The ‘Aurelius’ Collections Parts 1 and 2 tops £1,380,000

The auction of the second part of the “Aurelius” King Edward VII collection, on October 8th, was a resounding success with even stronger prices than in the first sale held in May. The sale realised over £698,000, bringing the combined total for the two sales to over £1,380,000 – a record for a King Edward VII collection sold at auction.

As in the first sale, proofs and colour trials attracted the most spirited bidding. The highest price of the day, £28,080, was paid for the 2d essay illustrated on the front cover of the catalogue (lot 2516). Cyril Harmer dubbed this famous essay “the unripe plum”. The superb range of colour trials attracted strong competition. The top price- achieved in the “standard” values was £8,368 for lot 2578, the 4d deep purple on blue tinted paper. The colour trials for the 2d Tyrian plum (lots 2517–2521) in each case brought between £14,625 and £18,135.

Amongst the issued stamps there were many unrepeatable items: the- complete pane of the 6d Royal purple (lot 2637), which rose to £8,775; a superb section of the 9d value, which included a pane of 20 of the De La Rue 9d slate purple and deep ultramarine (lot 2664) that reached an extraordinary £7,956 against a catalogue value of £4,000; and the stunning complete pane of the 10d slate-purple and carmine-pink (lot 2690) which brought a very respectable £14,040.

Auctioneer Andrew Claridge, who was involved in all aspects of the two sales, expressed his satisfaction with the result, saying that the excellent prices achieved were “a tribute to the discerning eye of the creator of this wonderful collection”.

For further information please contact Grosvenor Auctions at
399-401 Strand, 3rd Floor, London WC2R 0LT
Tel. 020 7379 8789, Fax 020 7379 9737

News item published on: 10 October, 2009