The Most Expensive Old Stamp in the World, Worth IDR 131 Billion
VIVA – It's hard to believe that there are some objects when viewed by weight actually have fantastic prices, one is stamps. There is an old stamp that looks simple is considered the most expensive object in the world by weight.
This classic 1856 stamp has a value of US$8.5 million or IDR 131.6 billion. In comparison, the average 0.2-carat diamond (which also weighs 40 milligrams) costs around US$700, while the same amount of LSD costs around US$5,000. No object can compare to this ultra-rare stamp in terms of value per weight, as reported from the Odditycentral site, on Monday, January 2, 2023.
Then, what makes The British Guyana One-Cent Black on Magenta stamp so expensive? It turns out that it was further mentioned that this more than a century-old stamp is nothing but a sacred item for stamp collectors around the world. So naturally, if the item has a fantastic value.
This is probably the most famous stamp because it is the only one of its kind. While most collectible stamps have multiple copies in circulation, this particular stamp is the only specimen.
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Interestingly, The British Guiana One-Cent Black on Magenta is not even an original stamp. In 1856, a local news agency in British Guiana printed several sheets of paper emblazoned with an image of a three-masted ship and the colony's motto, 'We give and expect nothing in return,' to temporarily replace a batch of stamps the postmaster deemed fake.
These replacement stamps were taken out of circulation after just a few weeks after several new stamps were brought in, but 17 years later, in 1873, a 12-year-old boy found one among his uncle's letters and sold it to a local stamp collector. Fast forward 150 years and that little piece of magenta paper is the world's most valuable item by weight.
The British Guiana One-Cent Black on Magenta passed through the hands of 9 owners until June 2021, when it was purchased by a company called Stanley Gibbons. But now, the most valuable stamp in the world has hundreds, maybe thousands of owners.
Stanley Gibbons decided to sell shares of The British Guyana One-Cent Black on Magenta stamp like shares of a company. The stamp was divided into 80,000 pieces or shares that anyone could buy for US$120 a piece. It sounds like a good investment, as the value of this extremely rare collectible is expected to increase over time.
