DANBURY, CONN.- The largest collection of postal items mailed from the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition/St. Louis World’s Fair will be among the historic items offered by Daniel F. Kelleher Auctions in a series of public auctions online and live in Danbury, Connecticut. The first auction from the MLG Collection will be held on June 25, 2019.

The auction includes many other rare items mailed on the first day, immediately before and during that expo and other significant events. Among the many highlights are a pair of envelopes (covers) used before the official first day of the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois and two panes of 100 postage stamps autographed by President Calvin Coolidge on opening day at the 1925 Norse-American Centennial in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The first sale also offers an impressive assortment of the famous Graf Zeppelin stamps and covers issued in 1930 in Washington, DC. Many of them were actually flown on the great airship.

“Once in a very great while a collection comes to market that inspires us. The wonderful MLG Collection was tirelessly assembled over six decades by a collector who wants to remain anonymous, and who possessed two key collector traits, financial resources and an insatiable appetite,” said David Coogle, Kelleher Auctions co-owner.

“He relentlessly searched every avenue possible to acquire not only a wide variety of important, historic items, but did so on a research basis, carefully studying every detail and building an unmatched collection,” explained Coogle.

More than 600 postal items related to the Columbian World’s Fair, St. Louis World’s Fair, Norse-American Centennial and Graf Zeppelin will be offered in the initial auction.

“This is an all-encompassing collection within certain subjects, such as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, represented from production drawings, completed proofs, specimens, issued stamps and their varieties, and what may be the largest holding of Exposition special printings. Some of the first-day covers have unusual and fascinating destinations, cancellations, and routings, including Shanghai, China,” stated Coogle.

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition was held in St. Louis, Missouri from April 30 to December 1, 1904 to celebrate the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase. The ice cream cone and iced tea reportedly were publicly offered there for the first time. Five different U.S. postage stamps in denominations of 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10 cents were issued in conjunction with that world’s fair.

The Norse-American Centennial, June 6-9, 1925, commemorated the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the Norwegian ship, Restauration. U.S. postage stamps in denominations of 2 and 5 cents were issued for the centennial and an artist’s rendition of that ship is depicted on the 2 cents stamp.

In preparation for the arrival of the renowned German airship, Graf Zeppelin, the United States Post Office Department issued three different denomination stamps – 65 cents, $1.30 and $2.60 -- to be used as postage for mailings to be carried on the airship.

One of the Graf Zeppelin related items in the auction is a unique envelope with blocks of four of each of the three different stamps and post-marked on the stamps’ first day of issue, April 19, 1930, in Washington, DC.

“This was during the Great Depression, and because of the high face value of the stamps only a fraction of those printed were used,” said Coogle.

The complete collection and auction lots can be viewed at www.KelleherAuctions.com. A special viewing of the auction lots will be held in New York City from 10 am to 5 pm on June 19, 2019 at the Collector’s Club, 22 East 35th Street.