Free stamps valuation event and philately advice at The Auction Café in Lichfield

Thursday 23rd October 9.30am to 3pm

A LICHFIELD coffee shop is laying on a free valuation event for stamps and postal history later this month.

Philately expert Phil Ives will be at The Auction Café by Richard Winterton Auctioneers in Market Street on Thursday, October 23, from 9.30am to 3pm for drop-in appraisals.

“Stamps have been collected for almost as long as they have been in existence, nearly 200 years,” said Mr Ives.

“Not only do stamps prove highly prized at auction, frequently so too can the letters and postcards upon which they are sometimes applied.

“We regularly sell popular stamps such as the famous Penny Black or Twopenny Blue as well as more specialist material.

“Worldwide and Commonwealth collections always sell well as do single items such as the PUC £1.

“So whether it’s a single stamp or a collection, do bring your philatelic treasures and curiosities to our special free valuation event to discover more.”

Richard Winterton Auctioneers' recent stamps sales included a collection of rare Commonwealth stamps dating back to the 1920s, which exceeded £5,000 at auction.

Catalogued across eight lots, the stamps were consigned by a client from Burntwood whose father put the collection together.

Highlights included four King Edward VII high value Straits Settlements overprinted specimen stamps of $500, $100 and two $25 in different designs, selling at £1,700.

Also popular was a 1922 Kedah 25 cent inverted overprinted Malaya-Borneo Exhibition stamp with certificate, sold at £220.

This stamp was overprinted to use in the Malaya-Borneo Exhibition promoting trade and economic possibilities, which was arranged to coincide with the visit of the Prince of Wales – the future Edward VIII – to Singapore in March 1922.

“The four Straits Settlements stamps, all in nice clean condition, were overprinted with ‘specimen’ so they could either be sold to collectors at the time or sent to other countries so those postal services would know what the stamps looked like,” explained Mr Ives.

“With the 1922 Kedah 25 cent, in this case an already sought-after stamp was rarer still as the overprint had been made upside down.”

Other countries in the collection included Gibraltar, Australia, Kenya, Uganda, Morocco Agencies, Malta and Sarawak.

The same auction also featured an ‘impressive and extensive’ GB Queen Elizabeth II stamps collection from 1952 to 2023, sold at £2,300, and an archive of German occupation European postal history, including a Zeppelin airmail sent on The Hindenburg’s maiden flight to New York in 1936, sold at £1,700.

The Auction Café is open seven days a week, from 9am-4pm Monday to Saturday and 10am-3pm on Sundays, offering speciality coffee, tea, soft drinks, ice cream, cakes, cream teas, pastries, toasties, bagels and savoury snacks seven days a week.

Free, drop-in valuations of jewellery, watches, gold and silver take place on Tuesdays between 9.30am and 3pm with different specialists offering appraisals from 9.30am-12.30pm most Wednesdays.

Keep track of all upcoming valuations at The Auction Café here.

For valuations of all types of antiques and collectables or to arrange a free home visit to assess large collections or house clearance quotations, telephone The Lichfield Auction Centre on 01543 251081 or email office@richardwinterton.co.uk.