Stanley Gibbon’s new auction room at 399 Strand was packed out for its Foreign, British Commonwealth and Great Britain Public Auction on 23rd June even though it had to compete with the England v Slovenia world cup match.

With many offers outstanding still to be finalised the company are confident of selling approximately 90% of the 931 lots offered at the auction, realising in excess of three quarters of a million, excluding buyer’s premium.

The sale began with a range of Foreign lots which, following the current trend, saw some frantic bidding on the China section.

Lot 49, a 1929 silk covered presentation booklet containing a range of unused but stuck down sets, sold for £1,150 against an estimate of £500 and lot 61, the popular 1980 Year of the Monkey 8f (SG 2968) fresh u/m, realised £1,380.

Another sought-after item was lot 177; a complete collection of USA Duck Stamps for 1934-99 which realised £3,220 against an estimate of £2,000.

The Commonwealth section was extremely busy, especially on the strong sections of “Far East” material, which was sought after by both room and telephone bidders alike:

Lot 332, the Japanese Occupation of Malaya (1942-43 Stamps of Kedah) 25c (SG J9a) fresh u/m, realised £368 against a catalogue value of £320 and lot 354, a 1942 Stamps of Straits Settlements 40c scarlet and dull purple (SG J53)  fine used block of four, realised £4,830 against a catalogue estimate of £2,600.

The highlight from the 35 plus “mixed” collections on offer was lot 419; a “Superb collection of used KGV”, in nine albums which realised £21,850.

The Great Britain section was offered in the afternoon with a wide range of material on offer including an unusual range of early British postmarks, offered as single lots.

Lot 576, an 1858 February 3 cover to Wales, franked with 1d red, tied by the Pearson Hill Experimental Machine London code M cancel, realised £1,495 against a pre-sale estimate of £300.

Lot 579, an 1871 January 10 ½d postcard to Northumberland with a fine strike of the rare “89” in diamond alongside a rectangular town die postmark used on postcards only in January 1871, realised £1,265 more than doubling its pre-auction estimate of £600.

The activity witnessed at the Stanley Gibbons Auction this month shows the health of the stamp market, once again demonstrating stamps lack of correlation with other turbulent markets.

* Realisations include 15% buyers premium.