14 DAY TRIAL // Despite the fact that the practice of mailing actual letters has become obsolete in recent years (all hail to the Internet and text messaging), it looks like the world is still very much interested in buying stamps.
In fact, word has it that one such piece of paper has recently sold for a whopping $9.5 million (about €7 million) at an auction held in the city of New York in the United States.
As if this piece of news were not enough to make people go looking through their grandad's stamp collection hoping to find something even remotely as valuable, it must be said that the tiny paper was expected to fetch way more money.
Thus, back in February, auction house Sotheby's proudly announced that, all things considered, the stamp would sell for somewhere between $10 to $20 million (roughly €7.3 - €14.6 million).
As it turns out, the stamp's final selling price fell at the lower end of the auction house's optimistic estimates. Still, the $9.5 million that it did fetch is the most anyone has ever paid for a stamp.
According to Mirror, the really expensive stamp, a photo of which is available above, measures just one inch (2.5 centimeters) in width, and what makes it special is the story of how it was printed and came into circulation.
Thus, this 1856 British Guiana One-Cent Magenta was produced when a shipment of stamps from England to the British Guiana failed to reach its destination in time, and the local postmaster ordered that several local stamps be rolled out.
Of the one-cent stamps that were printed at that time, just this one has made it through the years. “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,” Sotheby's says.
By the looks of it, the stamp is now the property of a private collector. For the time being, the collector's name has not been shared with the public and, truth be told, it might be a while before this piece of information is disclosed.
Commenting on the outcome of yesterday's auction in New York, David Redden, vice chairman of Sotheby's said, “This stamp is the Mona Lisa of philately – it is not the finest stamp out there but it has captured the imaginations of collectors around the world.”
Furthermore, “We are thrilled with the extraordinary, record-setting price of $9.5million - a truly great moment for the world of stamp collecting. That price will be hard to beat, and likely won't be exceeded unless the British Guiana comes up for sale again in the future.”