Tomorrow's Siegel Auction Of The Scarsdale Collection

Gorgeous stuff, but I doubt I'll be bidding on anything tomorrow. Virtually all the openings are close to or well above full Scott before the auction even starts. Of course the quality on many pieces is such that high prices are justified.

I think this auction will end up triggering some movement in next year's Scott, at least for some pieces that show up on the market very rarely.

If nothing else, it will be a fun auction to watch.

http://stampauctionnetwork.com/y/y1015.cfm

-Dan

Sitting through the auction now. The hammer prices are absolutely astronomical! It's taken 1.5 hours to go through 87 lots. Virtually no lots have gone for less than full Scott, with many going for multiples of Scott... and not just double. Some are going for 4x and 5x Scott.

It's not the grading phenomenon either, since almost none of these have graded certs. The market for high quality early revenues is strong, with "quality" being the operative word.

Still, some of the prices fetched have me shaking my head... even lots with lightened cancels are going for moon money.

This auction is out of control!

Lot's 96-100 (Spanish-Amer. War Prov.'s) closed cheeply! someone got a good deal!

Those went lower than I expected (about the only things other than the 2nd issue high denom essay that did), but still way beyond my budget.

It's a shame that this collection didn't include any of the silk papers, I would have loved to see what high-end silk papers would bring at auction...

Even my fallback/contingency lots went for double and triple what I would have paid... sheesh.

The 2nd and 3rd Series were out of control as well. I predict huge jumps in CV next year!

Everything went for above cat, even the 20th century items. Reds and greens were quite strong, even cut and perf cancelled stamps. Only the items with already-astronomically high catalog values showed some weakness, which is to be expected.

Some of the deeper back-of-book types weren't quite as strong overall (Wines, Silver, Playing Card, Telegraph, etc.), but even in those areas truly exceptional pieces garnered exceptional results.

I didn't get shut out entirely. After I posted above, I came back in time to catch the proprietaries, and picked up two lots for the "bargain" price of only paying full Scott after BP (for this sale, for the R and RB, that WAS bargain pricing). Yikes!

I got lot 160 (RB5a, SCV $160, 2001 PF Cert, Ex-Lyons, Ex-Floyd), which grabbed me entirely with its presentation. Bold color and good contrast, and margins which for the issue are jumbo. The auctioneer hammered this lot pretty fast, so I may have gotten lucky; the norm for most lots was for there to be a lull or "pregnant pause" and a wait for Internet bids, after which the bids would start ratcheting up. I got my bid in right away and for whatever reason he didn't wait... just "sold to..."




The other lot I got was #172 (RB19b, SCV $350, 2007 PF Cert, ex-Tolman). I've been wanting to fill this hole for quite a while, but most I see have perfs hitting the design on at least one side, and far too many are thinned or badly stained. This one has nice eye appeal.