14 DAY TRIAL // This coming June 17, a incredibly rare stamp is to be auctioned off in New York. If Sotheby's is right, the 1856 British Guiana One-Cent Magenta will sell for somewhere between $10 to $20 million (roughly €7.3 - €14.6 Million). Needless to say, this will make it the world's most valuable stamp.
According to Linn's Stamp News, the 1856 British Guiana One-Cent Magenta was produced when a shipment of stamps from England to the British Guiana was delayed.
To avoid trouble, the local postmaster ordered that the one-cent Magenta, a four-cent stamp also printed on magenta paper, and a four-stamp printed on blue paper be rolled out.
The same source tells us that, according to Sotheby's, the stamp set to be auctioned off in New York this coming summer has been sold several times before, and that it fetched a record price every time this happened.
“No stamp is rarer than the sole-surviving example of the British Guiana One-Cent Magenta, a unique yet unassuming penny issue from 1856, and no stamp is more valuable: each of the three times it has been sold at auction, it has established a new record price for a single stamp,” the auction house says.
The stamp was last on public display back in 1996 in Chicago. Before it is auctioned off, it will be exhibited in various cities around the world including London and Hong Kong.