AUCTION SALE 10/11 JUNE 2011 – prices realised online

Prices realised

Many collectors and dealers, coming from three continents, attended the 18th Investphila auction held on 10-11 June at Lugano’s Hotel Dante. In the first day, 507 lots were offered, regarding Latin America’s stamps and postal history;  particularly Colombia and its old states (the lot 113 realised € 99.000 including commission) and the Ecuador (the Cotopaxi Collection fetched € 115.920 including commission with only three unsold lots) made outstanding figures.

The Fontaina Garcia Collection of Uruguayan maritime mail, too, got a good success: the 1807  letter, recounting the occupation by British forces, was sold at € 4.320 including commission.
The second auction’s day was opened by the Europe & Oveseas session, where Spain obtained excellent prices as evidenced by the stunning franking with 6 Cu.that was sold at € 31.200, including commission, more than the double of its starting price.

The section regarding the lots & collections exceeded our forecast with nearly all the lots that fetched between the 200 and 500 % of the starting prices.

Unfortunately the Italian area, once more, showed signs of profound weakness; for example stunning first issues’s stamps of Lombardo-Veneto were sold at prices averaging 10% of the catalogue’s value, while those of the next issues, many of them  unsold, even fetched  lower than the 10% of  the catalogue’s value. The magnificent ensemble of Modena, too, suffered from the weakness of the Italian market. The “Augusto Violetto” fetched € 26.000, excluding commission, and the two “Voli di ritorno”, fetched each € 20.000 excluding commission.

The final part of the Italian area with the lots & collections instead made outstanding figures.
As best shown in detail in the prices realised, overall  659 lots of the  875 offered were sold (75%), realising € 2,141,676 in all, with an average increase of 57% of the starting prices.
There is no doubt that the philatelic market is going through a period of profound changes and mutations due to numerous factors but some areas such as Latin America and the British Colonies are still very popular and have a large following of collectors.

I am convinced that the great rarities will continue to get buyers whereas the big crisis regards the ordinary material that probably  is suffering  from artificially inflated prices compared to the real value and the low demand of the moment.

Guido Craveri