LONDON.- Spink announced the first in a series of highly distinguished sales of a prolific and dedicated collector, David Pitts. The first of these sales will take place on the 25th October 2016 in Spink’s auction room in London and focuses on British Africa. The catalogue is available for viewing in print and online on the Spink website.

David Pitts is a lifelong collector, buying his first stamp at age eight. As he advanced in his professional career he became a serious philatelist, focusing on the British Empire. His interests have always been limited to used stamps and postal history; believing unused, mint material, while frequently attractive works of art, are not as interesting as “cancelled” stamps. His goal over the years has been to collect every issued stamp, used, and, their pre-adhesive postal markings, from each component of the entire British Empire, through to 1966.

David has always been particularly interested in Bermuda. His exhibit, “Bermuda: Crossroads of the Atlantic”, met with considerable acclaim in presentations before the Royal Philatelic Society and the Collectors Club of New York, and is the only Bermuda exhibit to ever win an international Large Gold medal. Spink is very excited about the Bermuda portion of the collection, which will be available for sale in two separate auctions in April and October of 2017.

This is the first of the sales dedicated to the David Pitts collection of used British Empire. The sale encompasses a fine range of British Africa's colonies with a fine representation throughout. The sale majors in Rhodesia with a wonderful offering of the Double Head issue that Spink predict will set the room furiously bidding. From amongst the 195 lots of Rhodesia Double heads stands an astounding rarity, lot 239, a 1d. imperforate between vertical pair, each cancelled with Que Que 30 September 1911 datestamp. This is a great opportunity for collectors to get their hands on a very scarce item, it being one of only two such pairs recorded. Lot 239, estimated: £6,000 – 8,000.

Another series of interesting items comes in the section of Uganda, particularly lot 557, a fascinating 50c. black block of four with border at top, each neatly cancelled with Port Alice datestamp for 11 January 1899. What sets this item apart is its rarity and the fact that it was typed and produced solely using a typewriter! Lot 557, estimated: ￡3,000-3,500

The next sale in the series is British West Indies which is scheduled for 24 January 2017.