Siegel David Wingate Catalogue

I received the Wingate sale catalogue in the mail today and all that I have to say is WOW!!!

A work of printing art. 306 pages of hardbound beauty. The layout is amazing as are the images and descriptions.

Cannot wait to see the Gross sale catalogues.

I find it fascinating that this type of collection, Gross too, basically ignores the PSE grading frenzy.

Most of the lots carry PF certs from the 1980s and 1990s but Wingate obviously felt it completely waste of time to get grades on many of the unbelievable pairs and singles. It's almost as if it's done purposely to tell PSE that the hobby is not dependent on the company or grading standards. I almost feel like Wingate and perhaps Gross too just despise PSE. But I'm basing this only on reviewing the lots in the collection and who certified them

Yes, a great collection, I find especially interesting all his special printing stamps.
What size is the book (format) and how did Siegel concerning printing the stamp colors compared to the real world?

I am also looking forward to the Gross collection but wonder if it will find place in only one book or several books.

My jaw keeps dropping as I turn the pages and see nine St Louis Bears, all of the Special Printings, gorgeous mint blocks of the classics, Pan American mint blocks, the Inverted Jenny, the rarest Washington-Franklins etc. so many six figure stamps. Stunning.

stamperix,
These auction catalogs are costly, and they pass these costs on. I cannot imagine that an auction company would invest the additional thousands of dollars it would take to publish it as a color-guide. Additionally, a published color guide would only be accurate for 10 years from time of printing and only then the owner(s) stored the book correctly.
Don

rgstamp, there is another plausible explanation (other than PSE hatred) for the lack of graded material in the Wingate and Gross collections that you conveniently did not mention. Both collections were formed for the most part prior to the grading era.

I know this, Don, and we had this topic already :). I don't ask if this is a color guide, but what size it s (=what size the stamps are, or are they perhaps 1:1?), and especially if Siegel did well in printing the colors.

There has been some development in printing since Gutenberg, and at the beginning the stamp catalogs were only black and white, then with colors, and today all books that are made with knowledge print the colors very well. I have many art and photo books which show the original colors accurate without being a color guide. But all this is nothing we should discuss here.

The stamp images are approximately twice the size of the actual stamp. For items such as the banknote special printings the stamp image stands alone on a black full page background. The images are amazingly sharp. It feels as if you are looking at a stamp on an album page in front of you. I will add some scans soon. Not sure that they will do justice to this amazing book. The endpapers are ribbed with artwork of historical scenes connected to various engravings. Siegel should be very proud of what will be an enduring reference work and monument to Mr Wingate's amazing accomplishment.

Rhett... you are probably correct.. and I'm not sure it is PSE hatred or just anti-grading philosophy.

There are multiple stamps in the Wingate collection that could or would grade at very top of the PSE population.

Many of us know that such stamps, graded at or near the top, generally sell at an exorbitant price.

Perhaps the rarity of most of the stamps and uniqueness of the double transfers, multiples etc, make grading useless.
This collection like Gross is filled with RARITIES, not well centered but easily found stuff. That is what makes it so damn good!

I need to win the Powerball (up to 455M) to go after anything on these offerings. Cheers! Wolf-==-

Reading this thread made me go to my mailbox.

Very nice catalog - top notch job as usual by Siegel on catalog production.

At the end of this year, it will be interesting to compare gross realizations from 2018 sales to those from 2017, and so on - to see if we get an up-tick or not.

My commentary on Wingate, learning of the sale several months ago, was this is a "world class" US collection, and the only injustice is that it will get overshadowed by Gross close behind on its coattails. There are more than a few stamps that I will be chasing in this collection, but I fear, so will many others. I can only dream of assembling something like this in the future, and I have true respect for both the passion and financial commitment an endeavor like this must have been.

C

Wow, is all I can say. The pictorial series items are just incredible. There's page after page of inverts, including a Jenny. Just an astounding collection.