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 (08), one penny, unused (VIII) (1847)

  • Image of Post Office Mauritius (08), one penny, unused (VIII)
From
1847
To
1847
Location
Private hands
Summary

1d. Unused. Cut close at upper left-hand corner. There is a light patch at the right-hand foot of the A in MAURITIUS.

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 VII and IX and some other Mauritian stamps, for Fr.500 (£20). A Monsieur Perinelle subsequently purchased VIII and IX for Fr.950 (£38).
1881
Moens repurchased VIII and IX for Fr.3,000 (£120) and sold them to Philipp von Ferrary for Fr.5,500 (£220).
1923
Dealer and collector Théodore Champion bought VIII at the sixth Ferrary sale in Paris for Fr.143,350 (£2,100) to replace XI, which he then sold. N.b. It is incorrectly noted in the biographies section of the UK hardback edition of the book (2006) that Champion also purchased IX at this time. He did not and never did. Drat Williams for ever changing the numbering system.
196 (?)
Changed hands privately, together with other items from the Champion Collection.
198 (?)
Bought by the French dealer Bernard Behr for his personal collection, from an anonymous owner based in the US.
1995
Sold through Bernard Behr to a Western European collector (probably German).

Prepared by: Helen Morgan

Dealers

Original Recipient

Owner

Related Cultural Artefacts

Related Places

Bibliography

Books

Journal Articles

Created: 14 March 2006, Last modified: 27 August 2006