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.

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.

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.

Even non-collectors will recognize the Inverted Jenny. This was the very first air mail stamp issued. The ones that are rare show the plane upside down. This mistake was not hard to make because the stamped sheets had to be fed manually through the press twice. A set of sheets were fed through the wrong way, resulting in an inverted plan. In 2005 someone bought a block of four for $3 million.

The very first stamp was the 1840 Penny Black. It has the face of Queen Victoria in profile as seen during a 1827 London visit. The stamp was only circulated for one year because the background made the cancellation mark too hard to make out. It is believed that only two of these Penny Blacks still exist. One of them was recently purchased 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: