$40,000 cover to India leads the Vogel collection at Siegel's next stamps auction

The Raymond Vogel Collection was put together over a period of more than a half-century. Many items are being offered to the market for the first time since the 1958 Krug sale, the 1969 Matthies sale, and others. Many were acquired privately and have never been offered at auction at all.

Great colour, sharp impression, a neat cancel and four margins were the standard that Vogel kept to and that is reflected in the collection - allowing for a few faults in some of the early covers, as he felt preserving philatelic history was important too.

The collection, part one of which goes up for sale next week, comprises 180 lots of 12c and 15c 1861-68 Issues and 120 lots spanning Covers to Famous Americans, French Colonies Eagles Issue Covers and Samoan philately.

Some of the highlights of these sections are as follows:

A 12c Black stamp with F Grill on a cover, together with a horizontal pair of 2c Browns and a Hawaii 1866, 5c Blue. The cover originated in Hawaii and is addressed to London, England.

Hawaii To London Cover
Hawaii To London Cover
(Click to enlarge)

Very fine, and displaying choice centring, this is the only recorded example of this mixed-issue and mixed country franking from Hawaii. One of the most outstanding United States and Hawaiian mixed-franking covers in existence, it carries an estimate of $15,000-20,000.

An 1881 cover using the 1878 Samoa Express 1 shilling stamp, flanked by a New Zealand, 1874, 2p Rose and 6c Blue is the highlight of the Samoan section. A colourful and rare cover with the one-shilling Samoa Express issue used in combination with New Zealand stamps.

The very fine cover is actually addressed to Rhone, France - the only recorded Samoa express cover addressed to France. In fact only eleven covers are recorded with any of the Samoa Express stamps, and only five bear the one-shilling stamp. It is expected to achieve $10,000-15,000.

A key piece of philatelic history is represented by a cover which displays a horizontal strip of three 24c Grayish Lilac stamps, used with 12c Black with an 1868 datestamp.

It is addressed to J. F. Bingham, 2nd Assistant Engineer on board the USS Piscataqua, in care of the U.S. Consul in Hong Kong, China, endorsed "Via Marseilles and Suez",

A rare franking for the double 42-cent rate to Hong Kong via Marseilles — ultimately carried to Yokohama, Japan. This is one of only two recorded covers from the very first Singapore-to-Hong Kong sorting trip, this being the only one carried in the mails via Marseilles.

Bissell correspondence India Cover
Bissell correspondence Indian Cover
(Click to enlarge)

The overall highlight of the sale, however, is a 90c Blue on cover, displaying bright colour, used with 10c Yellow Green  and 12c Black, E Grill in 1868. It is the only recorded use of the 90-cent 1861 issue on a cover to India.

It is also the earliest recorded cover from the Bissell correspondence and carries an estimate of $30,000-40,000 in the sale which takes place on October 19-20 in New York and online, courtesy of Robert A Siegel auction galleries.

 

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