Postal History Surprise

I had the pleasure of attending the Longley Auction yesterday and went armed with a catalogue marked with my "hopeful purchases" and a chequebook.

Lot 193, a lovely first day cover, simply blew me away.



Estimated at $3500, Bill casually announced to the floor that he had three substantial mail bids and that the "floor" was open at $16,000!

I didn't think I was going to get this cover in the first place, but I had no idea that my intended bid would miss by so much.

GJP

Wow !!

You can be assured it wasn't me that bought it.......

Wowzers! and its' not even a #1.

Holy crap on a cracker. Is John Wallace a special figure in history? That seems like an astronomical price for that cover.

Unbelievable!

ditto.

I wonder if it is a folded letter?

*chin drops* GJP I think we need some insight on that price ;)

The cover is absolutely stunning by the way, wow.

Wow definitely not in my budget.

Dianne

Harumph. That's not so much. Put a loonie in the piggy bank each day for the next 43.8 years and there you are!

Gportch,

Wow. Thanks for sharing this.

Hard to fathom, but limited supply vs emotional demand drives these covers. And the $16,000 did not include a 15% buyers premium : so the individual paid $18,400 for this cover.

I see that they have already posted the prices realized...and the next closes lot was below $2,000

I had looked at some of the lots, but passed because they did not have much Newfoundland