Today's Kelleher Collections & Large Lots Sale

I was interested in some Lebanon and Saudi lots late in today's Kelleher sale. In between countries, I just watched in amazement as the Mongolia lots all sold for MANY multiples of Estimate. Lot 338, in particular, (1950's-2005, MNH stock) sold for $80K (+BP) compared to an estimate of $2000-$2500. Blew my mind! What was in there that's worth a house??? Me thinks Kelleher has no idea what Mongolia material is worth. Either that, or the last two bidders were overseas bidders and TOTALLY screwed up the exchange rate - like misplaced the decimal point.

For those keeping score, I was shut out of what I was interested in.

oligarch?

I cannot imagine how ANYTHING from Mongolia covering the past 60 years could be worth $80K, unless it was an ungodly amount of duplicated stock. And in that case, who wants that much of such a mediocre country??

It wasn't that duplicated (from the description):

"...most items present in quantities of one to ten each, with the run of issues very comprehensive;"

The nine Mongolia lots went for $183,750 + $36,750 (BP) for a total of $220,500. Obviously it was more than one bidder to get to those numbers. It is a total headscratcher. Fitting for 2020.

You can read my comment in the Main Discussion section ......


MOOT ------I was bidding on that Lebanon lot ,but it got away from me and ran up . I got the Libya lot ,it was the best of everything else I was looking at . You have to say MidEast is a hot commodity at this auction .

floortrader - yes, all kinds of Middle East is hot these days. I've collected Lebanon and Saudi for years - since long before there was much competition. I have seen interest in Lebanon ratchet up lately, but KSA has remained relatively quiet (well, except for today), but the (historically...) sand dunes are hotter than hot. I bought a complete Qatar collection (well, complete to 1975 anyway) about a year ago, but based on this year's craziness, I could probably triple my money. Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Ras al Khaima, etc, have all seen healthy growth over the last few years, I think there is a whole new crop of collectors that don't see those stamps as wallpaper like I did 40-50 years ago. There's now a demand for that stuff. Also, many of these countries have matured economically (wanna go from the USA East Coast to ME or SW/South Asia?? You will likely transfer in Qatar, AND fly on some of the most beautiful planes in the sky) and there are (I suspect) very rich 'natives' with disposable income and want to collect philatelic memories from their childhood. Japan matured this way in the 60's-70's, China in the 90's-2000's, and there are others. The secret to a good long-term investment is to figure out which country is next to enter the world stage, economically. India? North Korea, after the current regime?? Your guess is as good as mine.

Yes, rogdcam, welcome to the new world of Mongolia being HOT!! Who'da ever thunk it?? Yes, there were at least 2 deep-pocket bidders to run these up. I found it interesting that the buyer(s) of these lots were all listed, enigmatically, as the frustratingly-anonymous (to floor / Net). Considering there are no floor bidders nowadays (actually, that's just a guess for this sale, but expect it to be true) and any winners on the NET are usually identified by their SAN paddle #.

I guess we just need to wait a few months and see which dealer is hawking Mongolia, STRONGLY.

I suspect that those lots will wind up overseas, and will not show up here. Some dealer in China or Japan with a real market, or two wealthy Asian collectors looking to enter the field who will take out what they want and sell off the duplicates.

That was quite astounding - must have been something great in those lots for the Mongolia philately enthusiasts to get excited about.

Overall though bidding seemed mostly sane - got a South American lot I wanted, but not some of the European lots I was interested in.

Two wealthy Asian bidders (let us assume) both happen upon a trove of Mongolia material at a Kelleher Collections auction and decide to bid aggressively. What are the odds? (cue computer keyboard noises and hard drives whirring) The material is so uncommon that it cannot be found at any dealer or on eBay or through Mongolian Collectors Society contacts. It is so rare that the bidding rises into US C3a territory (Inverted Jenny). Again, what are the odds? (more computations taking place) Perhaps they both viewed the material and espied the rarest Mongolian philatelic piece, a piece so rare and necessary to own that money was no object. The crown jewel of any Mongolian collection. The Hope Diamond of Mongolian philately. Even more amazing was that the piece was not a rare early cover or stamp or proof but rather it was from the latter part of the 20th century.

Perhaps they were both Jerry Garcia souvenir sheet fanatics?

I didn't say it was a common occurrence. But having a lot estimated at $2000-$2500 go for $80,000 is not exactly a common occurrence either. So some uncommon events had to be in play here.

Mootermutt may have been onto something about not understanding currency rates.

i did not follow the foreign lots but bid on 2 got 1

U.S., Insurance Advertising & Middleboro MA Covers, 1840-1969, estimate 1000-1500 got it for 1000

did miss out the black jack cover lot, and now seeing it went for 600 I should have put a higher bid into san.

well...happy anyways. now excited for the Kelleher no 750, december 8th to close

I just logged into the auction at the beginning of the Asian lots. Not my collecting area but decided to watch for a bit. I had no idea the lots would be fetching what they did.

Interesting comments here , I am a little confused here those stamps that I consider as "Wallpaper" are the ones exploded in price and had aggresive bidding . Maybe my thinking is that they were the normal Mongolia C-T-O's that are found in all kinds of bulk lots ,but these were MNH sets plus the same as inperfs in MNH complete sets . That may be why the crazy prices .

Then what I liked was a different story. As mention earlier I purchased the Libya lot ,first it had a lot of hundred dollar items , second the reviewer who wrote the description gave it a glowing review .I got that at estimate . So I have a disconnect to what others are buying ,total confusion .