Thursday 30 June 2011

As Some Of My Friends Know I Collect Stamps,

but the one below is well out of my league! it is 2d blue but from Mauritius, it has just made the record of being the most valuable ever sold in the UK, going for just over£1 million, the stamp was one of the highlights of the Chartwell collection formed by businessman and philanthropist Sir Cyril Humphrey Cripps, expected to fetch more than £20million in nine sales over 18 months, He had originally bought the stamp in 1972 for £29,000, five days later he was offered £39,000 for it but turned the money down, good move!
back to my collection, this is the nearest I have got to it, which I paid £4.90 for, I some how do not think it will make a million!
but I was happy to bid on this rarity, not actually a stamp you can use to post letters but one that was bought as a charity stamp to donate money to a cause, in this case the 1897 Prince of Wales's Hospital Fund, what makes this a little more interesting is that it has been over stamped 1904, a snip at £6.60, the stamp is also unusual in the fact that it is the only British stamp to bear a Royal signature, (Albert Edward),
a few more labels this time from a printer produced as samples to show his companies skill as printers to celebrate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee, £3.40 for all four stamps,
speaking of printers samples this is one form Harrison & Sons, the company origins can be traced back to Richard Harrison who, in 1557, was recorded as a freeman of "the mystery and art of printing", the company was founded by James Harrison in London in 1750 and, until 1997, traded under the name of Harrison, the company has produced stamps for over 100 countries, including all British postage stamps from 1934 until the 1980's, in 1997, the De La Rue (DLR) group purchased Harrison’s and, almost overnight, centuries of tradition were washed away as the company changed its name to De La Rue Security Print, but this sample I paid rather a lot for, but it is the only example of this type in blue that I had seen, so I bidded £8.00 and won!

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