The Philatelic Collection Formed By Sir Gawaine Baillie, Bt Volume X British Empire Part Two and Spearti Forgeires of the World.

London: Sotheby's, January 17, 18, 19, 2007,

quarto, printed wrappers. (436) pp. Sotheby's, Item #35288

"Sir Gawaine's goal in stamp collecting was to build a comprehensive collection of postage stamps from Great Britain and the British Empire, starting with the earliest issues of Queen Victoria through to the modern day. Sir Gawaine was interested in only the most perfectly preserved stamps and his collection is distinguished from others of comparable scale by his exacting standards. He mastered at least ten areas of specialisation and acquired over 100,000 stamps, of the highest quality including a copy of the scarce Edward VII 2d Tyrian plum. The collection was considered the most comprehensive of its kind. When Sotheby's put the stamps up for auction after his death, the collection was described as the most important to be sold in more than 50 years. Sotheby's divided the stamps into ten separate auctions, the first nine of which exceeded the initial estimate of £11m, by more than £4m." Wikipedia.

Price: $45.00