Philatelic Rarities. Rare Postage Stamps and Stamp Collector Investments

This page features worldwide rare, unusual, and one-of-a-kind items of special interest. It is one of Australia's MOST visited stamp dealer web pages. Check EVERY day, as you can see - new items are regularly added and the sold ones removed. Many large dealers buy from here regularly.

So that I can show you the items in great detail in high resolution, some of the images may take a minute or three to load up if you have slow dial-up connection. I apologize for this, but it's worth waiting for!

A note about payment on these: Yes, these lots are expensive, but
"Lay-By" is available; E-mail, Phone, or Fax me to discuss it. I do NOT rip you off like auctions and add 15-20% to my prices. A $1,000 stamp is $1,000 - not $1,200.

For the Order Form, click here. To read instructions on ordering, click here.

Every credit card shown is accepted WITHOUT fee. Earn Frequent Flier points
while buying at bargain prices! ALL prices are in weak Ozzie Dollars.
I charge NO nasty, nasty "Buyer's Commission" on stamps
like nearly every "Auction" does.

LIMITED OFFER � SG 1840-1952 Commonwealth Cats at near HALF retail : I have a VERY limited quantity of these (109th, 2007 edition!) catalogues available at a VERY special price.

Normal retail: $180 - my price $99 plus shipping

These are the real thing, brand new in perfect condition! For the first time a LOT of plate flaws in photos, and prices them - see sample page of those here � www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?p=148670.

With 412 pages, full colour scans and the expertise/experience of Stanley Gibbons it is no wonder that this continues to be THE catalogue of choice for collectors of this period. HARD covers .. a REAL Cat - like the OLD SG were, but now in COLOUR and on bright white paper.

If you do not collect modern QE2 Guyana, Samoa, Nauru and Botswana etc that means you need pay $700 for a 5 vol WORLD set, this is for you! $A99

Australia 1914 Guillaux flown postcard. Addressed to Washington H. Soul! One of the most famous and most historic postcards in Australian Aerophilately. This was Australia�s FIRST OFFICIAL AIRMAIL. Superb crisp SYDNEY July 18, 1914 arrival cds, and the 1d roo stamp has a nice complete departure strike of the scarce violet �Australian / Aerial Mail / Melbourne Vic / 16 July 14� cds. Itself a rare and sought after cancel, even snipped off postcard. Facially quite nice for these near antique survivors, with a neatly closed tear. Pictorial reverse of Guilliax in cameo photo, and a chatty message to Mr Soul. The blank cards sold for 1/- each � a good deal of money for a �gimmick� in this WW1 era.

Addressed to one of Australia�s most famous and wealthiest businessmen and Freemason � then in retirement � Mr Washington H. Soul, whose pharmacy chain Soul Pattinson still flourishes. Addressed to his 3 acre Baronial Mansion �Agincourt� in the inner city - www.strathfieldhistory.org.au/Agincourt.htm - Eustis #3 cat $750. The other well known Guillaux postcard from the previous month just sold for $A35,000 or DOUBLE the new AAMC value! Full story on the new AAMC (which I stock) and this postcard here - www.glenstephens.com/snmay08.html - early Aussie airmail covers are RED HOT now. (I also have a lesser condition example of this same Guilliax postcard for $A225, and also a �Wizard Stone� postcard � Eustis #2. I also have flown and signed Kingsford Smith and Chichester covers, and a 1919 Ross Smith Vignette on cover in stock.)   $A500

Amazing 1932 Junkers Flight Cover: 12 December 1932 (AAMC.242 � Cat $1,500) Australia - Germany cover, flown and signed by Captain Hans Bertram with the "Bertram Allan Junkers Atlantis" ornate design at upper right. G.U. Allen was co-pilot. The quite SPECTACULAR looking Castrol Oil cover � LARGE size 9� x 6� fills a hagner sheet! I�ve never even seen or owned one of these before. The cover the bears the postage stamps and postmarks of FOUR countries - the Netherlands Indies, Australia, India and Germany � only a few ever carried.

Cancels of Darwin Dec 12, Sourabaya Dec 13 (where the plane crashed badly upon landing!) then 4 months later to Aykab India (April 2) and Berlin arrival of April 17, 1933. (You will see there are TWO cancels on 2 x 10� Indies Airmail � LH one being 10/4/33 and RH one from arrival crash 13/12/32 � 4 months earlier!) From the personal collection of the late Nelson Eustis. Absolutely impeccable provenance, and enormous rarity - and quite unbeatable eye-appeal as you can see with all the various colours on it. In GREAT condition for 76 years old and given the distance and history of this and a plane crash to boot.   The price of this top end Aerophilatelic material simply goes one way � UP! $A1,400

(Note - I bought a lovely lot of scarce early Australian airmail covers recently. Most I have never before set eyes on before. Please contact me for more details. Many had only a dozen or two dozen pieces flown, yet my prices are often only $200 or so. Such items have HUGE upside in price potential in my view.)

GB 1840 "Penny Black" on cover: Fine 4 margin example, tied by light red Maltese Cross to Rochdale. Lovely strike of boxed �No. 5� hand-stamp to add to the visual appeal. Much discussion on that marking here - www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?p=310926 - The �World�s First Stamp� on attractive cover. Backstamped �Worcester Jan 21: 1841�. Also some interesting notations on reverse as well � click the link above to see those.   SG minimum catalogue on cover is �475 (=$A1,150)   No idea of plate number � too lazy to check! $A325

Isle Of Man - both the 1973 Definitives Colour Outer Border Errors:   I bought pairs of these from a well known UK dealer. Not really easy to tell apart unless you are experienced with them. SG 17a and 18a. Cat �150 each, i.e. �300 for one of each or cat �600 for a pair of each. He guarantees these are the correct SG listed items. My price $A200 for one of each. Or a joined pair of each as shown above, Cat �600 (=$A1,400) fresh MUH for - $A350

Switzerland 1945 �PAX� set 13 Clean GU/VFU: Attractive set ex Estate with correct dated cancels. They are ESSENTIAL to be able to see, as you can do here, on the key values here, with 1945 or 1946 dates visible.

Mint hinged sets with vague corner cancels and no date showing - NO collector in Europe would ever touch! Michel 447/459. VERY high catalogue value! SG #447/459 - �700 = $A1,700. Michel 447-459 .... 1,000 Euros = $A1,600, and this is what nice sets DO sell for in Europe!

One of the scarcest sets post-war from Europe at $1,000 under Michel or Gibbons value! $A550

New Zealand 1855 2d blue Chalon on BLUED paper - NO Watermark: Fine used imperforate strip of 3, from the corner of the sheet. Unusually light cancels. Has double lined letters paper-maker's watermark along the top edge - see note in SG covering this, and proving these are SG 5. clean ands fresh, and a large multiple of this is clearly worth a premium. SG #5 �900 = $A2,250. Just 17�% of cat! $A400

Complete Set Aust Post Year Albums 1981-2000 Under FACE!   Estate special. All TWENTY albums! The FACE value of the stamps inside is $720. ALL are valid for postage if you ever need to use them. The issue price from PO was $964! Each Australia Post book from the debut 1981 book (issue number #1) also has a matching coloured, hard slipcase to prevent dust and moisture entering the book. Retail $1,250. $A700

New Zealand 1931/35 3d Airmail Scarce perf 15: VFU on piece from letter or packet, and well centred for these. Neatly tied to piece with full face NZ cancel. SG 548a �425 = $A1050. These are scarcer used than mint, so buying on cover or piece is always wise. $A300

Victoria 1854 6d Lilac and Green �Too Late� Woodblock � absolutely mind-boggling margins for this �terror�: Have NEVER seen one this striking and large marginned. Clean and fresh, no hinged gunk or thins. (MOST of these are thinned.) Topped off with a VERY light �pie-crust� face clear cancel. SG 33 �200+++. (Juzwin $225 for average grade.) A gem at $A300 � in auction it might get twice this if a few folks were chasing it. ALSO the 1854 2/- Green Woodblock � also a clean attractive 4 margin copy. Shallow thin at base. SG 38 �156 - $A125 (Juzwin $225 for average margins) � or the pair for - $A400

The World's Hundred Rarest Stamps in Silver: A superb looking collection in a very large coffee table type box with locks on the front. Satin lined at top lid, and the replica stamps are all deep recessed into Royal Blue velvet. The 100 rare stamps are frosted proof-like items engraved in great detail. Specially struck from polished dies, and in Sterling Silver - 92�% pure silver. Each stamp has inscribed on the back what issue it is. They are all here - from the 1d Black, the Sweden 'Tre Skilling Yellow', USA 24c "Inverted Jenny", 1c British Guiana, WA "Inverted Swan" etc, etc. All the big buck classics. Has a Franklin Mint signed "Limited Edition� guarantee certificate. Buyer is understood to have paid $20 each over 24 months = $2,000 - years ago. Can't verify it, but would not surprise me. $2,000 is far too much but for $500 you are only paying $5 apiece � or about QUARTER issue price, in an era of sky high silver bullion prices! $A500

1925 Sultans on JOHORE Registered cover to Australia: An odd cover - has a PO endorsement from Sydney on top saying: 'Envelope Damaged through adherence to seal of another letter' Clearly a red wax seal typical of that era had adhered to face of this one in the centre. On the reverse has a nice 1925 Singapore transit cancel of April 30, and 1925 Sydney arrival of May 25, 1925. Lovely clean cover, that would make a great page for an exhibit. $A100

Tasmania 1855 4d Deep Blue Chalon - Star Watermark Imperf: WHAT a trio. Selected from 20 nice copies in an old estate. The VERY best. The centre stamp is of mind boggling appearance! The lovely crisp Perkins Bacon London printed issue. All clean and fresh with no hinges, thins or tears or creases of faults that this issue is plagued with. All 4 good margins, SG 18 �360. A greatly under-rated stamp, and in this amazing condition worth tucking away for a rainy day. In this grade � these three are worth as much as a dozen �typical� copies. Over 150 years old now, and today�s prices are just silly. Remember these are MANY times scarcer than the pretty common 4d NUMERAL watermark local print issue that look like these. $A400

TASMANIA 1960 2/- Brown high value Railway Parcels Issue - Complete sheetlet of 6 *IMPERFORATE BETWEEN*: Spectacular - and believed unique. Fresh mint and a key piece for a Tasmania stamps or revenue or rail collection. The world's most popular thematic subject. Magic. $A200 an imperf PAIR ... or the complete sheetlet - $A500

TWO SETS of 11 IMPERF PAIRS ('A') ALL MATCHED RH MARGINAL, STILL ON HAND - OTHERWISE TOTALLY SOLD OUT!

Cocos Islands IMPERFORATE Discovery! Spectacular stamp errors as you can see - yet just $26 each! One sheet of 50 of 3 different 1992/93 issues very recently appeared on the market. All sheets were IMPERFORATE. Each sheet was a pane of 25 (5x5) separated by a vertical gutter with circular colour autotrons. I am confident these are the ONLY sheets extant outside PO Archives. They are all 100% legitimate.

These are all full gum MUH. Imperfs of ANYTHING Australia or Cocos from the 1990s are near unheard of, and are generally worth many $100s if not $1000s's per single PAIR. Catalogue status for these with Stanley Gibbons and other publishers has been applied for with the respective Editors.

Only 25 collectors MAXIMUM worldwide can ever own a pair of these. As I know full well many will be sold as blocks 4, in reality only about 15 collectors will end up owning these. All pairs are taken from same position on the sheets. i.e. if you order a block of 4 you will get all 11 blocks of 4 from the exact same position in the sheet, and all with matching selvedge. ALL blocks of 4 will be selvedge/margin blocks.

Each set offered is of 11 imperf stamps fresh MUH - in blocks or pairs, depending on which one you order. What you get are - 1992 Xmas set 3, 1993 Early Coinage set 4, 1993 Corals set 4, (i.e. SG 273/283). "Lay Bys" or "layaways" can be arranged - please enquire - see point #10 here for details of how this works - essentially several identical credit card debits - http://www.glenstephens.com/payment.html

Cocos Island stamp issues are remarkably free of any error material in their long history. The only 2 things listed in Gibbons since SG #1, 43 years back are the 1969 Missing Pink SG #11 - cat �750 each = $A1,800 each, and the 1985 35c imperforate - SG 132ab Cat �700 = $A1,680.

So as you can see, $A26 or 11 quid a stamp is an absurdly low price for imperforates from a very popular country. I was the discoverer of the only known copies of SG #11a in 1984 (now $1,800 per stamp) and sold them in that year to legendary Derek Worboys for a fraction of today's $1,800 each, and I obtained the Stanley Gibbons Catalogue listing for them.

I am delighted to be associated with yet another major discovery on the market for Cocos Islands stamps. I hope the buyers of these end up with stamps as valuable as those of my last Cocos discovery offering! Far more detail on these stamps here - www.glenstephens.com/cocos_stamps.html

Registered Post is $A5 domestic, $A15 overseas. Insurance is extra. All credit cards accepted.

STOP PRESS - a buyer of lot "A" submitted them to a large public auction recently. They lotted them into 3 lots, with each set of stamps offered as imperfs at $250 a set. Had they sold at estimate, vendor would still have made a profit. Bidding drove the price up to a total of $1,905 invoiced to successful bidders for the stamps. Over THREE TIMES my selling price. You can buy the EXACT same stamps for $600 right here! Reading Stevo lists could save you $1,305!

(Sir) Francis Chichester 1931 �Gypsy Moth� flight *CRASH COVER* Thursday Island (Queensland) to Japan: 7 July 1931 (AAMC.210 � Cat $500) Thursday Island - Japan cover (#44), flown, signed and endorsed on reverse by (Sir) Francis Chichester, in his "Gypsy Moth" - with Manila & Japan backstamps. The flight was abandoned at Katsuura after Chichester crashed, while taking off for the flight to Tokyo. ANYTHING from Thursday Island to ANYWHERE commands a VERY good premium. A seldom offered RARITY. From the personal collection of the late Nelson Eustis. Impeccable provenance. $A450
Stop Press - All key airmail covers have experienced good price rises since the new Eustis/AAMC cat was issued mid March 2008. Now in big A4 size with superb Spiro binding, with a LOT more listings and photos and intermediates, and CURRENT market prices are given, for full details and review see - www.glenstephens.com/snmay08
(Note - I bought a lovely lot of scarce early Australian airmail covers recently. Most I have never before set eyes on before. Please contact me for more details. Many had only a dozen or two dozen pieces flown, yet my prices are often only $200 or so. Such items have HUGE upside in price potential in my view.)

BELGIUM - 1928 Orval Abbey Fund 5+5c, to10+10 Franc, set of 9, fresh **MUH**: SG #461-69, COB #258-66, Cat �255 = $A450, Mi #235-243. Nice lookers � when did you last see MUH offered locally? $A225

Australia Post has created its second ever $5 Jumbo Stamp^�, the size of a miniature sheet. It features the NSW 1888 20/- (�1) "Carrington" the highest face value postage stamp ever issued by New South Wales. It was replaced by the 1913 �1 Brown and Blue Kangaroo first watermark.

This new stamp is MASSIVE - 105 x70 mm. (About 4�" x 3"!) Literally the size of many modern Mini Sheets. The sheet of 10 is about the same size as a regular sheet of 100, so each of these is clearly about 10 times the exterior size of a normal commemorative. The stamp itself is therefore LARGER than it appears, even on your computer screen. It is about the size in real life, of the Certificate shown.

Just 500 of these sheets were issued IMPERFORATE by Australia Post. They were sold via a telephone order allocation on January 10, 2006 - the first callers to phone after a certain hour could buy STRICTLY one sheet. There were only 500 sheets ever sold by Australia Post. All were numbered in gold ink on lower left corner as illustrated. About 350 MUH sheets were sold by the phone ballot. The other 150 sheets were nicely framed with a brass plate and special numbered AP Certificate - the same as illustrated here. They sold quickly at $149 each.

The fools GLUED down these 150 sheets with a strong adhesive "to keep them flat", so those 150 were destroyed as far as MUH was concerned. So we have about 350 MUH sheets remaining for the world. Of an official imperforate issue sold by Australia Post. Of a beautiful stamp topical. Demand of course was massive and most collectors who were successful in waiting on the phone for 40 minutes have no intention whatever of parting with their prize, no matter how high the price gets. A classic "supply and demand" squeeze!

NONE were sold to dealers or overseas agents - unless they phoned up and waited on the line like everyone else! I have not heard of one dealer who bought them from AP. The full sheets are large of course (PO sheet of stamps size) and not possible to house on any standard album page. A single is all most folks really need. Due to the wide white selvedge on every stamp there obviously no mistaking a single for a cut down perforated copy.

After extensive advertising over 6 months, and needing to offer ever increasing prices. month by month, I purchased just a couple of mint sheets of 10 for a VERY large sum, and have broken them down for collector convenience as follows - these are the last few I have and prices were REDUCED JUNE 2008 to clear them:

FINAL PRICE CLEARANCE PRICES ON THESE ITEMS IN BLUE COLOUR

A. One MUH single as illustrated - all have wide side selvedge. $A215 (3 only left � now $A150 each)

B. Top Left hand or top Right hand corner singles - each one - $A235 (Now Sold Out)

C. Imperforate pair - vertical or horizontal - your choice - specify - $A425 (One only � reduced to $A300)

D. The numbered horiz imperforate pair from the base of sheet -$A525 (Now Sold Out)

E. The complete MUH sheet of 10 - in flat PO packaging. Only 350 exist! - $1,750