2018-07-30 Mon

Germany’s Christoph Gaertner Auction house will first offer its collection of stamps at the American Philatelic Society Stampshow in Columbus, Ohio, from 9th to 12th August, and then at Praga 2018 in Prague, Czech Republic from 15th to 18th August. Rare world stamps, Peter Zgonc’s Sudetenland collection, unique stamps from Italy and related areas, and interesting Austrian issues are going to be offered at the auction.

One of the highlights from the Austrian postal history is a cover with the left one-third of an 1850-54 9-kreuzer blue stamp, machine-made paper type III. The letter was sent by Torna for Bishop Stefan Kollartsik in Rosenau and is addressed in Latin. The cut stamp denotes 3kr postage payment.

The stamp has a Torna circular postmark dated 28.8, or Aug. 28 (1857), and an arrival postmark of 29.8. No other cover with one-third of the 9kr stamp exists. There are fresh wide margins on all three sides of the stamp segment. It was in 1936 that the cover’s discovery was reported for the first time. It has been featured in specialist literature many times after that.

The stamp comes with a 1960 authentication from the Friedl Expert Committee, and a detailed 2017 photo certificate from Ulrich Ferchenbauer. The starting bid for this rare and unique item is set at €250,000.

Image Courtesy: Christoph Gaertner Auction