One of the most closely watched items in the sale was a postcard franked with an experimental 1908 1¢ Franklin coil stamp.

Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries of New York City has scheduled two consecutive sales of United States stamps in mid-September.

The auction house formerly known as Schwanke Briefmarkenauktionen GmbH was acquired by Christoph Gaertner in July.

Daniel F. Kelleher Auctions will offer its Flagship sale over the course of the three days between Aug. 30 and Sept. 1.

The cover is one of two known covers featuring a China 5-candareen Large Dragon stamp addressed to Japan.

The Stefano Fantaroni collection of Italy and the Jose Castillejo collection of Guatemala were offered during Spink's June 8 sale.

Only a single sheet of 50 of this invert was printed, and the block sold is one of the “piezas notables” of Argentinian philately.

The sale included scarce postmasters’ provisionals, as well as some seldom-seen essays for stamps that were never issued.

Anyone who thought that cute animals were an innovation of the Internet age would have been set straight by a cover sold in the Kelleher auction.

A unique $9 Continental Bank Note Co. special printing brought a total realized price of $356,500.

The stamp is among those issued for a postage machine vending competition sponsored by the U.S. postmaster general.

A half dozen U.S. postmasters’ provisionals are among the first lots to cross the auction block Saturday.

Also part of the sale will be a mint never-hinged single of the 1998 unissued “Yellow Hat” stamp.

Spink UK in London will auction Part VI of the Lionheart collection of Great Britain and British Empire on July 26, followed by additional worldwide material in the Spink Collector’s Series sale.

Also this week, we previewed APS Stampshow in our Monday Morning Brief and learned about the world's first pictorial postage stamps.

It took the Confederate government a while to produce its first national stamp issue, so local postmasters stepped in and produced their own.

The item was part of the William H. Gross collection of Hawaii that sold during World Stamp Show-NY 2016.

It opened at a modest $1,000 and sold for $20,400, including the 20 percent buyer’s premium the Harmer firm adds to all lots.

The stamp had been reperforated at top at some time in the past by someone looking to improve the stamp’s aesthetic appearance.

An 1862 cover bearing a Confederate postmaster’s provisional stamp of Marion, Va., was said to be one of just six examples in private hands.