‘World’s most valuable stamp’ goes on show in London ahead of auction
The British Guiana One-Cent Magenta stamp, said to be the sole survivor of its kind, can be viewed at Sotheby’s auction house in Mayfair.
The world’s most valuable stamp, estimated to be worth 15 million dollars (£10.7 million), is in London ahead of its auction in the summer.
The British Guiana One-Cent Magenta stamp, said to be the sole survivor of its kind, can be viewed at Sotheby’s auction house in Mayfair from Wednesday.
It was created as a contingency in 1856 when a shortage of stamps usually imported from England threatened to disrupt the postal service in British Guiana (now Guyana).
The stamp is expected to fetch around 10 to 15 million dollars (£7.1 million to £10.7 million) at an auction at Sotheby’s, in New York on June 8.
Its current owner, high-end shoe designer Stuart Weitzman, who bought the stamp for 9.48 million dollars in 2014, added his own mark to the back of the stamp – inscribing his initials “SW” along with a line drawing of a stiletto shoe as a nod to his legacy in fashion.
The sole-surviving example of the one-cent magenta was rediscovered in 1873 when L Vernon Vaughan, a 12-year-old schoolboy living with his family in British Guiana, found it among a group of family papers.
He would later sell it for several shillings to another local collector.
The stamp can be viewed by the public until April 30.
