3. Cost of stamps

The fact that there are some old stamps worth thousands of dollars may sound incredible to those outside the realm of philately. The world’s most expensive stamp is a British Guiana (now Guyana) one cent issued in 1856. In 1970, this rarest stamp of the world was purchased by a bidder in a New York auction at the shocking price of 280,000 US dollars; its price now is anybody’s guess. The name of this stamp is “British Guiana 1¢ magenta” the picture of this stamp is givern below,

In November 1993, history was made when an anonymous buyer paid $3.8m (about Rs.13 crores) for one of the philately’s acknowledged treasures, the 1847 “Mauritius Post-Office Issue Bordeaux Cover”, at an auction in Zurich.

Philippe la Renoteire von Ferrari was a very rich Australian-Italian nobleman born in 1848.

He began collecting stamps when he was 10 years old. He employed a man to buy $10,000 worth of stamps a week and maintain is collection in two rooms of his mansion in Paris. After his death in 1917, the collection went to a Berlin museum. The French government seized the collection and it was sold for $2m (1925). Ferraris treasure included the unique British Guiana one cent magneta (picture of this stamp is given above).