Sale 1230 — U.S. and Hawaii Stamps and Postal History
Sale Date — Tuesday-Friday, 15-18 December, 2020
Category — Carriers and Local Posts
Balance of the William W. Steele Collection of Carriers and Locals. Two thick volumes filled with scores of genuine stamps and covers arranged together with counterfeits and fantasy issues (those acquired by Mr. Steele from the Sir Nicholas Waterhouse reference collection), all carefully annotated including the names of counterfeiters (Scott, Taylor, etc.), the genuine items cover a wide range of posts, but there are extensive sections of Blood’s, Boyd’s and Hussey’s Posts with many scarce issues and desirable multiples and covers -- the following is a Scott number list of the genuine stamps we surveyed: LO6 (2), 3LB2 cover with 3c 1851, 5LB1 (2), 5LB2, 6LB5, 6LB5d, 1L2 block, 1L3 block, 1L4, 2L3, 5L1, 9L1 cover, 9LU1 unused entire, 12L1-12L2 panes (a few), 15L14 and 15L15 blocks (several), Blood’s entires, 20L2 tied on Christmas Day cover (a beauty), numerous Boyd’s covers and blocks, 20L13 tied, 20L15 and 20L16 sheets of 100, 20L43A, Boyd’s entires, 23L1, 27L1, 30L3, 35L1, 35L2, 40L1 (2 unused and a Sperati), 60L2, 62L4 (2), 66L1, 73L1, 74L2 cover, 74L1-74L2 sheets, 78L1, 87L1 (2), 87L2, Hussey’s in great depth including 87L56, 87LUP1-4, Special Delivery covers, 89L1, 91L1, 98L1, 107L1 cover (2, both tied), 108L3, 112L1, 112L2, 121L7, 132L2, 141L3 blocks of 26 and 18, 143L1-5 Pony Express, Pomeroy sheets, 144L1 and 144L9 sheets of 6 -- apart from the considerable value in genuine material, there are many hundreds of counterfeits and fantasies that have a market of their own, which we have not factored into our estimated value, there are also two fat albums of more modern “local post” creations (not counted in our estimate), condition is typical for this collecting area, and faults should be expected in the scarcer items, but overall this is a true collector’s collection, which would take years to recreate -- it offers the philatelist an opportunity to launch into a new specialized area or to augment an existing collection, and for the dealer or eBay reseller, there is great profit potential, even without the criminal mentality of selling the counterfeits and fakes as genuine
