London Festival of Stamps-winning collection will auction priced €25,000

Charting the development of overseas mail from sail to steam, this sale is umissable for philatelists

A famous exhibition collection of stamps will appear for sale in Christoph Gärtner Philatelic's September 7-10 auction.

A previous Gold medal winner at London Festival of Stamps in 2010, the collection charts the development of overseas mail systems, the period from sail to steam...

It comprises 200 items: "covers, telegrams, and other related items as a few classic stamps - showing 'Early transatlantic mail', 'North Atlantic - sailing on schedule', 'The West Indies', 'South America', 'East India and other Asian destinations', 'Australia and the Pacific' and 'Faster, larger, stronger ... telegrams'" according to Christoph Gärtner's sale description.

This Some highlights from the collection (Click to enlarge)

This extraordinary collection contains rare covers, lovely illustrations, extremely scarce cancellations and destinations of the 18th and 19th century plus plenty of information.

Although some small items (picture cards mostly) were withdrawn by the collector in order to show them in a publication, this special exhibition collection is most impressive from item to item and is "of high trading value" according to the sellers.

Bids on the collection will open at €25,000, and then close on September 10. Watch this space for more news on the sale.