(From the "Crocker" Collection.)
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, and Queensland. | 4,750 | ||
| 1897 | F. W. Ayer. | General (dispersed gradually). | 45,000 | ||
| 1897 | Dr. Legrand. | Part of General. | 12,000 | ||
| 1898 | Russell. | General (unused, strong in British Colonies). | 4,600 | ||
| 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). | 2,000 | ||
| 1902 | Major-Gen. Lambton. | British Colonies. | 3,400 | ||
| 1902 | C. Hollander. | South Africa. | 1,500 | ||
| 1903 | J. N. Marsden. | General. | 2,350 | ||
| 1903 | E. J. Nankivell. | Transvaal. | 3,000 | ||
| 1904 | P. Fabri. | General. | 3,000 | ||
| 1904 | A titled collector. | Selection of great rarities. | 4,700 | ||
| 1904 | Prince Doria Pamphilj. | General. | 2,000 | ||
| 1905 | M. P. Castle. | Australia. | 5,750 | ||
| 1906 | W. W. Mann. | Europe. | 30,000 | ||
| 1906 | A. Bagshawe. | Straits Settlements. | 2,000 | ||
| 1907 | V. Roberts. | Cape Colony, Queensland, &c. | 3,800 | ||
| 1907 | Tomson. | West Indies. | 6,800 | ||
| 1908 | P. Mirabaud. | { | Switzerland, £8,000 | } | 30,000 |
| Rest of Collection, £22,000 | |||||
| 1909 | Sir W. B. Avery. | General. | 24,500 | ||
| 1909 | J. W. Paul, jun. | General. | 11,400 | ||
| 1909 | J. F. Seybold. | General. | 5,000 | ||
| 1911 | Miguel Gambin. | Argentina. | 6,000 | ||