LUGANO.- Talk about a captive audience! Spink’s philatelic auction was such a success that the bidding continued almost till midnight. On the 16th December, Spink’s team in Lugano put on an incredible auction; The Philatelic Collector’s Series, a fitting send off for 2015.

The sale featured some very fresh material originating from collections put together over decades of hard work and dedication. There was even a very large portion which has not appeared on the market for a long time, a shocking and infrequent characteristic in the recent philatelic auction market.

The auction started with a spell of spectacular results for France, Spink was extremely gratified to hear that this sale represented one of the best, if not the best material and results since the "Lafayette" sale in 2003 (which Spink also had the pleasure of cataloguing and selling). Such high prices exceeded all cautious expectations and included very strong bidding for the rarer stamps. After the successful launch of the Spink Maury catalogue of France this year, Spink’s strong commitment to the French market was confirmed and justified by these magnificent results in our last auction of the year.

In a European part with good results, the small but consistent Italian section boasted stunning results throughout the selection of rarities offered. Not only that, Spink announced that one of the five existing "Baia di Assab" covers of Italian Eritrea has achieved a record price of € 40,800 (including buyer's premium). This was lot 160, an Italian envelope from the post office in Assab to Livorno, franked with a stamp overprinted "Estero", 1878, 20c. canceled in blue with stamp linear "Bay of Assab". In this period of conquest and certain precariousness, correspondence from Assab was delivered to a stationary ship that went fortnightly to Aden, where it was delivered to the Italian Consul. This is without doubt, the most beautiful impression of this very rare cancellation, and the most legendary example of the cancellations from the Italian colonies.

The second part of the magnificent Professor Shaul Ladany collection of telegrams and telegraph stamps of the world included a comprehensive worldwide selection with a very particular section that rarely appears on the market. Aside from Spink’s established success in philately, Spink also managed to get a foot in the door of aeronautical memorabilia. A large and very successful part of the sale was dedicated to aeronautical memorabilia with over 60% of the lots sold.

Once more Spink has demonstrated its strength in the international market. Do not miss the opportunity to take advantage of our ability to achieve excellent results, and contact us to take part in this success.