SENSATIONAL AUCTION WEEK

Classic Philately Thrills Collectors Worldwide!

We are grateful for the great participation in our auctions 191 to 195, which brought many customers to Zurich on 18 to 22 November 2014. Sensational bidding battles and some incredible hammer prices set new standards, and in the end this was of one of the most successful auction series of the house. The selection of high-quality covers, stamps and collections, the “million-offers” of classical philately and postal history fulfilled what had been promised. In particular, our international special offers, as well as the traditional Switzerland section were in more demand than ever and they left - in the truest sense- nothing to be desired.

All results are available online. 

“All World” and South America with top results

The beginning of the auction week already held a wonderful variety of rare postage stamps, covers and postal history. South America was strongly represented, among other things with the non-exhibited collections of Dr. Hugo Goeggel, but outstanding lots of Egypt, Ukraine and many other countries and collecting areas from all around the world also attracted interest. South America was also represented with an outstanding special offer of the collecting areas of Mexico (Catalogue 192 - the Peter W. Broennimann collection) and Peru (Catalogue 193 - the Julio Lugon Badaracco collection). The demand was also great here, not least due to the provenance of many items that had adorned famous collections.

“The John Simon collection” -  classics and the “exotic” in focus

With the auction of the collection of “John Simon”, untouched for decades, the areas of Spain, Cuba, Philippines, Austria, Romania and Denmark (Catalogue 194), Corinphila could once again set new standards. Especially the “exotics” such as the Philippines and Cuba were in extremely strong demand in addition to the more ‘classical’ areas such as Denmark and Austria, and these gave some surprising results. Also the territories of Romania and Spain, the last somewhat subdued, were driven upwards with new interest, with high bids up to several times the estimates. This meant that the actively bidding collectors and dealers in the room and via the Internet had quickly to revise their budgets upwards, in order not to stand there empty-handed in the end.

Switzerland - sensational demand and the “Basle Dove” on cover with top result

The auction on the last day with the territories of Switzerland and Liechtenstein caused the ultimate "sensation". A beautiful cover with the “Basle Dove” of 1845 (Lot 6104 - estimate CHF 20,000) reached CHF 55,200 (incl. premium) - a sensational result. Thus, an enthusiast paid significantly more than the Swiss catalogue price of the stamp of CHF 40,000. But the letter with the Basle Dove is only one example of the unexpectedly high demand for rare stamps and classic letters of the Swiss Confederation.