British Guiana 1c magenta
Template:Short description Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox postage stamp The British Guiana 1c magenta is regarded by many philatelists as the world's most famous rare stamp.<ref name=scott>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was issued in limited numbers in British Guiana (now Guyana) in 1856, and only one specimen is now known to exist. It is the only major postage stamp ever issued in the United Kingdom or British Commonwealth that is not represented in Britain's Royal Philatelic Collection.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
It is imperforate, printed in black on magenta paper, and it features a sailing ship along with the colony's Latin motto "Damus Petimus Que Vicissim" (We give and expect in return) in the middle. Four thin lines frame the ship. The stamp's country of issue and value—rendered in black uppercase lettering—surround the frame.
Neil McKinnon, a local collector in Guiana, purchased the only known example of the stamp in 1873 after first declining to buy it. A Liverpool dealer, Thomas Ridpath, recognized its rarity and purchased it in 1878. Noted collector Philipp von Ferrary acquired the stamp that same year, and owned it in France for several decades.<ref name=":0" /> It was seized by the French government at the end of World War I, auctioned in Paris in 1922 for a world record sum, and then spent years in the hands of American owners. It was exhibited at the 1939–40 World's Fair, and was also shown at the London International Stamp Exhibition in 1923. King George V saw the stamp at this exhibition, and is said to have declined an offer to own it, although he had previously sent his agent to the Paris auction.<ref name=":0" />
With its sale in June 2014 to Stuart Weitzman for $9,480,000,<ref name="sothebys-n09154-auction" /><ref name="sothebys-n09154-results" /> the 1c magenta has broken the world record for a single stamp auction price a total of four times.<ref name="bbc-2014">Template:Cite news</ref> The 2014 auction also made it the most expensive item, by weight and size, ever sold in history.<ref name="bbc-2014" /> The stamp was next sold in June 2021 to London stamp dealer and publishing company Stanley Gibbons PLC for $8,307,000.<ref name="Linns" />
Background
The 1c magenta was part of a series of three definitive stamps issued in 1856 and was intended for use on local newspapers. The other two stamps, a 4c magenta and 4c blue, were intended for letter postage. The issue came about through mischance. An anticipated delivery of stamps by ship did not arrive so the local postmaster, E. T. E. Dalton, authorized printers Joseph Baum and William Dallas, who were the publishers of the Official Gazette newspaper in Georgetown, to print an emergency issue of three stamps. Dalton gave some specifications about the design but the printer chose to add a ship image of their own design to the stamps. Dalton was not pleased with the result and as a safeguard against forgery ordered that all correspondence bearing the stamps be autographed by a post office clerk. This particular stamp was initialled E.D.W. by clerk Edmond D. Wight.<ref name="smithsonianmag-2015">Template:Cite news</ref>
Description and history
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Only one copy of the 1c stamp is known to exist. It is in used condition and has been cut in an octagonal shape. It is unknown why the four corners were clipped; both clipped and un-clipped examples remain of the 4-cent issue.<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A signature, in accordance with Dalton's policy, can be seen on the left-hand side, along with a heavy postmark.
The stamp was bought on or before 4 April 1856, the date it is postmarked.<ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was discovered in 1873 by a 12-year-old Scottish schoolboy, Louis Vernon Vaughan, in the Guyanese county of Demerara (whose postmark the stamp bears), amongst his uncle's letters. There was no record of it in his stamp catalogue so he sold it some weeks later for six shillings<ref name=scott/> to a local collector, Neil Ross McKinnon. In 1878 McKinnon's collection was sold to a Liverpool stamp dealer, Thomas Ridpath, for £120.<ref name=will>Template:Cite book</ref> Shortly afterwards in the same year, Thomas Ridpath sold the 1c to Philipp von Ferrary for about £150.<ref name=will/> Ferrary's massive stamp collection was willed to a Berlin museum but following Ferrary's death in 1917, the entire collection was taken by France as war reparations following the end of World War I.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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Arthur Hind bought the stamp in Paris in April 1922, at one of the auctions of Ferrary's possessions, for over $32,000—reportedly outbidding three kings, including George V, whose agent was at the sale.<ref>"Cent Stamp Brings $32,077 at a Sale; British Guiana Specimen of 1856 is Bought for a Record Price in Paris", The New York Times, April 7, 1922, p. 3 (the Times noted that "With its present exchange of the franc at 9.1 cents, the 352,500 francs which the buyer paid is equivalent to $32,077.50") </ref><ref name=":0" /> On 6 April 1922, during sale 3, lot 295, the stamp sold for 300,000 francs with a 17.5% French sales tax, making a total of 352,500 francs, the world record stamp sale.<ref name="will" /><ref name=":0" /> The price had been generally estimated at between 165,000 and 220,000 francs.<ref name=":0" /> The stamp's first ever public viewing took place two days earlier, on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 4.<ref name=":0" />
Hind enjoyed "owning the world's most valuable stamp," he "freely gave interviews," and "frequently loaned the stamp for exhibitions."<ref name=":0" /> It was shown at the London International Stamp Exhibition from 14 to 28 May 1923, an event opened by George V.<ref name=":0" /> Supposedly, Hind offered King George the stamp, who "politely declined."<ref name=":0" /> Later, Hind "recalled His Majesty congratulated him on his purchase."<ref name=":0" /> The exhibition marked the first time the stamp had been in Britain since 1878.<ref name=":0" />
On 30 October 1935 it was offered for sale at Harmer Rooke & Co auction 2704, lot 26, where a bid of £7,500 was received from Percival Loines Pemberton. However, the lot was withdrawn and returned to Mrs. Scala (formerly Mrs. Hind).<ref name="will" /> In 1940, she offered it for private sale through the philately department of Macy's department store in New York City. It was purchased for $40,000 by Fred "Poss" Small, an Australian-born engineer from Florida, who had wanted to own the stamp since he first heard about it as a boy.<ref name="McGann">Template:Cite news</ref> In acquiring it, Small completed a full set of stamps from British Guiana.
In 1970, Small auctioned his entire stamp collection (estimated to be worth $750,000), and the 1c stamp was acquired by a syndicate of Pennsylvanian investors, headed by Irwin Weinberg, who paid $280,000 for it and spent much of the decade exhibiting it in a worldwide tour.
John E. du Pont bought the stamp for $935,000 in 1980,<ref name=scott/><ref name="bbc-2014"/> setting the world's record for a single stamp price again.<ref name="bbc-2014"/> Subsequently, it was believed to have been locked in a bank vault while its owner was in prison.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He died while still incarcerated on 9 December 2010.<ref name=delawareonline>Template:Cite news</ref>
Du Pont's estate sold the stamp on 17 June 2014 at a Sotheby's New York auction, sale number N09154, for $9,480,000, including buyer's premium.<ref name="sothebys-n09154-auction">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="sothebys-n09154-results">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It took only two minutes to sell to an anonymous bidder and was the fourth time the stamp had broken the world record for a single-stamp bid; this time, the sale broke the 1996 record of $2,300,000 for the Treskilling Yellow, an 1855 Swedish stamp.<ref name="bbc-2014"/> The purchaser has since identified himself as shoe designer and businessman Stuart Weitzman, who collected stamps as a child.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> 80 percent of the proceeds from the auction went to Bulgarian Valentin Yordanov, a retired Bulgarian wrestler, to whom Du Pont left the majority of his estate.<ref name=delawareonline />
The stamp was put up for auction again at Sotheby's in New York on 8 June 2021, where it sold for $8,307,000, falling short of the pre-sale estimate and the previous sale price.<ref name="Linns">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was purchased by rare stamp dealership Stanley Gibbons, who placed it on display at their London shop in a specially-constructed zero-oxygen frame.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Beginning November 8, 2021, individuals are able to purchase fractional ownership of the stamp from Stanley Gibbons.<ref name="Showpiece">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After his company purchased the stamp, Stanley Gibbons CEO Graham Shircore said "we're delighted to be welcoming it back on to British soil where we hope it will remain."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Owners and personal marks
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Since 1856, several of the stamp's owners have placed a personal mark on the rear, or verso, side of the stamp.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In its 2021 auction catalogue note for the stamp, Sotheby's described "the eight marks of its keepers for the past one hundred and forty-three years," including the "purple trefoil stamp of Philipp La Rénotière von Ferrary" and the "comet handstamp of Frederick Small."<ref name=":0" /> Finbar Kenny, who brokered the purchase of the stamp for Small, also left his initials.<ref name=":0" /> At least seven different individuals have left a mark on the reverse of the stamp.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
It was said that infrared photos taken at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in 2014 "revealed a four-leaf clover beneath the seventeen-point star" design on the stamps' reverse; the star was said to have been applied by Ann Hind to "obscure her husband's mark," a cloverleaf design that bears his initials, "AH."<ref name=":2" /> Sotheby's likewise described this in 2014 as "perhaps a seventeen-point star handstamp on reverse used to obscure the cloverleaf of [Hind's] husband,"<ref name=":3" /> but in their 2021 listing, the auction house simply described it as part of Arthur Hind's mark.<ref name=":0" /> As part of their 2021 listing, Sotheby's also included an image of an 1851 postal cover bearing the same star design stamp, the only other example known, referring to it as the "'Hind' seventeen point star."<ref name=":0" /> In their exhibition of the stamp, Stanley Gibbons listed the seventeen point handstamp as part of Arthur Hind's mark.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Most recently, Stuart Weitzman added his initials and a line drawing of a stiletto shoe in pencil, causing some controversy in philatelic circles.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> See below for a list of the stamp's owners, their nationalities, and the marks they left, if any, on the stamp's reverse:
| List of owners and personal marks since 1856 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Year(s) owned | Personal mark | Nationality | Notes | |
| Andrew Hunter | 1856–1873 | None | Template:FlagiconUnited Kingdom | Original recipient of the stamp by mail | |
| Louis Vernon Vaughan | 1873 | None | Template:FlagiconUnited Kingdom | Hunter's nephew who, aged 12, found the stamp among his uncle's personal letters in Georgetown, Guiana | |
| Neil Ross McKinnon | 1873–1878 | None | Template:FlagiconUnited Kingdom | A local collector, he at first declined to buy it, feeling it was a bad specimen; while he owned the stamp, British Guiana started to garner attention from the philatelic world<ref name=":0" /> | |
| Thomas Ridpath | 1878 | None | Template:FlagiconUnited Kingdom | Liverpool dealer. He recognised its rarity and bought it "on the spot" for £120. Just days later, he sold it to Ferrary in Paris, perhaps for about £150<ref name=":0" /> | |
| Philipp von Ferrary | 1878–1917/20Template:Efn | Purple trefoil within a circle | Template:FlagiconAustria/ | The famous collector, who kept the stamp for several decades; during this time, it became known as the "Rarest Stamp in the World"<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> | |
| French government | 1920–1922 | None | Template:FlagiconFrance | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> at this time, the wider world finally saw an image of the famed 1c magenta<ref name=":0" /> |
| Arthur Hind | 1922–1932 | Clover leaf bearing his initials, "AH"; it is within a seventeen-point star<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /> | Template:FlagiconUnited States/ Template:FlagiconUnited Kingdom<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> |
Paid over $32,500 in 1922 at the Ferrary sale, making world headlines; he showed the stamp at various exhibitions<ref name=":0" /> | |
| Ann Hind Scala | 1932–1940 | Perhaps applied the seventeen-point star handstamp to "obscure her husband's mark"<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> | Template:FlagiconUnited States | Arthur Hind's estranged wife, she displayed the stamp at the 1939–40 New York World's Fair;<ref name=":0" /> sold it to Small for $45,000<ref name=":4">Template:Cite news</ref> | |
| Frederick Trouton Small | 1940–1970 | A comet handstamp; his agent, Finbar Kenny, also initialled "FK" in pencil | Template:FlagiconAustralia<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> | Finbar Kenny, manager of the Macy's stamp department, brokered the purchase<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /> | |
| Irwin Weinberg and Associates | 1970–1980 | "IW" in pencil | Template:FlagiconUnited States | Purchased for $280,000; Weinberg carried the stamp "in a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist, with an ever-present armed guard."<ref name=":0" /> | |
| John Eleuthère du Pont | 1980–2010/14Template:Efn | "JEdP" in pencil | Template:FlagiconUnited States | Heir to the DuPont fortune, murdered wrestler Dave Schultz and died in prison<ref name=":0" /> | |
| Stuart Weitzman | 2014–2021 | A stiletto and the initials "SW," both in pencil | Template:FlagiconUnited States | American shoe designer, paid $9,480,000 at Sotheby's New York on June 17, 2014<ref name=":0" /> | |
| Stanley Gibbons PLC | 2021–present | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
Template:FlagiconUnited Kingdom | London stamp dealing company since 1856, with a royal warrant; purchased at Sotheby's in New York on June 8, 2021 for $8,307,000 (including premium)<ref name="Linns" /> |
Rumours and fakes
At one point, it was suggested that the 1c stamp was merely a "doctored" copy of the magenta 4c stamp of the same series, a stamp very similar to the 1c stamp in appearance. These claims were disproven.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In the 1920s a rumour developed that a second copy of the stamp had been discovered by then-owner, Arthur Hind, who quietly purchased the supposed second copy to subsequently destroy it. The rumour has not been substantiated.<ref name=stampmag/>
In 1999, a second 1c stamp was claimed to have been discovered in Bremen, Germany. The stamp was owned by Peter Winter, who is widely known for producing many forgeries of classic philatelic items,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> printed as facsimiles on modern paper. The stamp was twice examined and found to be a fake by the Royal Philatelic Society London. In their opinion, this specimen is an altered 4c magenta stamp.<ref name=stampmag>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Public display
The stamp was displayed at the 1939 New York World's Fair, the 1956 Fifth International Philatelic Exhibition (FIPEX) in the New York Coliseum, in Australia in 1963, at New York's 1964 Centenary International Stamp exhibition (CIPEX), in London in 1965 and at Toronto's Canadian Philatelic Exhibition (CAPEX) in 1978.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In November 2014, the National Postal Museum of the Smithsonian Institution announced that the then-anonymous owner of the stamp had agreed to display it at the museum in Washington, D.C., beginning 4 June 2015 and running through 2 December 2018.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Next to the Postal Museum exhibit is a copy of a Donald Duck comic book, The Gilded Man, (OS 422) from 1952 whose central plot element revolves around Donald and his nephews, Huey, Louie and Dewey, going to British Guiana to try to find another copy of the stamp. The comic is written and drawn by Carl Barks.<ref>Barrier, Michael (1982). Carl Barks and the Art of the Comic Book. M. Lilien. Template:ISBN.Template:Page needed</ref>
The stamp was exhibited in the Court of Honor at World Stamp Show-NY 2016 in New York City from 28 May to 3 June 2016.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Shortly after the 2021 sale, the British stamp dealing and philatelic publishing firm of Stanley Gibbons announced themselves as the buyers of the stamp.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Beginning November 8, 2021, individuals are able to purchase fractional ownership of the stamp from Stanley Gibbons.<ref name="Showpiece"/> From the same month to December, the stamp is exhibited by Stanley Gibbons at their headquarters at 399 Strand, London.<ref name="euronews 2021">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It recently appeared in September 2023 at the London Stampex exhibition,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and during November—December 2023 in Bangkok.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
See also
- List of postage stamps
- List of most expensive philatelic items
- Finbar Kenny, manager of Macy's stamp department, who arranged the sale of the stamp in 1940
- Robert A. Siegel, who auctioned the stamp twice, in 1970 and 1980
- Treskilling Yellow