61st Christoph Gärtner Auction: China letter from 1950 brought almost 30 times the starting price!

The 61st auction held by Christoph Gärtner Auction House from February 17 to 21, 2025, once again attracted considerable attention both at home and abroad. The Asia and China sections performed particularly well, with high results and notable increases. Austrian Post in the Levant shone with an excellent sales rate. In the Germany section, the “Old Germany” section, offered live online, generated particularly impressive bids – especially the Oldenburg area. The collections, which also recorded strong results and outstanding increases, rounded off the event.

Sought-after Asia Covers

The coins and banknotes got off to an excellent start. The coins generated impressive increases and the usual high sales rate. Encouragingly, the high auction rate for banknotes continued.

Austria, for example, generated notable increases in the philatelic single lot section. A 1933 WIPA souvenir sheet made of 900 fine gold with a total weight of 159.7 g climbed from 15,000 to 18,000 euros. No. 249 of the mintage of 800 bars can certainly be considered an enrichment to a large Austrian collection. A “Pink Mercury” with two partial strikes of a Brno date stamp, a very fine example of this delicate stamp, sold for 8,600 euros including premium. Almost all lots from a special collection of the Austrian Post in the Levant, divided into 51 individual lots, were sold.

One of the most beautiful of about ten known letters, bearing the postage-free stamp “COMITÉ DE SECOURS AUX BLESSÉS VEVEY” in red on a folded letter to Geneva, alongside the posting stamp “VEVEY 12.I.71 – 7” and dated inside “Comité de Vevey 12 Janvier 1871,” brought in 11,500 (10,000) euros. A spectacular 88-franc franking on a Thai 1-att. stamp, sent from Bangkok to London in 1895, more than quadrupled its estimated 3,000 euros. The estimate for a registered Northeast China letter sent to Fulda in 1950 practically “exploded.” Estimated at 150 euros, the hammer didn’t fall until 4,400 euros! A special collection of Rhodesian “Double Heads” was detailed in 20 lots, resulting in a total hammer price of €17,780.