Blue Mauritius, book cover

Welcome to the Blue Mauritius Research Companion

This website contains biographical and bibliographical information about the Post Office Mauritius stamps and subjects related to them. It is based on my research for the book Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World's Most Valuable Stamps.

Post Office Mauritius (07), one penny, used (VII) (1847)

  • Image of Post Office Mauritius (07), one penny, used (VII)
From
1847
To
1847
Location
Museum für Post und Kommunikation, Berlin
Summary

1d. Used. Completely obliterated with a cancellation of parallel bars.

Details

Events

1847
Used on a letter to Borchard at Bordeaux.
1869
Found by Madame Borchard (in 1869 or earlier). The stamp was acquired by the dealer Madame Desbois.
1870
Madame Desbois sold the stamp to the dealer Jean-Baptiste Moens, along with VIII and IX and some other Mauritian stamps, for Fr.500 (£20). Legrand subsequently purchased VII for Fr.250 (£10).
1897
Dealer Théophile Lemaire bought Legrand’s collection in July, valuing VI and VII at Fr.30,000 (£1,200). Both VI and VII sold later that year to Jules Bernichon for Fr.46,500 (£1,860).
1901
The Reichspostmuseum, Berlin, obtained VII through the agency of German dealer Philipp Kosack as an exchange. The stamp, along with seven others (including XXIII, the Bordeaux letter bearing the single two pence ‘Post Office’), was placed in a wall-mounted, glass-fronted, lead display frame.
1943
The frame was moved to the safety of the Reichsbank’s vaults in Berlin.
1944
The frame was moved to a mineshaft in Eisleben (situated in what later became East Germany), but was not recovered at the end of the Second World War.
1976
A former US army soldier offered the frame and its contents to British dealer Robson Lowe at an international stamp exhibition, an offer reported by Lowe to Interpol.
1977
The former soldier surrendered the frame to the US Customs Service. The frame and its contents were claimed by both East and West Germany.
1990
Upon the reunification of Germany, the US government handed back the frame and it was placed in the Museumsstiftung Post und Telekommunikation in Bonn.
2000
A new Museum für Post und Kommunikation opened in Berlin and the stolen stamps, including VII and XXIII, returned to public display.

Prepared by: Helen Morgan

Owners

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Original Recipient

Owner

Related Cultural Artefacts

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Exhibition Brochures

Journal Articles

Journal Notes

Newspaper Articles

Images

Title
The original case containing two Post Office Mauritius and other rare stamps stolen from the Berlin Postal Museum
Type
Photograph
Details