Siegel to offer trio of name collections during Nov. 12-14 auction series

By Charles Snee

Three impressive name collections will be sold Nov. 12-14 by Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries in New York City.

First to cross the auction block, on Nov. 12, is the George Haikel collection of stamps and covers of exceptional beauty and rarity. The Robert Zoellner collection of United States plate blocks will be offered Nov. 13, and the Dragon collection of U.S. essays and proofs will be up for bids Nov. 14.

In the introduction to the Nov. 12 sale catalog, Siegel shared some insights about Haikel, who came to the attention of Siegel more than 25 years ago.

“His modus operandi was always the same,” Siegel said. “Before the auction he would call to ask for phone bidding privileges on four or five lots at most, and often just one or two. Dr. Haikel always focused on a highlight of impeccable quality and beauty.”

“Sometimes it was a single stamp,” Siegel said. “Other times it was a multiple or error. At a certain point he became enamored with fancy cancellations, but only on covers and always the rarest cancels and clearest strikes. His interest in covers carried over to the 1847 Issue, early commemoratives, and Confederate States. His tastes ran into modern errors, and, as this offering will show, he went for the ‘wow’ factor rather than quantity.”

In 1994 Haikel acquired one the greatest modern United States errors, the red cross missing error (Scott 702a) of the 1931 2¢ Red Cross stamp (702).

The error is the result of a preprinting foldover. It appears on the first stamp in the bottom row of the block of 36 illustrated above.

Believed to be unique, the famous error is being offered for the first time in three decades.

“The 2c Red Cross stamp commemorates the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Red Cross by Clara Barton,” Siegel said. “The design features a cross printed in red, and a nurse and globe printed in black. The nurse was inspired by a poster titled ‘The Greatest Mother in the World,’ designed by Earl Alonzo Foringer and published in 1917. This unique error was reportedly found in 1931 in a Mississippi post office.”

Siegel also notes that the error was illustrated in the May 3, 1954, issue of Life magazine. According to Siegel, the error was pictured with “blocks of four of the Pan-American Inverts, the unique 24c 1869 Pictorial Invert block, the Inverted Jenny centerline block and unused singles of the 15c and 30c 1869 Pictorial Inverts.”

Scott 702a is valued at $40,000 in the Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers. That value is based on the price Haikel paid for the error in a February 1994 Christie’s Robson Lowe auction.

Siegel is offering the red cross missing error of the 1931 2¢ Red Cross stamp with an estimate of $40,000 to $50,000.

A highlight of the Nov. 13 sale of the Zoellner collection is one of four recorded plate number blocks of the 1893 $5 black Columbian Exposition stamp (Scott 245). Siegel describes the $5 Columbian as “perhaps the most iconic value of the issue,” which comprises 16 stamps (230-245).

According to Siegel, the $5 Columbian stamp picturing Christopher Columbus “is based on a portrait taken from a medal, possibly of Spanish origin. The same portrait design was used for the commemorative half-dollar issued for the 1893 Columbian Exposition.”

“The vignette was engraved by Alfred Jones, the frame by George Skinner and Douglas S. Ronaldson, and the lettering by Ronaldson alone,” Siegel said. “A total of 27,350 stamps were printed from Plate 108, and according to Luff 5,506 were destroyed.”

The plate block of six in the Zoellner collection has original gum and what Siegel describes as a few small hinge remnants where perforation separations have been reinforced.

Accompanying the plate block is a 1975 Philatelic Foundation expertizing certificate that attests to the block’s genuineness. The plate block once resided in the T. Charlton Henry and World’s Fair collections.

Against a Scott U.S. Specialized catalog value of $290,000, Siegel is offering this 1893 $5 Columbian plate block of six with an estimate of $200,000 to $300,000.

Among the standout offerings in the Nov. 14 Siegel sale of the Dragon collection is a set of two sheets of 50 plate proofs on India paper of the 1875 reproduction of the 1847 5¢ Benjamin Franklin and 10¢ George Washington (Scott 3P3-3P4).

Siegel’s lot description of the sheets provides important background information:

“Clarence Brazer discussed the 1847 Issue essays and proofs in a 1947 Essay-Proof Journal article. The extensive plate scratches on the 10c India sheet are not found on the stamps printed in 1875 nor on the cardboard proofs produced between 1879 and 1893. Brazer opined that the India plate proofs were therefore produced about 1894 after the damage had occurred.

“Brazer estimated in his 1947 article that ‘probably five or six sheets of each value exist on India paper.’ We do not know the basis for Brazer’s estimate, but we believe this might be one of only two sets of sheets extant. Photographs in the catalogues of the Jack Dick collection (ex Brazer) and Lilly collection appear to be the same set, which differs from this set. Another set photographed in our 1976 Rarities sale and a 1993 Christie’s sale appears to be this set. We have been unable to identify any other sets of sheets on India. The India paper proofs are much scarcer than the card proofs, so it is unlikely that more than one or two sheets were cut up.”

The two sheets once graced the Bedford and William H. Gross collections, according to Siegel.

Siegel lists this set of two sheets of 50 plate proofs on India paper of the 1875 reproduction of the 1847 5¢ Benjamin Franklin stamp and 10¢ George Washington stamp at $42,500, the total Scott catalog value as blocks and singles.

Full details of all three auctions, including downloadable versions of the catalogs and online bidding options, are available on the Siegel website.

For additional information, contact Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, 21 W. 38th St., Seventh Floor, New York, NY 10018.

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