Good Hope Cape stamps highlighted by 44.4% increase

The Franschhoek Collection of Cape of Good Hope stamps saw strong results on June 20

The Franschhoek Collection of Cape of Good Hope stamps saw strong results yesterday (June 20), in a dedicated UK sale.

A newspaper cover bearing an important date starred

The first postage stamps to be issued in the Cape of Good Hope came in 1853, when the province was still a British colony. Initially, just two denominations of the unusual triangular stamp were issued, a one penny in red and a four pence stamp in blue. The Franschhoek Collection was topped by a later, yetextremely rare four pence black from the province, one of only thirteen recorded examples. Boasting large margins, the attractive example sold for 26,000 ($40,813), against an estimate of 15,000-18,000, displaying an impressive increase of 44.4%.A spectacular cover, which featured the coveted 1861 woodblock issue, was also a major highlight. The woodblock issue was created when a shortage of stamps in the Cape caused local printers Saul Solomon & Co to be hired to produce a new supply using their own, more basic processes. In this example, the 1861 one penny stamp was affixed to a February 28 copy of the Cape Argus newspaper. February 28 marked the first day of issue for the woodblock stamps, whichspurred the final sale price to 25,000, 25% above the high estimate of 20,000. With the highly respected SG100 Index reporting returns of 5.54% pa for the 100 leading examples, high-end stamps are nowproving a safer investment thanthe Dow Jones Index, whose returns over the same 1998-2012 period stand at just 4.52% pa. Paul Fraser Collectibles currently has a superb range of investment-grade rarities on offer to our customers. This example, known as the Black Empress, is one of the rarest and most exceptional stamps in Canadian philately.