One of the rarest mint pieces in all of British North America philately, an “outstanding” imperforate example of the 1865 Vancouver Island five-cent rose stamp is expected to bring $125,000 at Eastern Auction that will take place on November, 8-10. This is a fabulous mint example of Vancouver Island 5 cent rose issued in 1865 and the finest one the auction house has had the pleasure to offer.
The lot comes from the famed Gerald Wellburn Collection and will be sold at New Brunswick’s Eastern Auction in the first part of the Highlands Collection of British North America. The stamp is in very fine mint condition and features the original gum. The auction house described this interesting lot as “a handsome and peerless example with impeccable provenance; one of the rarest mint stamps of the entire British North America.”
“Wellburn collected British Columbia all his life, and this is the rarest stamp of British Columbia in general,” said Yohann Tanguay, auction catalogue describer. “There are hardly any copies available. From my understanding, there’s only one finer example, and it sold for well over $100,000 many years ago, so it will be very interesting to see what it brings now.”
It is considered by collectors that only a very small number of five-cent imperforate mint stamps with original gum exist in sound condition. One of these few specimens was last sold in 2006 for US$86,250 inclusive of buyer's premium. The other examples, very few in number, are of noticeably inferior quality.
