Colorful U.S. 1860 Payen correspondence cover in May 6-7 Cherrystone auction of rare worldwide stamps and postal history

By Charles Snee

Cherrystone Philatelic Auctioneers will tempt bidders with more than 1,400 lots of rare stamps and postal history from around the world during a May 6-7 sale at its gallery in Teaneck, N.J.

The two-day auction will take place in four parts, with sessions each day at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Eastern Time.

According to Cherrystone, the auction will open with “a solid section of United States including many rarities and graded items.”

“There are outstanding collections formed by the late Tom (Anthony) Donadio, Jr., with France, Germany & Colonies, featuring Part II of the extensive collection of WWI Japanese Prisoner of War Camps for captured German soldiers at Tsingtao, as well as German Colonies and WWII Occupation issues,” Cherrystone said.

Additional highlights include collections of Italian area, Russia, Great Britain and British Commonwealth, South and Central American countries, and Asia.

The two-day sale concludes with “nearly 200 large lots and collections, ranging from single country albums to specialized collections, multi-carton worldwide properties and excellent Postal History lots,” according to Cherrystone.

Among the more eye-arresting U.S. offerings to cross the auction block during the opening session on May 6 is a lovely folded letter from the Payen correspondence that was mailed Aug. 29, 1860, from New York City to Lyon, France. An endorsement at top left shows the cover was carried on the steamship Persia. An arrival postmark shows the cover arrived in France Sept. 9.

According to Cherrystone, the cover bears additional transit and Lyon arrival postmarks on the back (not shown).

The 45¢ franking consists of three stamps from the 1857-60 issue: 1860 5¢ brown Thomas Jefferson (Scott 30A), 1859 10¢ green George Washington (35) and 1860 30¢ orange Benjamin Franklin (38). All three stamps are neatly tied to the cover with red circular grid cancels. Cherrystone notes that a filing fold is well away from the stamps.

A similar cover from the Payen correspondence franked with the same trio of stamps realized $5,015 (inclusive of the 18 percent buyer’s premium) in Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries’ 2019 sale of the William H. Gross collection of U.S. postal history.

The Payen correspondence letter in the Cherrystone sale is offered with an estimate of $900 to $1,000 and an opening bid of $450.

A highlight of the British Commonwealth stamps up for bids is a choice unused example of the Kenya and Uganda 1922 £25 red and black King George V stamp (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania Scott 41C). The stamp is from the 1922-27 definitive set of 30 (18-41F).

Cherrystone calls attention to the stamp’s fresh color and a small hinge remnant on the back (not shown).

In unused condition, the stamp is valued at $43,500 in the Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue of Stamps and Covers 1840-1940. The value, which applies to a stamp in the grade of very fine, is italicized to indicate an item that is difficult to value accurately because of limited market data.

Cherrystone is offering this Kenya and Uganda 1922 £25 red and black King George V stamp with an estimate of $23,000 to $25,000.

Among the almost 200 large lots and collections to be sold during the final session on May 7 is a large collection of 1893-2003 issues from Belgium that is housed in five Palo albums with slipcases.

Cherrystone describes the collection as having occasional 19th-century issues and better sets from the 1920s and more. Semipostal and parcel post stamps are well represented, according to Cherrystone.

Cherrystone lists this 1893-2003 Belgium collection with an opening bid of $750.

The catalog for the May 6-7 worldwide stamps and postal history sale can be viewed and is available for download on the Cherrystone website, with online bidding options available through Cherrystone and Stamp Auction Network.

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