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mardi 3 juillet 2018

Info Post
By Peter Allen


People who collect love all sorts of things. People who don't collect, are frequently puzzled by why things like little pieces of paper fascinate others who are willing to spend incredible sums to purchase them. The fact is that there is a market for rare postage stamps, and collectors will come from everywhere around the earth for the chance to add a one of a kind stamp to their private collections.

The olive colored Queen Victoria's head is an example of a printing error. The Hong Kong stamp was printed in 1864, and was supposed to be gray brown in color. Instead fifty-two sheets were mistakenly printed in olive. In addition to the color error, there is also a mistake in the watermark style and an incorrect placement of the cc. Once selling for ninety-six Hong Kong cents per stamp, a block of four brought nearly six and a half million Hong Kong dollars in 2012.

One of the most expensive stamps in the world is the British Guiana 1 Cent Magenta. It was printed on magenta paper with black ink. This stamp came into being because of a British Guiana postmaster. He had run out of his regular postal supply and talked the local newspaper into printing an emergency batch for him. Postal workers had to initial each stamp to prevent forgeries. The stamp brought $850,000 in 1980.

Mistakes happen when people get in a hurry. The Post Office Mauritius is a good example of this. In 1847 the wife of the governor of Mauritius was planning a ball. The post office had a special stamp issued just for the occasion. The stamp was used on the invitations, but instead of saying postage paid, the stamp read post office. In 2011 one of these twelve two pennies left sold for $1.6 million dollars.

The Inverted Jenny is the upside down version of the first air mail stamp. These were issued in 1918. The inversion was caused when the sheets went through the press the second time. Someone put the sheets into the press the wrong way, and the plane came out upside down. Nobody noticed when the sheets initially went on sale. In 2005 a collector bought a block of four for $3 million.

The first stamp ever made was the 1840 Penny Black. It shows the profile of Queen Victoria sketched by William Wyon. The stamp was retired after just a year because the background made the cancellation mark hard to see. There are only two in existence. One of the two was purchased recently by an American for $5 million.

The most expensive stamp on the planet is the Treskilling Yellow. Green was the intended color for this Swedish stamp, but it turned out yellow. It has changed hands several times, recently for an undisclosed amount. According to the auctioneer the Treskilling Yellow is now the most expensive single stamp in the world.

People who love stamps get excited about this kind of thing. The appeal baffles others. Philatelists may not have the money to buy a rare stamp, but they can enjoy the history behind these fragile little pieces of paper.




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