The Nigerian Mvies

The Nigerian Mvies
>

Sunday 1 July 2018

6 Rare Postage Stamps Serious Collectors Get Excited About

By Peter Allen


The more sought after something is the more serious collectors will pay for it. This includes tiny pieces of paper that are unique in some way. It can baffle the non-collectors, but millions of dollars have been paid for a single stamp. The most exciting pieces, and the ones collectors will bid on from all corners of the globe, are the rarest of the rare postage stamps.

A stamp known as the olive colored Queen Victoria's head is a great example of a mistake made by the printer. This stamp was first printed in 1864 in Hong Kong, and was intended to be brownish gray. The error came with fifty-two sheets that were printed in olive. There was an mistake in the placement of the cc and the watermark style as well. The original stamp cost ninety-six cents in Hong Kong. A block of four sold for $6.5 million Hong Kong dollars in 2012.

The British Guiana 1 Cent Magenta is the result of a depletion of supply. The British Guiana postmaster ran out of stamps and could not wait on England to deliver more. He asked the newspaper to print some to cover him until the regular shipment arrived. A magenta stamp with black ink was the result. Postal employees were forced to initial them to prevent forgeries. The stamp sold at auction in 1980 for $850,000.

A printing error caused by the rush of a special event resulted in the Post Office Mauritius. This stamp was issued to commemorate a ball hosted by the wife of the governor. Unfortunately, when they were printed no one noticed that the stamp read post office instead of post paid. One of the twelve left was purchased for $1.6 million dollars U. S. In 2011.

The Inverted Jenny was the first air mail stamp. It was issued in 1918. The rare ones show the plane upside down. The mistake was easy to make at the time. The sheet of a hundred stamps had to pass through the press twice. One set was turned the wrong way on the second pass resulting in the error. It got out without anybody noticing. A block of four sold for $3 million in 2005.

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 Swedish stamp known as the Treskilling Yellow is the most highly prized and expensive stamp in existence. It was intended to be green, but is yellow instead. 2010 was the last time it traded hands. The actual purchase price has remained private, but the auctioneer has admitted that this sale made the Treskilling Yellow the most expensive stamp in the world.

These stamps may not look like much to most. Apparently philatelists are willing to pay millions for these prized pieces of paper. The history behind them, and the rarity, create the value.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment