The largest and most extensive collections of Bermuda stamps is to be auctioned in London later this month.

Spink and Son Ltd. will auction the $1 million Morris H. Ludington collection on June 22 at Christie's Ryder Street offices in London.

Here to promote the auction is Spink's stamp department head Richard Watkins who last night called the collection "wonderful stuff''.

"In terms of Bermuda philately, the Ludington Collection is the biggest and best collection of Bermuda stamps ever put on the market,'' Mr. Watkins said.

"It's wonderful stuff. Mr. Ludington was Mr. Bermuda when it came to stamps!'' Mr. Watkins said Spink's, established in 1666 and now part of the Christies empire, expects the Collection to sell "extremely well'' and had seen some interests from locals.

Mr. Ludington died at 82 in October and had been a collector of Bermudian philately since the 1930s.

His collection featured two examples of the ultra rare Perot Stamp, issued by William Perot, the Island's first postmaster.

The collection also includes hundreds of letters and envelopes dating back to 1684 in addition to Bermuda stamps from Victorian times.

The collection eventually comprised 87 large albums.

An American, Mr. Ludington wrote nine books on Bermuda's stamps and mail system and had travelled to the Island several dozen times since 1922.

His "The Postal History and Stamps of Bermuda'' published in 1978 is the definitive work on Bermuda philately.