As Many Of My Friends Know,

I collect stamps,

as many people do, but I have never found any thing of great rarity, unlike Reinhold Hoffmann who thinks he has a one cent stamp dating from 1861 and bearing the portrait of Benjamin Franklin, it appears that only 3,100 of them were ever printed during the American Civil War and stayed in use until 1867, Reinhold, from Dresden, said it was actually his partner Baerbel, 71, who bought the book containing 4lbs of stamps for $25, all he has to do now is take it to an expert in America to have it authenticated,


rare US stamp dealer Craig Selig from Fort Wayne told a German newspaper; 'a certificate of authenticity can be issued in this case only by the Philatelic Foundation in New York, it is very exciting', while some one cent stamps from the civil war era are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars or more, others can change hands for around $20, I am not an expert but I found this site that lists values of American stamps listing a 1 cent Franklin blue at $125 in mint condition, on the other hand there are so many variations that could make the stamp much more valuable, Reinhold believes his stamp could worth up to an incredible $3 million! time will tell.