October 30, 2008

REGENCY-SUPERIOR OFFICIAL AUCTIONEER
CHICAGOPEX STAMP SHOW 2008

St. Louis, Missouri - In a sale to be remembered, Regency-Superior Auctions will offer close to $3 million in premium stamps and postal history as official auctioneer for Chicagopex 2008, the annual fall Chicago-area stamp exhibition sponsored by the Chicago Philatelic Society. The show will be held Nov. 21-23 at the Sheraton Chicago Northwest, 3400 W. Euclid Ave., Arlington Heights, Ill., convenient to both O’Hare International Airport and downtown Chicago. 

Nearly 3,000 lots will be offered over a three-day session, featuring premium USA stamps (including many important singles from the Paul Mitchell Collection), U.S. Possessions and postal history (from the Robert C. Anderson Collection), British and Worldwide singles & sets, postal history and collections. 

Highlighting the sale is an offering of almost 300 lots of major United States errors, ranging from a mint CIA $1 Candleholder invert (Scott 1610c, estimated at $20,000) to less-expensive but elusive imperfs, imperf-between, color omissions and other errors. Included also is a section of major errors on postal cards and stamped envelopes. The Candleholder invert (95 known), scarcer than the famous 24c inverted Jenny, dominated the philatelic news scene in 1987 when it was discovered they had been found by employees in the stamp stock of a CIA office in McLean, Va., forever cementing the name “CIA Invert” and their position in philatelic lore.

Another high point in the errors section are two imperforate MNH plate number strips of 5 of the 1c Omnibus Transportation coil issue, the only reported imperf plate strips bearing Nos. 5 & 6 (Scott 1897b, est $6,500). “One of the amazing things about this offering,” according to Regency-Superior President David Kols, “is that in many cases all known errors for any given issue are represented, giving collectors the opportunity to either purchase complete sets of errors or fill in long-standing gaps.” Further enhancing the offerings are scarce plate number and marginal position pieces and transition strips.

Of course, modern errors aren’t the only ones featured in this sale. The 1c and 4c 1901 Pan-American inverts Scott 294a and 296a, as well as a specimen example of the 4c value (Scott 296Sa), all make their appearance, as do others, including a rare corner block of the $5 Coolidge red brown & black color error (Scott 834a), estimated to fetch more than $8,500. 

Other items of interest include fascinating and rare proof books from the American Bank Note Co. and a particularly strong Italian area offering, with a number of stamps (with Deina certs) expected to bring thousands of dollars. The sale concludes with more than 325 stamp and postal history collections and accumulations from all over the world to tempt collectors of all levels. 

Viewing for the auction will be held at Regency-Superior’s St. Louis gallery through November 18, and will then be available at Chicagopex during show hours, November 21-23. The entire auction is available online for viewing & bidding, and includes color photographs, estimates, and opening bids. To receive a printed auction catalog, please click here, or call Regency-Superior at (800) 782-0066; Fax (314) 361-5677; or write to Regency-Superior, 229 N. Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63108 USA. 

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