British Guiana 1c Magenta - World’s Most Expensive Stamp

The British Guiana 1c magenta is regarded as the world's most rare stamp.

It was issued in limited numbers as an emergency in British Guiana (now Guyana) in 1856, and only one specimen is now known to exist.

It is imperforate, printed in black on magenta paper. The stamp itself is in octagonal shape as it was easier to dust that way using scissors.

The stamp features a sailing ship along with the colony's Latin motto "Damus Petimus Que Vicissim" (We give and expect in return) in the middle.

The stamp shows a postmark dated April 4 1856, Demerara (a county in British Guiana), signed initials E.D.W. of the Postal Clerk Edmond D. Wight, apart from the inscriptions by design: British, Guiana, Postage, One Cent and Damus Petimus Que Vicissim.

• 1855: British Guiana received only 5000 stamps, in stead of 50,000, from England.
• 1856: The stamps depleted soon enough, prompting the post master, E T E Dalton to reach out to the local newspaper printer to print provisional stamps until new batch of stamps arrived from England. A rough imitation of officially printed stamps were designed and printed in two denominations - 1c stamps for newspapers and 4c stamps for letters. The stamps were initialed EDW, by the postal clerk Edmond D. Wight. As soon as the official stamps arrived, these stamps were removed from circulation. These stamps are believed to have been in use for 8-10 weeks.
• 1873: As 1c stamps were meant for mailing newspapers, and practically no one saves newspapers, the 1c stamps ceased to exist, until a Scottish boy found the 1c stamps in a pile of newspapers at his uncle’s place. The 12 year old Vernon Vaughan sold the stamp to Neil Ross McKinnon for 6 shillings.
• 1878: McKinnon sold his entire collection, including 1c magenta, to Wylie Hill, who found out about the uniqueness of this stamp through a London based dealer. It was sold to Thomas Ridpath  along with four other stamps for 120 Pounds. Count Philippe la Renotière von Ferrary, one of the greatest stamp collectors, found this stamp in a private sale from Ridpath, immediately recognised its uniqueness, purchased it to add it to his vast collections.
• 1917: The stamp was donated to Berlin’s postal museum after Ferrary’s death. Berlin lost it to France after world war and the stamp travelled among a few collectors and dealers.
• 1922: The stamp was purchased for 300,000 francs, on behalf of Arthur Hind, by Hugo Griebert.
• 1933: After Arthur’s death, his wife Ann Leeta Hind Scala repossessed the stamp - although she had to fight in the courts to inherit the stamp from her late husband.
• 1935: The stamp was sold privately in England and America. The identity of the new owner(s) are not known, but Fredrick Trouton Small was known to have it in his possession, and made it available for exhibitions.
• 1970: The stamp was auctioned at Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York by Robert A. Siegel. The stamp was purchased by a syndicate of 8 non-stamp-collectors for 280,000 dollars.
• 1980: John E. du Pont bought the stamp for under a million dollars from Irwin Weinberg at an auction.
• 2014: The stamp was put up for auction after du Pont’s death in prison, where it was purchased for 9.5 million dollars by Stuart Weitzman.
• 2021: The stamp was purchased by rare stamp dealership Stanley Gibbon at an auction for 8.3 million dollars. The stamp is put on display in London at their store. Stanley Gibbon is allowing partial ownership of the stamp. A total of 80000 pieces are made available for partial ownership.