British Guiana One Cent Black on Magenta, 1856
For a very long time, the 1856 one cent “Black on Magenta” of British Guiana was considered to be the world’s rarest and most expensive stamp. In 1856, the former colony of British Guiana urgently required an extra supply of stamps and couldn’t wait for a fresh stock of new stamps to arrive from England where they were normally produced. The postmaster of British Guiana asked the publishers of the Official Gazette newspaper in Georgetown to print an emergency issue for local use. Rather crude looking designs were printed in one cent and four cent denominations. One cent stamps were meant for newspapers, while their four cent counterparts were intended for postal correspondence.
The local designs were printed in black ink on low-quality magenta-colored paper. They featured an image of a sailing ship, the lettering “Black Guiana” and an inscription of the colony’s Latin motto “Damus Petimus que Vicissim” (“We Give and We Seek in Return”). The stamp had a rectangular shape with its corners snipped off, which made it look more like an octagon. Each sample was initialed by a post office employee as a security measure against possible forgeries. However, production of the stamps was soon discontinued. In 1873, a 12-year-old Guaianian boy discovered an octagon-shaped one cent “Black on Magenta”, postmarked April 4, 1856 and bearing the initials “E.D.W” in his family’s attic. He later sold the stamp to N. R. McKinnon, a local collector, for a very small sum. Over the years, the uniqueness of this stamp created an uproar in the philatelic circles, as no other copy was ever discovered. In 1980, it was auctioned to John Dupont at a huge price of $935,000. According to recent rumors, “Black on Magenta” will go under the hammer once again at a New York auction that will take place on June 17th, 2014. The world’s most valuable stamp will reportedly sell for a record price of $10-$20 million. Before the auction, it will be displayed in London, Hong Kong and New York.
