The red and blue Mauritius are considered the most expensive postage stamps in the world. Their value is over eight million euros. Of the star gives insights into the history of these collector’s items, which are coveted worldwide – for which even the English King Charles V paid a record price.
Every morning, after director Giandev Moteea unlocks the door of the Mauritius Postal Museum, his first step is to the cabinet where the red Mauritius is exhibited. Although it’s just a replica of the world-famous stamp first issued on September 21, 1847, Moteea can’t get enough of it. “I’m living the dream of every stamp collector”he says with a smile.
World famous postage stamp: The story of the red Mauritius
Red – and also blue – Mauritius symbolizes an important part of the history of the tropical island paradise, which lies in the Indian Ocean off the southeast coast of Africa. After the world’s first prepaid postage stamp was printed in England in 1840, the then British colony of Mauritius followed suit seven years later. Postage stamps were a new concept back then, and only a handful of countries used them. Mauritius was the fifth country in the world to print postage – two years ahead of Germany.
On September 21, 1847, Mauritius issued two postage stamps engraved and printed on a copper plate by the British Joseph Osmond Barnard in the capital, Port Louis. Barnard made a series of 500 orange-red onepenny stamps for the local post office and 500 deep blue twopenny stamps for overseas use. The wife of the governor at the time, Lady Elizabeth Gomm, stuck the very first stamps on her invitation to her costume ball at the island’s government house on the same day. No one suspected how valuable and famous the brands would one day become.
8.1 million euros – the most expensive postage stamp in the world
One of the envelopes of this invitation was auctioned off in Germany last year. At the auction in Ludwigsburg, the brand changed hands for 8.1 million euros. “It is the highest price ever paid for a single philatelic item”according to a spokeswoman for the auction house.
Because the Mauritius is not just any postage stamp. The total of 1000 pieces were sold out soon after they were issued. What makes them so special is a supposed flaw. Instead of “Post Paid” (postage paid), as on subsequent series of the stamp, Barnard had edged on the left “post office” (post office) written. According to experts, only 15 copies of the coveted red Mauritius (including two uncancelled) and twelve copies of the blue Mauritius (including four blank) have survived.
Most of these are behind bulletproof glass in museums around the world. The British royal family also has an unstamped blue and a red on an envelope in the safe. Two more of the mint stamps were purchased by a consortium of Mauritian companies in 1993 and are on display at the Blue Penny Museum, not far from the Postal Museum. In the Postal Museum itself there are replicas of the rare red and blue Mauritius originals of the less valuable second series as well as the date stamp with which the stamps were canceled at the time.
Museum owner: “We are very proud of it”
“We are very proud of it. We see the red Mauritius as a small ambassador for our country. She brought us world fame”, says Moteea, who started collecting stamps as a young boy and is now a passionate philatelist. School groups, pensioners, interested tourists and collectors from all over the world come to the museum almost every day to learn more about the famous brands. “It is fascinating to be surrounded by these historical articles on a daily basis and to be the custodians of history”says Moteea.
“This was by no means an auction like any other”says the spokeswoman for the auction house Christoph Gärtner on the auction of the red Mauritius last year. “It is every auctioneer’s dream to be able to auction such a piece.” That only happens every few decades and very few auctioneers are lucky. Preparations had already been made several weeks in advance. A safe was purchased especially for the envelope, and a security company was hired for the auction itself and a press conference.
Few copies for sale – value continues to rise
Many surviving copies of the first edition are now in the museum collection and therefore cannot be acquired by private buyers. “Of course, this means that the price increases continuously with each change of ownership”, said the spokeswoman. That definitely makes a Mauritius an investment property. “Also, compared to many other philatelic items, these stamps are stamps with a story.”
The brands with the “post office”-Inscription first attracted the attention of collectors in 1864 when Jeanne Borchard, the wife of a Bordeaux merchant, found a red and a blue specimen in the papers of her husband, who had business connections in Mauritius, and exchanged them with another collector. Since then, its value has steadily increased.
According to another well-known story, the future King George V bought an uncancelled blue Mauritius of the first series at an auction in 1904 for the equivalent of 1677 euros, a world record price at the time. The following day, George V heard one of his secretaries comment that “some damn fool” paid a huge sum for a single stamp. To which George V is said to have replied: “I’m that damn fool.” A hundred years later, the specimen was estimated at 2.3 million euros – George V. was obviously not too big a fool after all.
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
