First part of Keith Stupell collection highlights day three of Nov. 11-13 Dutch Country Auctions sale

By Scott Tiffney

Dutch Country Auctions will conduct a 1,723-lot sale Nov. 11-13 at its office in Wilmington, Del. Each day’s session will begin at 10 a.m. Eastern Time, and all items will be up for online bids through Stamp Auction Network.

The first two days of the auction, Nov. 11-12, will include many United States and worldwide singles, covers and collection lots, including larger groups of U.S. plate blocks, Dorothy Knapp covers, Ryukyu Islands proofs, and many lots consigned by the American Philatelic Society.

The highlight of the three-day auction will be the third day, Nov. 13, which will be exclusively devoted to the first part of the Keith Stupell (1939-2024) collection of Germany and related materials. Further items from the collection will be up for bids in future Dutch Country auctions in January and March 2026.

Stupell began collecting at the age of 7 and is widely known in philatelic circles to have assembled one of the most comprehensive and rare collections of World War I and World War II German philately, postal history and collectibles.

“We are honored to be the firm entrusted by the Keith Stupell estate to make available for the first time his extraordinary collection of German World War I and World War II material along with the many other unique items in his vast collection,” Dutch Country said. “During his lifetime Keith amassed one of the most complete and diverse collections of Germany and Germany-related stamps, covers, postcards, literature and ephemera.”

One of the more noteworthy lots from the Stupell collection up for bids is the rare 60 haleru+440h black Reinhard Heydrich (1904-42) Death Mask special souvenir sheet of Bohemia and Moravia. The sheet, issued on May 28, 1943, was created to commemorate the first anniversary of the assassination of Heydrich, who was the acting Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia.

The sheet is numbered 528 of 1,000 printed, of which “about half were handed out to Nazi Party dignitaries and the other half was destroyed,” Dutch Country said, with “likely fewer than 100 having survived.” The sheet is described as never hinged in very fine condition with original gum.

According to the Michel catalog, the sheet is valued at €30,000 (approximately $35,100 in mid-September). Also available in the Nov. 13 sale is a typed letter on SS stationery signed by Heydrich.

Another noteworthy item to cross the auction block on Nov. 13 will be the 1-rupee+2r Azad Hind propaganda stamp that was printed to promote an independent India supported by Germany.

The Azad Hind stamps are a set of 10 stamps with six designs that were prepared but never issued for the planned provisional government of Free India under Subhas Chandra Bose (1897-1945), leader of the Indian Nationalist Party.

All stamps in the set were printed by photogravure in sheets of 100 at the Reichsdruckerei, the Government Printing Bureau in Berlin.

The highest denomination in the set is the 1r+2r stamp, of which a very small number were produced. Three versions of the proofs exist with elements of the design in different colors. One version has black, orange and green elements, one has just black, and a third has black and orange. All three proof versions will be offered during the sale.

The rarest is the version with black and orange elements. As stated in the lot description, this imperf proof is “printed on orange surfaced paper, w/ gum, NH, VF.” The Michel catalog estimates its value at €2,000 ($2,350) in unused, hinged condition. No value in the catalog is given for the proof in mint, never-hinged condition.

Many other proofs and essays from Germany will cross the auction block during the sale, as well as proofs and essays from occupied Poland, Bohemia and Moravia, Saar and French zones. In addition, the auction’s final day will include Stupell’s collection of German colonial postcards, poster stamps and several valuable booklets.

Other areas of interest to bidders include catapult covers (mostly non-German), Bohemia and Moravia covers, propaganda and forgery stamps from both sides in World War I and World War II, and Spanish Civil War ephemera.

Dutch Country has prepared two catalogs (Nos. 361 and 361A, the latter being for the Stupell collection only) for the Nov. 11-13 sale that can be viewed and are available for download on the Dutch Country website, https://dutchcountryauctions.com. Online bids may be placed through Stamp Auction Network.

Information also is available from Dutch Country Auctions, 4115 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE 19803 or via email at auctions@dutchcountryauctions.com.

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