Ascension : Internet Messages
Submitted by The Islander (Islander Editors) 03.06.2010 (Article Archived on 17.06.2010)

The St. Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Philatelic Society (SHATPS) is conducting another public auction in 2010.

Name: Ted Cookson         Email: tedcookson@gmail.com

Message:
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The St. Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Philatelic Society (SHATPS) is conducting another public auction in 2010.  Our auction is open to residents of St. Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (or anywhere else) to sell both philatelic material and items such as island handicrafts to our community of over 160 collectors, all of whom have a keen interest in the South Atlantic.

Each islander may simply email to Dr. Everett Parker, our auctioneer (eparker@hughes.net), a description and the minimum price of each lot he or she wishes to sell.  The regulations of our auction require most sellers to ship the items they wish to sell to Dr. Parker in the U. S. by 1 July 2010.  However, residents of "our islands" are allowed just to send information about their lots by 1 July 2010 and then only ship later if their items are actually sold in the auction, which closes on 29 November 2010.

I would be grateful for your help in forwarding this important information to all interested parties on your island.  Perhaps this email could even be printed and posted in a prominent place.  This is a great marketing opportunity for islanders with handicrafts for sale.

Again, the deadline for submission of information to our auctioneer is 1 July 2010.  Please find full details about our auction below.  Also please note that there is a 10% seller's surcharge to benefit SHATPS, so prices of lots should be calculated accordingly.  This same information is also posted online at http://atlanticislands.org/auctions.htm.

Ted Cookson
SHATPS President


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ST. HELENA, ASCENSION AND TRISTAN DA CUNHA PHILATELIC SOCIETY 2010 AUCTION

This auction, which is open to the public, closes on November 29, 2010

Another St. Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Philatelic Society (SHATPS) auction is planned for 2010!  This auction is open for non-SHATPS members to both bid and sell.

Following on the success of our last auction, it's time for our group to have another one; and your help is again needed.  First, we need members and non-members to check through their holdings and send material to list; and when the listing is prepared and distributed, we need you to bid on goodies to enhance your collections.  By participating in the auction on both levels -- as a vendor and as a bidder -- you will be helping the society improve its financial standing.  But none of this will happen if you don't take part. 

So what's involved?  First, check your collections and see what you can part with.  As you can imagine, stamps themselves are not generally in big demand, especially for lower priced and more common material.  Higher quality and more scarce material is, of course, always needed, especially varieties.  Similarly, regular first day covers of the islands are not usually aggressively sought in auctions.  However, a collection of a dozen or more first day covers, offered as a lot, might draw some bids.  Commercial covers, particularly those with unusual postal markings, should be aggressively sought.  Other paper ephemera relating to the islands, books, monographs, and videos should do well.  We will accept similar material from other South Atlantic islands as well, so if you have material relating to Antarctica, send those in as well.

Once you determine what you will submit to the auction, prepare a very brief description of each item and place it in a glassine or envelope with the item.  Each item should be described separately or in the case of a lot, all of the items in that grouping should be bundled together and one description prepared.  Your next step would be to send everything to me at the address below.  All material should be shipped to arrive no later than July 1, 2010.

In a cover letter, please let Everett Parker know if you are donating the material for the auction or if you wish to receive payment if the lot is sold.  Donation lots are especially appreciated as the society will benefit from 100 percent of the funds received.  If you wish reimbursement for materials sold, please state that in your letter.  There will be a 10 percent seller's fee assessed for each lot sold.  Thus, if you send a lot with a reserve of $80, and it sells for $100, you will receive payment of $90 ($100 minus 10 percent).  Conversely, if you place an $80 reserve and the item sells for $80, you will receive $72 ($80 minus 10 percent).  The better the material you send, the higher the sale price will be if there is aggressive bidding!

The auction listing will be distributed in the October 2010 issue of the South Atlantic Chronicle.  The listing also will be available online at http://www.atlanticislands.org/auctions.htm.  The deadline for receiving bids will be midnight on Monday, November 29, 2010.   Bids may be sent physically to the address below or via email to eparker@hughes.net.  As with any auction, your bid should be as high as you're willing to pay for a particular lot.  The lot will be sold at one increment higher than the next highest bid.  For example, if there are bids of $25 and $30 for a particular lot, it would be sold for $26 to the highest bidder -- one increment above the next highest bid.  Once the bid deadline is reached, winning bidders will be notified by email or letter of the lots they have won.  Each winning bidder will pay the total for lots purchased plus a 10 percent buyer's fee and the cost of shipping.

These are standard auction procedures, but we are keeping the vendor and buyer's surcharge at a low 10 percent to encourage bidding.  So it's really up to you ...  if we don't receive the material, we can't have an auction.  We'll need at least 100 lots to make an auction worthwhile, and that means we all must now hunt for items to "lot up" and send in.  And when the auction arrives with the SAC, you need to send in bids.  This is one way we can be certain the society stays on a sound financial footing, and it's one more benefit of your membership, not to mention the fact you can pick up some very desirable items for your collections.

Remember to send your material to arrive before July 1, 2010 to:

Dr. Everett L. Parker
719 Moosehead Lake Road
Greenville, ME 04441-3626
USA