We are proud to announce that we are now the owner* of the most valuable stamp in the world, the 1856 British Guiana One Cent Magenta. Prior to our purchase, the most recent sale was for $8.3 million. We, of course, paid a slight premium when we made our purchase this week.
The unassuming scrap of paper rolled off the presses of a newspaper printer in Guiana in 1856, along with a set of four cent stamps. The postmaster had been expecting a delivery of engraved stamps from England, but the shipment was much smaller than expected. Faced with a need for stamps, he contracted the job to a local printer. The one cent stamp was used for only newspapers, and apparently only one example has survived. A Scottish schoolboy found it in his uncle’s papers in 1873, and sold it for six shillings to a collector. Five years later, that collector sold his collection for £120. That collection found its way into a Berlin museum, and was taken by France as war reparations at the end of World War I.
The stamp was sold in 1922 for $32,000. At that sale, the buyer reportedly outbid three kings, including George V. It changed hands a few more times before being purchased by John E. du Pont in 1980 for $935,000. The stamp remained locked in a vault while Du Pont went to prison for murder. When he died in prison, the stamp was sold by the estate for $9.4 million in 2014. In June 2021, it was sold again to British stamp dealer Stanley Gibbons for $8.3 million. It is the most valuable stamp in the world, and by weight, it is the most valuable object in the world. This week, Stanley Gibbons made the sale to me.
*- I should clarify that we do not own the entire stamp. Instead, the dealer Stanley Gibbons sold 80,000 shares of the stamp. The stamp is held in trust, and each share owner owns a 1/80,000 undivided interest. It’s essentially the same as owning one share of a company such as Consolidated Widget. In the future, if I desire, I can sell my share to someone else. Under the terms of the trust, if there is an offer to buy the stamp, the offer must be accepted by 60% of the shareholders.
If you wish to buy a share of the stamp, it is currently in what might be called the Initial Public Offering period. You can purchase a share from Stanley Gibbons at the Showpiece.com platform. If you want to see the stamp before buying, it is on currently on public display until December 18 at 399 Strand, London.