As we reported, Spink held a sale this week titled British Empire Stamps & Postal History.

There was a healthy turnout, and we can now reveal what happened to the pieces we told you about previously.

The most spectacular performer was the Eastern Telegraph cover from Mombasa.

Estimated at £5,000-6,000, it sparked something of a bidding war and sold for an impressive £23,000.

The fresh Fijian rose six pence overprints proved to be probably the bargain of the whole auction with a final price of £3,500.

By contrast, a five pence lake brown on green Rhodesian stamp depicting King Edward VII and his wife Alexandra easily doubled its lower estimate of £2,500 to sell for £5,800.

It was probably a conservative estimate for such a rare piece with most of its original gum.

Often though, the overall health of an auction can be shown by its finest piece, which in this case was the Ugandan surcharge cover.

It outperformed its £40,000-50,000 estimate and the successful bidder took it home for £51,000 - a completely unique piece, worthy of basing a collection around.

Despite talk of a recession the Collectibles remarkets remain icredibly resilient with the Times reporting that Collectibles Investments are "booming."