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The much sought-after United Nations Postal Administration’s postal archives sold for $3,068,000 at a David Feldman auction held in Geneva on Monday, May 12, 2003. A Feldman spokesman explained: ‘This is the world record high price for a large lot’, and the archive was bought as a single lot (known as lot 9) by the Champion Stamp Company of the USA.
In fact, lot 7 of the scheduled eight-lot sale – featuring 12 boxes of cancellers, dies, and metal hubs dating from 1954 to 1999 – was withdrawn prior to the auction and a spokesman told STAMP MAGAZINE: ‘It will be returned to the UN and they may destroy it’.
The idea to sell off its archive was first mooted by the UNPA in 2000 and, after a prolonged period of tendering (around 18 months), the Geneva-based auction house David Feldman SA won the tender in 2002. It was then a case of shipping 74 boxes – over a tonne of material in weight – containing the archive from the UNPA headquarters in New York to Feldman in Geneva for sorting.
To ensure that the UN archive could be properly, and relatively quickly, lotted the UNPA archive was broken down into eight lots. Lot 1 was all existing artwork (excluding lot 2) from 1951-2000 for now officially issued stamps from New York (3,991 items), Geneva (733 items), and Vienna (317 items). The differing numbers are due to the fact that the UNPA’s New York office issued from 1951; Geneva only issued from 1969 on; and Vienna from as late as 1979 onwards.
Original paintings
Lot 2 featured six original paintings for the 1986 Africa in Crisis and UN Development Programme issues whilst lot 3 included die proofs, progressive proofs and imperforates from New York (and die proofs from Geneva and Vienna offices which exist in combination with the New York office). Lot 4 was die proofs, progressive proofs and imperforates from Geneva whilst lot 5 was die proofs, progressive proofs and imperforates from Vienna. Lot 6 was UN postal stationery (all existing die proofs, progressive proofs and imperforates) from 1953 to 1998 and lot 8 was miscellaneous material. All the material (bar lot 7) then sold for the record price as ‘lot 9’.
In a letter to David Feldman, dated February 4, 2003, UN Director Andrew Toh stated: ‘I can confirm that having made a comprehensive search and request for any materials to all printers and producers of UNPA issues since 1951 that no other items exist’. In fact, this auction was a little different, as David Feldman explained: ‘This archive, unlike comparative auctions of printers’ archives, was offered for sale under the instruction of the UNPA, the issuing authority itself’.
Speculation has already began as to what exactly the Champion Stamp Company will do with the archive, although an industry expert told us: ‘It has a fabulous profit potential – perhaps three to four times what was paid for it, if it is broken up’. That remains to be seen but also of interest is the fact that the US catalogue publisher Scott will, for the first time, list the UN proofs in the Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers, which will be published in October 2003.