colour franking of the first issue of 1853 on cover to Milan (Lot 7118, starting price CHF 80,000.-). With the special catalogue No. 242, a rarely offered range of "Postal History of the Levant" will come up for sale. A number of valuable covers await collectors, such as a remarkable mixed franking of the Danube & Black Sea Railway 20 paras stamp with an Austrian Levant 15 soldi brown to Vienna, ex-Baron Alphonse Mayer von Rothschild (Lot 7622, starting price CHF 25,000.-).

The ERIVAN collection – Austria and Lombardy-Venetia

On 14 June 2019, the first part of the unique ERIVAN - Austria & Lombardy-Venetia collection (special catalogue No. 241) will be offered for sale in Zurich. This important collection from the estate of Erivan Haub comprises without exception beautiful stamps and first-class covers, including a number of copies of the legendary St. Andrew's crosses. The "non-plus-ultra" and one of the top items in this collection is a cover with three copies of the 10 centesimi Black and two attached St. Andrew’s crosses as well as another 15 centesimi stamp (Lot 7082, starting price CHF 100,000.-).

Highlights from Switzerland and the whole world

Last but not least, in the series of special catalogues another outstanding offering of Federal Swiss philatelic material should be mentioned (special catalogue No. 243). In particular, the single-lot section of Classic Switzerland offers rare and valuable stamps and covers. One of the highlights is perhaps the most beautiful cover with a horizontally inverted "Double Geneva" (Lot 8076, starting price CHF 60,000).

As usual, the "heavyweight" main catalogue "All World" offers a great many attractive single lots and collections from Europe and the whole world. Here you will also find interesting special sections with sought-after items from a wide range of collecting areas. Examples are Cyprus, Gibraltar and British Levant with some remarkable stamps and varieties in these collecting areas, as well as an extraordinary special offering of New Zealand material including the "Waitangi collection" (Part 2) with the unusual top item "The Dwarf", Lot 831A (starting price CHF 50,000). In addition, a specialised collection of Ceylon (Part 2) and attractive offers from the collecting areas of Egypt, Portugal and Romania will also come under the hammer.

All catalogues on the Internet / Live online auction bidding

The complete auction catalogues are available on the Internet as "PDF catalogues" (identical to the printed version) and as online catalogues with a practical keyword search function. At www.corinphila.ch you will also find many additional illustrations, including photo certificates, selected backs of covers and a large number of collections and bulk lots that have been included in whole or in part. From 29 May to 2 June 2019, the individual lots of the Corinphila auction will also be on display at the international "STOCKHOLMIA 2019" exhibition commemorating the Royal Philatelic Society's 150th anniversary, at Stand 1, Level 5.

Interested parties who are unable to travel to Zurich but would still like to bid directly against the auction room during the auction days are recommended to use the proven system of online live bidding.

Further information and catalogue orders at: Corinphila Auktionen AG, Wiesenstrasse 8, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland, Telephone: +41 (0)44 389 9191, Fax: +41 (0)44 389 9195, Email: info@corinphila.ch