Aps' Recieved AL Kugel Donation, First Cherrystone Session (Part One June 18 & 19, 2024) - Overview

The bidding seem spirited with, so far, some good hammer prices (means 15% buyer fee not included). The APS should be pleased and if he was here, Al would be happy as well.

Of the first 100 lots, 10 were passed, both cover and stamp lots.

Edit: 2nd 100 lots continued with spirited bidding and some passed lots.

[Likely APS comment: ]

2nd Edit: The spirited bidding continued into the last 167 lots. For example the Germany in China three lots, 3278, 3279 and 3280, were estimated at $15,000, $75,000 and $75,000 being hammered at $17,000, $90,000 and $90,000. German East Africa lot 3320 estimated at $10,000 and 3321 estimated at $7,500 hammered each at $18,500 and $17,000.

Again, while it is tough to lose excellent collectors, the APS must be pleased with today's outcome. Tomorrow will be the 2nd session of Part 1. September 2024 I am told will have Part 2, the next part.

Some powerful material with powerful realizations for sure.

Above and beyond the APS, maybe this sale will hook some new collectors of the area as well.

I actually had fun seeing what the various Parcel Post (Q) covers were selling for as I was not bidding on them as I did not need any. Almost went for the but figured the Texas F1 collector would enjoy it more as I already had all those values used from Shanghai, including the F1. [A Mar 9, 1914, departure cds alongside, Registered box, highly unusual combination of Parcel Post and Registry stamps used to pay the postage on a registered packet from Shanghai (Cat No. F1,Q3,7,9). Hammer was $1,800 on this lot #3045]

I did buy one parcel post item without parcel post stamps but with the documentaries collecting the necessary WWI Parcel Tax on Parcel Post Postage Paid:



A mailing of multiple parcel postage packages from one shipper to one addressee in one container with 1 cent WWI Tax collected on the first 25 cents in postage and each 25 or fraction more there after. As the $2.70 in documentary covers $67.50 in paid postage, the remaining $4.05 in post was used for packages with less than 25 cent in postage and any additional fees which are not considered as postage for purposes of collecting the WWI Tax.

The next lot after is a similar such mailing but I passed as of the several of these documents known, I have enough to satisfy me. My only comment on the descriptive page writ up is that one positive of sending multiple packages from one sender to one addressee, is that only one registry fee needed to be paid for the entire containers of packages, not each package individually:

Re: your update, not really surprised by those German prices. Those pre-auction estimates were way low.

The $90K China lots (3279, 3280) were two stamps for which only 2 copies each are known, with these being the only known mint copies. They come up for auction about once every 30-40 years.

The German East Africa $18.5K lot (3320) is one of the rarest items in German colonial philately – a used copy of MiNr. 38 I A b. I keep a census for the German Colonies Collectors Group, and this is one of only 51 known copies (49 if you don't count the two believed to have been lost after being discovered). Though a few have sold in the past decade in the $10K range, most are closer to $20K.

Tomorrow is my day to break out the checkbook. Let's hope everyone spent their limit today...

I did pretty well today. I won 3 lots, and blew my budget for about the next 6 months. There were a lot of items in this auction that you rarely, rarely see (my 3 lots were 1 of <10 known, 1 of 3 known, and 1 of 1 known), so it was a case of get them now or probably never get the chance again. I'll post photos when they arrive.

There was only 1 lot I wanted but didn't get – a cash payment franking from Tsingtau, Kiautschou, of which only 16 are known to exist. I didn't even put in a bid because it climbed pretty quickly, and I was holding out for a later lot that I needed to reserve funds for. After the later lot went, I ended up regretting not going for the earlier lot, but only because I got the later lot cheaper than I had budgeted for.

The whole of Al's collection is a marvel to look at. There is something for everyone, both price and collecting interest. I expect 4 to 5 sales before the end of 2025. It was interesting watching the bidding on some of these items.

Al was a brilliant man. I remember the first time I met him at Chicagopex in 2015. He invited me to join him and Dottie for dinner at the restaurant onsite. I enjoyed it so much I paid for the meal. I told someone I'd met him and bought dinner. The response was, "You should let him pick up the check. He's got plenty of money." They were both so hospitable; it was well worth it. Every time after that, Al would give me time, and we'd chat about history and the hobby for a bit. I never asked him to pay the bill.

We are working to complete his exhibit scans. There are some gaps in the pages we have to reconstruct, and then they'll be in the Mason Digital Library. He had over 100 exhibits during his time in the hobby.

Thanks to everyone who bid on the sale, and I hope your piece(s) of Al's collection brings you joy for years to come.

Scott

I have the catalogue to this sale if anyone would want it. PM me.
regards mark

Morning Scott and all,

Al also collected registered US material. Had several unique cities using these labels Form 1549a examples. Have I missed these lots or will they come up in future lots? Thanks, Russ

It was not in the first sale. As I noted, we expect the total number of sales to be either 4 or 5. The next sale will be in September.

Cherrystone will have a booth at the Great American Stamp Show and will be viewing material from the next sale, so if you plan to attend, make sure you stop by.

Scott

The second sale closed. Sales were strong. I'm curious if anyone picked up something exciting?

Scott

I picked up just one lot, but at more than three times the estimate. Blew my budget till the end of the year, but it was worth it.

Does anyone know when the remaining sales will be held and the focus of these sales? I need to start saving up again...

The next sale will be in December. We're still sorting out some post-auction issues, but I will know more in a week or two.

Overall, the sale exceeded expectations again. We've liquidated about 40 percent of the material in the first two sales. These were more odds and ends items with a few gems. There is some great material yet to come.

Scott