Siegel Dubois Sale - Some (Withdrawn) Lots Apparently Not Deaccessioned

Siegel Sale 1218, the "Dubois" sale has some fabulous British North America Postal History.

https://siegelauctions.com/sales.php?sale_no=1218

I just noticed that there is a notice that has been put on the sale:




Here is a link to the list of lots: https://siegelauctions.com/2020/121...ithdrawn.pdf

The total estimated realization of the withdrawn lots is $30,000-$41,000.

Thanks for sharing

TX - thanks for posting this. I had not noticed the announcement on the Siegel webpage.

About 15 years ago, I was doing research at the Nova Scotia archives in Halifax and one of the archivists had a copy of the Steinhart auction catalog on his desk. He told me that they had claimed ownership of a number of the lots from that sale also.

So how does this work ? They put up auction lots from old pics found in old auction catalogs? Please clarify.

So how did these items find there way to the private hands long ago? I am also curious if there are any time limits on recovery or if this was an instance of good will.

The covers were stolen from archives many years ago. In some cases the archives prepared an inventory of their records prior to the theft or know that they had the entire correspondence of letters addressed to a person or a government office. The Canadian archives seem to me to be more organized and active in seeking to reclaim material than US archives. When there is a major sale of this material, like the Steinhart sale in 2005, or the Dubois sale later today, the archivists apparently look through the auction catalogs to see if they can identify material that may have been stolen from their facilities.

Add-on, I should say assumed to have been stolen from the archives - In many cases we don't know if an archivist 50+ years ago could have "traded" material or sold off duplicate material without properly recording the information.

I can't speak to this instance, but this is certainly not a new problem in the hobby.

Museums do decide to sell material from time to time. Depending on the conditions of the donation, it is perfectly fine.

There have been cases where things walk out the door improperly. I do not know what happened here.

This should be a reminder to collectors in general of this type of material, that you do have to be aware of what you collect and where it may have been.

When I look to buy something nice, I try to research its provenance as much as possible. I enjoy the history of where a particular item has been, but this also helps one avoid this type of issue as a buyer.

in this case the owner of the collection will have to return the collection to the archives ? legal actions ?

Perf12, in reading the introduction to the catalog, it would appear the gentleman who assembled the collection is deceased and the collection is being sold by the Meritus Trust, a Bermuda firm which serves the inter-generational wealth transfer needs of the ultra rich. The intro employs the phrase " acquiring important items privately through the gravitational pull of wealth..."

The items in question should be returned to the several archives from whence they were removed, assuming there is no proof of sale or trade by those archives. For some of these letters, for example lot 2133, a 3 page autograph letter by Benedict Arnold, I doubt there was a sale or trade.

Legal action - some of these were likely removed many years ago so it may be too late for criminal proceedings, but one would like to know if there were more recent removals and acquisitions. Much depends on the availability of the gentleman's acquisition records.

I am reminded of the case in 2010 when a Dutch researcher located a stolen letter by Descartes. The letter was stolen by an Italian mathematician in the 1840s from the Institut de France. Sometime in the 1800s it was acquired by an autograph collector who, unaware of the shady provenance, donated it to Haverford College in Pennsylvania. Once alerted, Haverford returned it to the Institut. The letter sheds light on Descartes thinking as he revised his Discours de la Methode (not "sur la Methode"). https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/...scartes.html

Quote:
" acquiring important items privately through the gravitational pull of wealth..."

That is a very nifty way of describing things.

Simply put, you can never acquire clear title over a stolen item.

Therefore, regardless of who "possesses" the item, title will remain with the archive who can file to have their property returned. The current possessor of the item has limited, if any, recourse unless they can be reimbursed by the person who sold it to them.

(not a legal opinion, just the way I understand it as a layman - a lawyer could jump in and correct me as needed. I won't mind)