Bonnie Davis was visiting Thailand for the first time in 1967 and then, after the retirement of her husband, they moved to Thailand where they became longtime residents. She wrote books on the Thai Postal System, Thai post-cards and other philatelic related subjects. The book on the Thai postal system, Royal Siamese Postal Service (The Early Years), Bangkok, 1983 is even today 40 years later the leading book on this subject.
Bonnie was collecting Thai revenue stamps in the 1980's before most stamp collectors in Thailand had any interest in revenue stamps. Many stamp dealers in Bangkok did know her and kept revenue stamps aside for her. I, Jos Sanders, never had the pleasure knowing or meeting her, however, stories about her and her Thai revenue collection were legendary.
An obituary about Bonnie Davis, written by Del Smith and published in The Thai Times, December 2010, pg. 70 - 72 can be seen by clicking on the PDF below.
After she passed away, her collection was sold in the Eurseree auctions in August 2009, sale number 19, lot 1 - lot 102. This sale did bring fantastic high prices due to all the hype over the years. Her collection was especially strong in Agriculture and long Green Court Fee stamps. Some of the items I consider as highlights of the sale.
At the time of the auction, the exchange rate was about USD1 = Baht 33
Lot 15. Two of the highest value Tamlung agriculture stamps. Start baht 6,000, sold for
baht 31,000 (USD$940).
Lot 20, blocks of 4 of the third series of agriculture, start Baht 20,000 sold for Baht 185,000 (USD$ 5,600).
Lot 22. Second series of Agriculture, 8 Atts surcharge on 1 Baht, nearly full sheet of 97 stamps including some error surcharges. Start Baht 50,000 sold for Baht 320,000
(USD$ 9700).
Lot 26, long green Court Fees issue 1899, 4 mint stamps including the 2 highest values of 40 Baht and 80 Baht. Start Baht 20,000 sold for Baht 470,000 (USD$ 14,250).
Lot 27. Long green court Fees, second bi-colored set complete, 6 values mint start at Baht 30,000 sold at Baht 480,000 (USD$ 14,550).
Lot 33, 3 long green Court Fee stamps surcharged with Att values and double bar. Start Baht 5,000 sold for Baht 210,000 (USD$ 6,360)
Lot 35, block of 4 long green Court Fee stamps with the right-side margin imperforate. Start Baht 80,000 sold for Baht 310,000 (USD$ 9,400).
Lot 80, piece of a document with General revenues of the 1883 issue plus some surcharged general revenues. Start at Baht 10,000 sold for Baht 300,000 (USD$ 9,100).
Lot 81, block of 4 provisional postal stamps used for Court Fee purposes. Start Baht 10,000 sold for Baht 210,000 (USD$ 6.360)
There are numerous other highlights in this auction. Mint long green Court Fee stamps are considered very rare, and bidding went a little crazy. The total sale of the Bonnie Davis collection was Baht 6 million or roughly USD 180,000 excluding the10% commission.
Details, descriptions and realized prices of all the lots in the Bonnie Davis auction can be found on the Eurseree website, sale 19, August 2009, Lot 1 - Lot 102. To view this auction, click here.
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