David Feldman’s “Swakopmund” Collection of South West Africa
01/05/2025
Geneva-based David Feldman is a leading stamp auction house that enjoys close relationships with the world’s foremost philatelists. In the course of the last 50 years it has set a number of philatelic world records. Their Spring Auction Series 2025 now offers “one of the finest and most comprehensive SWA collections ever assembled”.
Scroll down to take a quick look at a sampling of this SWA treasure trove of philatelic delights. There are also links that will take you to specific pages, like Cape and ZAR.
The David Feldman Spring Auction runs from May 26 – June 1, 2025). Included among its very many splendid items is the “Swakopmund” Collection of South West Africa. However, it should be stressed that the auction covers more than just SWA. There are some wonderful classic Cape items and a ZAR / Transvaal cover which is the only one known.
Lot #66554. Estimated £7,000
The foundation of this impressive collection was laid in German South West Africa in the 1890s. The collection remained in the same family for 120 years until it was sold in 2015 wherupon it was then meticulously expanded to form one of the finest and most comprehensive SWA collections ever assembled.
Lot #66501. Estimated £12,000
Lot #66476. Estimated £12,000
Ricky Verra, the company’s Director of Philately, says that the “Swakopmund” collection is a “stunning assembly of the overprinted South Africa definitives with mint major varieties and errors and plate number multiples, certainly the best we have ever handled.”
Lot #66499. Estimated £16,000
However, the attractions of this auction for South African Collectors are not limited to SWA. It includes extraordinary items from elsewhere in southern Africa and the world.
Follow the links below to see more of these remarkable SWA Overprinted Union of South Africa ‘Kings Head’ definitives as well as Pictorials, etc. If you want to bid on them, hurry! The David Feldman Spring Auction Series runs from May 26 – June 1, 2025.
Link to the South West Africa section of the catalogue.
Link to the complete British Empire catalogue.
Link to the complete auction series.
There is much more to admire in this auction. As Ricky Verra points out there is “a lovely range of Cape of Good Hope Triangulars including our front cover item, the Triangular and Seated Hope mixed franking.” The unusual philatelic gem below was sent from Swellendam to Holland in 1864. This extraordinary cover sports a scarce combination of Cape Triangles and the new 1/- Rectangular stamps released in January 1864.
David Feldman. Spring Auction Series, May 26 – June 1, 2025.
Lot 66231. Estimate: 65,000 – 85,000 GBP.
Link to this wonderful cover and other Cape Triangles here.
ZAR / Transvaal lovers cannot fail to admire another gorgeous item in the David Feldman Spring Auction. This early ZAR Second Republic cover has a block of nine 1883 Celliers ZAR 1d black, the largest multiple of this stamp known on cover. This registered envelope was sent by the stamp dealer Emil Tamsen to the Netherlands in March 1885. See below.
David Feldman. Spring Auction Series, May 26 – June 1, 2025.
Lot 66283. Estimate: 1,200 – 2,000 GBP.
Finally, many years ago I asked a dealer about the availability of a Penny Black on a cover to the Cape of Good Hope. He laughed at me. “You’ll be lucky” he scoffed. His reaction and the absence of such a cover crossing my path in the intervening years led me to imagine that they did not exist and that if one did it was as rare as a hen with teeth riding on the back of a unicorn. Well, well, well! What a wonderful surprise this David Feldman auction had in store for me. Here then, after 35 years, is a cover bearing a Penny Black addressed to the Royal Observatory in Cape Town. Fantastic! Unicorn’s exist!
Lot 70130. Estimate: 2,600 – 3,000 GBP.
See David Feldman at EuroPhilEx in Birmingham’s NEC 7-11 May 2025 on Stand 34.
Read other news about South African philately and postal history
