Early Christmas presents for stamp collectors sell at Vance Auctions

Led by a sheet of WWII stamps with an invert error, the auction will close at the start of next month

Vance Auctions will be closing its rare stamp mail only sale at the start of advent, December 1.

Until then, it has a large & most interesting auction of over 7,400 worldwide lots. It is Vance's 38^th anniversary sale, and in a show of generosity the auction house will be giving away hundreds of dollars in prizes to some of its bidders.

The sale offers a wide range of singles, sets, varieties & proofs at entry-level. There are strong sections of Canada including a used copy of the rare QV 12 Penny Black (Scott #3) & Newfoundland including the scarce C1, C3c and C5 Airmails.

The United States, Great Britain, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Bermuda, Denmark, Falkland Islands, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Israel, Italy & Italian States, Korea, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Saar, St. Helena, Sweden, Switzerland are all well-represented.

One of the highlights for collector looking for an entry-level investment is a complete sheet of 1 F 25c stamps from the time of the German occupation of France during WWII.

German occupation of France stamp sheet

Very rare, the sheet shows the influence of an inverted plate "1" and imprints in bottom selvedge. Never hinged, though with some minor natural creasing, it is in fine/very-fine condition and catalogued at $3,000

For those looking for larger size lots there are hundreds of lots to choose from. These include collections, accumulations, boxes full and estate lots. The auction also contains many hundreds of quality lots of worldwide covers, postal history and postcards.

Of course, larger lots are not necessarily a strong investment possibility unless you are an expert and have reason to hope that you can find an intriguing bargain in amongst the rest.

Vance will be accepting bids on December 1 until midnight Eastern Standard Time (five hours behind GMT). Alternatively there is a range of rare stamps available outside the sale.