Tonga, Going, Gone

The James Teron collection of Tonga offered at Grosvenor in the British Empire & Foreign Countries sale on September 24th and 25th attracted great interest and strong results. The 1895 1d. olive-green, horizontal pair imperforate between and used with  a scarce part boxed “PACKET BOAT” handstamp [lot 1967] realised £4,560. Included were a number of rare full panes and other multiples amongst which was the attractive mint block of four of the 1893 Official 7½d. on 8d. ultramarine block of four, one showing surcharge double [lot 2026], selling for £1,260.

Another area that very much caught the eye was Malaya & States as the market again showed its strength with heavy bidding. There was much interest in the selections offered from the Bill Pain collection whilst among the single items the Pahang: 1897 Kuala Lipis Provisional 3c. on half of 5c. blue bisected horizontally, used pair on fragment [lot 1405] reached £2,520.

Ron Burn’s was a well known name among collectors of Tristan da Cunha, his collection highly regarded and bidding was exceptional. A 1919 stampless cover to Bristol bearing a fine example of the Type I cachet [lot 2128] achieved £1,116 and an example of the scarce and popular covers from the 1935 visit of the Dutch submarine Hr.Ms.K XVIII during her world voyage [lot 2138] rose to £2,232.

The Brian Asquith collections of the countries of Ethiopia, Latvia and Turkey, unusual on the London scene, could have struggled but in the event each found their admirers. Mainly lotted into subject collections, the Ethiopian Airmails [lot 795] reaching £1,426 and Turkish Aviation Fund issues [lot 2163] at £893 particularly caught the eye.

This was a memorable auction, overall highly successful, producing a sale grand total of £622,908. Collectors and dealers around the world were left delighted by their bids that were successful and philosophical about those that were not for, as they say in Tonga, Basimunyewu tabanyampuli boonse (not all ants harvest when they go hunting).

Realisations quoted include buyer’s premium. For further information please contact Tom Margalski or Verity Smith at the Grosvenor London office.