As we've reported, David Feldman is holding a very exciting auction series this week, running from December 6-11 as time allows.

This will include chess legend Anatoly Karpov's famous Belgian stamps collection, but there are many other impressive sections, not least that which comes immediately Karpov's hoard featuring extraordinary rarities from Persia.

There are around 545 lots on offer, and Mr. Mehrdad Sadri, the great expert on the philately of Persia and Iran, and author of the Persiphila catalogues of both the Qajar and Pahlavi issues, has advised the auctioneer on the catalogue and certified a number of the 'difficult' issues.

One of the key single stamp highlights in the auction is an unused example of the T1 Toman red bronze on blue, type C.

This is a variety on thin tissue paper, showing large margins all around. It is fresh, very fine and extremely rare, being one of seven currently recorded unused examples, and possibly unique for a type C. The rarity is therefore listed at CHF20,000-30,000.

An extremely rare one Toman Persian stamp

Unusually, however, there are two collections in the auction which offer some of the most valuable pieces.

Sometimes 'collection' used regarding a single lot within an auction covers a multitude of sins, and you half expect the stamps to arrive in a supermarket carrier bag. But there are some fantastic pieces included here.

The auction opens with an 1865-1970 Spectacular Specialised Twelve Volume Collection. It's difficult to give a full account of this 350 album page labour of love, but it runs from Reister Essays & the Lion Issues (the 1870-79 issues showing a good deal of completion).

One of the strongest subsections (with a value of up to CHF16,000 attached is that of the 1935 Reza Shah Pahlavi issues.

Described by David Feldman as an "amazing collection and an excellent basis' for study and expansion", it is listed at CHF70,000-100,000.

The second collection is more specific. It is the Homayoun Keykavoussi Exhibition Collection of the Lion Issues.

Varieties of the never-issued Recumbent Lion from the second collection

A wonderful collection, beautifully mounted and knowledgably written up on 62 album pages, itshows strength in essays, proofs, unused shades, varieties with tete-beche pairs, mint and used positional multiples, plus a fine array of covers.

Opening with 17 single examples of the Recumbent Lion in different shades and papers, it includes everything from the Barre Proofs boasting all four colours in reconstructed panes of 20 through tete-beche examples of the Roulette Issue to rare varieties of the 1878-79 Re-engraved Issue.

It's expected to achieve CHF300,000-400,000 in David Feldman's Geneva auction and will be selling on Wednesday, December 7.