Canal Zone Study Group Publications

Canal Zone Stamp Auctions
  • The American Bank Note Company Archives. United States Possessions, Latin America and Worldwide. Auctioned at Christie's, New York - September 12, 1990.

    These archives were long rumored to exist and when their sale was announced it caused excitement for students of every country for which the ABNCo had printed stamps or stationery.

    A group of several leading Canal Zone philatelists decided to try and buy most if not all the Canal Zone stamps, stationery, and production material with the intention of making complete color copies of the everything, publishing their results, and then breaking up the sheets and distributing them to members of the group. The group was successful in purchasing most of the lots and its results have been published over the years in the Canal Zone Philatelist.

    Panama lots, which contained most of the production files for the Canal Zone overprints, were bought by a hand-full of stamp dealers and collectors. However, no copies were made of intact sheets of stamps nor had the production material been clearly defined. Over the years research on the Panama lots has been published in COPACARTA, the journal of the Colombia/Panama study group and Canal Zone Philatelist.

    Since the sale in 1990 the specimen stamps, stationery, and production material of all countries has been sold and resold, and, we have noticed that later owners were sometimes unaware of its provenance.

    Therefore, to document all the material sold from all countries, the Canal Zone Study Group has added the complete catalogue to its ongoing project to bring important sales of Canal Zone philatelic materials online.

    One important note: errors in describing some lots, including assigning the wrong Scott Catalogue numbers to stamps, have been noted. For example, in Panama Lot 513 HBNCo Scott numbers were assigned to ABNCo stamps. Therefore, we urge you to double-check the lot descriptions for mistakes.

    This catalogue appears courtesy of Christie's and their image licensing partner The Bridgeman Images.

    Pages 1-8 Cover, Preface, etc.
    Pages 9-12, Lots 1-7
    Pages 13-27 Canal Zone
    Pages 28-38 Hawaii
    Pages 39-55 Argentina, Boliva, Brazil, Chile
    Pages 56-85 Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica
    Pages 86-107 Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala
    Pages 108-133 Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua
    Pages 134-155 Panama
    Pages 156-178 Paraguay, Peru, El Salvador, Uruguay, Venezuela
    Pages 179-202 Belgium Congo, Belgium, Bohemia, Greenland, Liberia, Luxembourg,Netherlands Colonies, Surinam, Norway and more
    Prices Realized, Pages 1-2

  • The Famous Floyd R. Brooks Collection (PDF, 26MB), June 14, 1973

    No important Canal Zone collection had been sold at auction since the 1969-1970 period until the June 14-15, 1973 sale of the Floyd R. Brooks collection by Vahan Mozian. Floyd R. Brooks was one of the original members of the CZSG. He built one of the important Canal Zone collections and undoubtedly owned more first issue covers than anyone else. The results of the highly successful sale are discussed in the Canal Zone Philatelist, Whole No. 28, page 21.

  • The Dr. Gilbert N. Plass Collection of United States Possessions - featuring Canal Zone, (PDF, 105MB, No Cover), Cover (PDF, 5MB), Prices Realized (PDF, 6MB), July 10, 1993, the Ivy, Shreve & Mader Auction Galleries, New York, New, York. Auctioneer - Walter J. Mader.

    This auction was written up on page 24 in Canal Zone Philatelist, No. 108, by Gary Weiss:

    The most important auction ever held of Canal Zone philatelic material took place in New York City on July 10, 1993 at the Ivy, Shreve & Mader Auction Galleries, The collection was put together by Dr, Gilbert N, Plass over many years and contained almost every known Canal Zone error and variety, including most of the unique rarities.

    It was the basis of numerous articles in The Canal Zone Philatelist as well as the book Canal Zone Stamps.

    This is one catalogue that belongs in every Canal Zone collectors reference library and we are proud to make it available not only to our members, but everyone interested in Canal Zone philately.

    Our thanks to Len Nadybal who broke his copy of the catalogue into separate pages and scanned it for prosperity.

  • Ferrars H. Tows Collection (PDF, 30MB), 15-19 February 1949 at the Collectors Club (Carl E. Pelander (Licensed Auctioneer) Gregory Mozian, Auctioneer)

    The Tows collection had one of the outstanding Canal Zone collections sold in the first half of the 20th Century. Stamps and covers from this sale often show up, and are referenced, in major auctions and collections. It is an essential catalogue for every student of pre-1950 Canal Zone.

    As was common at the time of the sale It had a strong holding of Panama mapita issues which formed the basis for the first Canal Zone overprints.

    Notable in the Panama section, Lots 108-115, are American Bank Note Company Proofs on sunken india which are still coveted by modern day students of both Panama and the Canal Zone.

    This sale also had an impressive Haiti collection which is not shown here.

  • The Colonel E.H.R. Green "Canal Zone and Panama Stamp Collection" (PDF, 13MB), 24-30 January 1945 - At the office of Edson J. Fifield - Walter S. Scott, Auctioneer

    The Green collection had a strong showing of early Canal Zone and Panama. Unusual today but heavily weighted here are the large number of full sheets of early Canal Zone and Panama stamps. There are only two pages of photographs but the descriptions in the lots are helpful in identifying the stamps and covers.

  • The Edward S. Conger CANAL ZONE Collection (PDF, 8MB), February 27, 28, 1969, Vahan Mozian, Inc., New York, NY

    Edward Conger was born in the Canal Zone and his specialty was the Canal Zone and the postal history of the Isthmus of Panama. He was a co-founder and Secretary-Treasurer of the Canal Zone Study Group as well as the first editor of the CZSG Philatelic Notes (the previous name for the Canal Zone Philatelist). The catalogue foreword to his sale was written by James DeVoss and should be read by students of the Canal Zone who are not familiar with Mr. Conger.

    His collection was one of the great Canal Zone collections, compared to that sold by Ferrars H. Tows, February 1949, and is loaded with superb material - too much in fact to try and summarize here. CZP Whole Number 11, page 11, should be referred to as it has an extensive report of the sale.

    The catalogue is difficult to find and a copy should be in the hands of aficionados of the Canal Zone. The CZSG is proud to now make it available online for today's students of the Canal Zone who might not have a copy or who would like to have a digital version.

    Prices Realized follow the last page of the catalogue.

    Our thanks to Lawrence J. Mozian for permission to scan and display this and other catalogues from Mozian, Inc. He is the grandson of Vahan Mozian who founded the company in 1901. Vahan passed the company over to his sons Herant and Gregory who eventually passed it on to Lawrence. The present address of the company is PO Box 5774, Williamsburg, VA 23188. Mr. Mozian can also be reached at: LMozian@cox.net, Tel (757)220-2007.

  • The 1931 "Coveleski Estate Sale" (PDF, 3MB) catalogue with prices realized in manuscript. It has Coveleski's Canal Zone and Panama material which includes some of the more important items that he bought to the US after retirement as a Canal Zone policeman. It is a "must" document to have for anyone exhibiting or researching early Canal Zone or Panama stamps and covers.

  • The Thorne Estate Sale - February 1907 (PDF, 1.5MB)

    One of the first important auctions of Canal Zone stamps took place at The Collectors Club in New York City on February 14, 1907. This sale had been noted in the Canal Zone Philatelist by Dick Salz(1) where he mentioned that he would be pleased to report on this ... fabulous sale where Scott 4,5,6,7, and 8 in blocks of 6 with imprint and plate numbers sold for $10.25 ...(vs. a 1985 catalogue value of $7000). The Wm. Thorne sale was all but forgotten until Federico Brid found a link to a 1907 New York Times article that had been sent to him by Peter Cheng(2).

    The NYT headlines: RARE STAMP SALE REALIZES $7,968

    High Prices for Thorne Collection of Panama Zone Issues This estate auction of William Thorne was lauded by Walter S. Scott, the auctioneer, as the highest total ever realized in America for a one-night sale.

    The Thorne sale featured stamps from Puerto Principe, Panama, the Canal Zone, and Coamo with the highest price of $245 realized for a block of four of the Canal Zone Scott No. 1:

    ... from the centre of the sheet, two of the stamps having "Panama" reading up and two reading down. The words "Canal Zone" are inverted on all four of the stamps, one of them having double surcharge, both inverted. No other copy of the Canal Zone double inverted is known.

    The article goes on to say that Mr. Thorne bought this block of four stamps a year ago from John A. Kleeman for only $8.

    This block of four can be seen in Canal Zone Stamps (3) and later in Plass Sale (4) where it had commanded a hammer price of $ 18,000, the highest priced single lot in the Plass Canal Zone collection.
    Fig. 1, Plass Lot 309, Block of 4, sc. 1, double CZ Invert

    There were 60 lots in the Canal Zone section of the Thorne sale and the large number of blocks and full sheets is amazing. The catalogue claims that almost everything is represented in blocks of four and after the First Series most can be found in full sheets of 100. A typical example of this is Lot 376, which sold for $ 38, described as

    ... 8 on 50c, First Printing. Entire sheet of 100 with all the varieties (Bartels' 17a, b,c,aa,bb,ee). Entire sheets of this printing are rare.

    The Canal Zone section of the Thorne collection finishes with Scott Number 20 in Lot 399, hammered down at $13,

    ... 8c on 50c, on Fourth Panama, Sept. 1906, Sheet of 100 containing all the varieties of Canal Zone and PAMANA on 54 and 59.

    This elusive catalogue surfaced through the efforts of: Ernesto Cuesta and his website www.philat.com, Scott Tiffney, Reference Assistant at the APRL, and the Collectors' Club where it was finally found and made available to the CZSG by: R. Bruce Marsden, Library Chairman, and Irene Bromberg the Executive Secretary .

    Endnotes

    (1) Richard Salz, "Second Time Around", CZP 21(2), 16(1985).

    (3) Canal Zone Stamps, "First Series", Fig. 2.8, p. 13.

    (4) The Dr. Gilbert N. Plass Collection of United States Possessions featuring Canal Zone, Lot 309, July 7-10, 1993, Ivy, Shreve & Mader, New York City, New York, p 4, 111(color photo).

  • Kelleher Auctions - Sale 673
    A. Kuske Specialized Collection of Canal Zone:
    Stamps and Varieties, Postal History and Postal Stationery
    September 9, 2015
    Kelleher 673
    https://kelleherstampassets.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/CatalogPDF/673.pdf

  • Kelleher Auctions - Sale 704
    The "Best" Collection of Canal Zone
    The Multi-Generation Collection from the "Best" Family
    October 6, 2017
    Kelleher 673
    https://kelleherstampassets.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/CatalogPDF/704.pdf