The collection of the late M. Paul Mirabaud, a wealthy Parisian banker, was exceptional for the beauty of the condition of the stamps it contained, and at the auction sale many of the stamps fetched prices much beyond the standard quotations of the catalogues. The Swiss portion, which formed the basis of a most sumptuously illustrated work written in collaboration by M. Mirabaud and the Baron A. de Reuterskiöld, was sold privately. The following synopsis of the chief sales of collections (whether by auction or privately) covers only those which are known to have realised £1,000 and upwards; there are many more which have doubtless been sold for amounts well into four figures, but the transactions, or at any rate the amounts, have not been disclosed. The amounts given below must not in every case be taken as the exact purchase price; where not exact they are approximate. -------+----------------------+------------------------------+------- YEAR. | COLLECTION. | CHARACTER. |AMOUNT. -------+----------------------+------------------------------+------- | | | £ 1878 |Cooper. |General. | 3,000 1882 |Philbrick. |General. | 8,000 1882 |Image. |General. | 3,000 1885 |Burnett. |General. | 1,000 1890 |Caillebotte. |General. | 5,000 1891 |Colman. |British Colonies. | 2,000 1894 |Winzer. |General. | 3,000 1894 |Castle. |Australia. |10,000 1894 |Philbrick. |Great Britain. | 1,500 1895 |Harrison. |United States. | 1,330 1895 |Harbeck. |General. | 3,000 1895 |W. Cooper. |General. | -- 1895 |J. E. Wilbey. |General. | -- 1896 |Hughes-Hughes. |General. | 3,000 1896 |Ehrenbach. |Germany. | 6,000 1896 |Earl of Kingston. |British Empire. | 1,800 1896-7 |Blest. |New South Wales, New Zealand, | 4,750 | | and Queensland. | 1897 |F. W. Ayer. |General (dispersed gradually).|45,000 1897 |Dr. Legrand. |Part of General. |12,000 1898 |Russell. |General (unused, strong in | 4,600 | | British Colonies). | 1898 |H. L. Hayman. |General. | 4,000 1899 |Pauwels. |General. | 4,000 1900 |M. P. Castle. |Europe. |27,500 1901 |W. T. Willett |Great Britain (with Nevis).