A brief history of a coveted stamp

In 1855, 50,000 postage stamps were due to arrive in British Guiana, Britain’s South American colony, from Britain, according to Stanley Gibbons. Only 5,000 showed up. That posed a problem. If the colony’s letters and newspapers were to be delivered, the local postmaster had to find an alternative. So he asked the local newspaper to print stamps to keep the post moving while more official ones were sent from Britain. A stock of one-cent stamps for newspapers and four-cent stamps for letters were printed, imitating the illustration of a ship and bearing British Guiana’s motto, “We give and we ask in return”. Eventually, the new stamps arrived and the postmaster removed the ersatz stamps from circulation. Most of the onecent stamps disappeared. One, however, survived.

It was found in 1873 by Vernon Vaughan, a 12-yearold boy living in the colony, among his uncle’s papers.

The lad sold it for six shillings and the 1c-Magenta eventually crossed the Atlantic to France via Liverpool, where it ended up in the collection of “eccentric recluse” Philipp von Ferrary. By the time of Ferrary’s death, in 1917, the stamp had acquired some renown. It was sold, in 1922, to Arthur Hind, an American industrialist, who paid around $32,500 for it.

After that, the 1c-Magenta was exhibited around the world, before being sold to “a mysterious Australian businessman” for $45,000 in 1940. The stamp was again sold 30 years later for $280,000, “shattering” the record price for a postage stamp. In 1980, it sold once more, for $935,000, in New York. On 17 June 2014, shoe designer Stuart Weitzman (pictured), bought the stamp for almost $9.5m at Sotheby’s in New York. Stanley Gibbons then purchased it in June this year (see main story).