David Feldman plans March 21-22 auctions of France and Switzerland

By Michael Baakde

The David Feldman auction firm in Switzerland has scheduled two auctions of classic material and collections for March 21 and 22. First up is a selection of classic France and colonies with a superb representation of stamps and postal history, followed by specialized Switzerland.

The France offerings begin with stamps of the 1849-50 Ceres series, including scarce unused examples of the 15-centime green (Scott 2).

The first lot listed for the 1852 President Louis Napoleon issue is a spectacular unused pair of the 10c pale bister on yellowish (Scott 10) with original gum. The 2014 expertizing certificate from Jean-Francois Brun certifies the pair as authentic and identifies it as the only known unused pair of this stamp.

This important French philatelic rarity is listed by Feldman with a preauction estimate of €130,000 (close to $160,000 in early March).

There are many postal history treasures in this sale, including some 78 lots offering ballons montes covers and other material from the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian war.

An 1872 letter from Paris to Vera Cruz, Mexico, sports a dynamic three-color franking consisting of the perforated 5c yellow green Emperor Napoleon, the 80c rose Emperor with Laurel Wreath and the 15c bister Ceres, issues of three different series, set on a pale blue letter and tied with a star cancel “24.”  The cover, with multiple additional postal markings, including a Paris double-ring cancel, carries an estimate of €1,000 ($1,230).

The Switzerland specialized auction opens Thursday morning with stampless covers, including a 1696 letter from Geneva to France, and a 1698 letter from Vevey to France.

Several examples of the 1845 2½-rappen Basel Dove (Switzerland Scott 3L1) are offered in this sale, with four used singles and three on cover. One example on a partial cover (consisting of the front and one back flap) boasts sharp embossing, according to Feldman, with sheet margin at top and four wide margins, tied by a red Basel circular datestamp. One of only two marginal examples of the Basel Dove are known on cover; this one has been expertized by Enzo Diena (1990) and Jean-Claude Marchand (2018). It is offered with an estimate of 30,000 Swiss francs (approximately $32,100).

The auction also includes more than a dozen Swiss covers mailed to the United States between 1863 and 1881.

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These auctions can be viewed online, with online bidding options available. The public auction will take place at David Feldman SA, 59 Route de Chancy, Building D, 1213 Petit-Lancy, Switzerland.