Bill Langs Passed Away

Could possibly just be part of the cancellation.

OK, I am going to say it:

I have reviewed the Kelleher sale and the 2x upcoming Siegel sales. Siegel posted their October 19-23 auction a little while back and I had already made my list of lots I am interested in, before they posted the William Gross 1847 sale of October 27-29, and before Kelleher posted their Langs' sale. The Langs' sale and Siegel's Gross sale were posted at about the same time. Living on a budget as I am, I must say that between these 3 sales, my stamp budget (probably for the next year) will be shot. I compared my few dozen 'interested' lots in Siegel's Sale 1227 to anything in the Langs' sale, and I have exactly -0- desire to be active in the Langs' sale. Pile on top of that the Gross 1847 sale, and the Langs' sale pales incredibly. Poor timing on Kelleher's part (not their fault, of course, but it is poor timing, nonetheless) and I cannot imagine a universe where Kelleher will get a single penny of my stamp budget in this particular cycle. I can't help but think that due to the timing of these 3 sales, that it will have a pretty big impact on the Langs' sale's realizations. Some of the more specialized/unique stuff in the Langs' sale, where there is little overlap with the Siegel sales, may be somewhat immune to this. Even on the days where the Gross sale and the Langs' sale are both on (10/28 & 10/29), the Gross sale is later in the day. I am saving my limited funds for the later sale. Sorry Kelleher.

I tend to think Langs is pushing items into other auction houses as well or people are unloading material ahead of it. In the latest Cherrystone, there are a number of lots, particularly modern errors that look like his material.

It could be coincidence, but perhaps in an effort to get higher prices these are dripping onto the market ahead of the sale. Example is the Mercury printers waste (1193var), and moonlanding, and moon landing airmail. The previous CS auction Mercury PW went for $850 pair & 1500PB. Feels like someone's cutting up sheets all of a sudden when you couldn't find them anywhere but his overrpriced eBay listings.

It could be Kelleher farming out material as well?

"there are a number of lots, particularly modern errors that look like his material"
He has so much EFO material that any offering would look like hos material.

"It could be Kelleher farming out material as well?"
Why would they do that? How would they make any money doing that?

Perhaps someone learned of his passing and wanted to get theirs out there before the Langs flood hit the market. or just plain coincidence.

There are some stamps in the Kelleher Langs sale that are still on eBay. Is his store on eBay still being handled? An example is lot 418, a Scott 111.

It could also be material that Langs had on consignment and was returned to the owner who then consigned it to auction with Cherrystone.

SPQR - good point

rlsny - good question

a few more bad descriptions
Lot 1223 "imperf between (Scott 1595e var), vertical pair, containing portions of three imperf between vertical pairs"
None of the pairs are complete, so this is just a freak (a nice one, but still a freak)
Lot 1299 "plate number 78777 strip of 6, o.g., never hinged, immaculate and fresh, Very Fine, this plate number strip unpriced in Datz."
But it IS priced in Datz.
Lot 1321 "without a hint of the horizontal serpentine cut"
They never have a horizontal serpentine cut - they are normally slit between rows in a broken straight line with occasional little bridges

minor typo fixed

It sounds as if Kelleher may be using Langs descriptions.

Many of us were familiar of course with Langs material on eBay and to be charitable his "robust" prices. It will be interesting to see how this sale does. Although given the fact that these three auctions fall so close together I am not sure a true indication of value will be determined. Market forces (three auctions) are likely to depress prices, maybe at all three.

I think that the credibility of the auction house for not doing due diligence here is a little bit sad for bidders. More time should be invested, certificates brought in, and not taking dealers words and instead reporting and reviewing each lot. Over time as buyers get this material certified, questions about Keheller letting it go like this will be called into question inevitably.

I predict that the "passed" rate in this sale will be quite high. Lets see.

RisMoney eloquently hit ground zero on a pet peeve of mine.

In the name of volume, many philatelic auction houses have become the "Weekend Barn n Estate Auction n BBQ Company." There is little to no interest in

- providing any philatelic expertise for the buyers
- provide added value beyond their best guess on how to break down the collection
- reseaching beyond taking the word on ID's from the consignors, and then hiding clear mistakes in lots or basic sets of more than 10 or so stamps which they refuse to accept back for refund.

I agree with the sentiments here. I think they are trying to pump as many lots through the system as they can by cutting corners - using Langs' descriptions, no new certs, etc. It is like the house is on fire - they are more worried with the volume of water getting through the hose, not with the water quality. Langs' philosophy was (seemingly) to price at the top of the market and hang on to things for years in order to get that price. This(these) may be the kind of sale(s) that make or break an auction house's reputation. Screw it up, and people will remember who did it.

Case-in-point about Langs type pricing and the realities of a true market auction realization. I just received an email from Posner that touted 900 some odd "new US stamp listings". One of the photographed examples was a 119b, the inverted center 1869 inverted 15 cent pictorial priced at $12,995. Out of curiosity I looked for this stamp in Posner's Hipstamp listings and low and behold, there it was. The internal alpha-numeric identifier that Posner uses for his listings indicates that it was initially listed in 2017. Three years later or more there it sits. These regularly sell at Siegel and never get near that type of money. Not saying anything is wrong but the sellers expectations are very lofty.

I am extremely interested to see what transpires at the Kelleher sales. I will not be participating however.