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Post Office Mauritius (21/22), one penny, used (XXI) + two pence, used (XXII) (1847)
Gallery
- From
- 1847
- To
- 1847
- Functions
- Cover and Stamp
- Location
- Private hands
- Summary
1d and 2d. Used together on a folded letter. The stamps are cancelled with one impression of PENNY POST, upside down in a rectangle. In addition, the letter bears the following markings: (on the back) MAURITIUS / POST OFFICE / OC 04 1847, SHIP LETTER / PLYMOUTH, PARIS / 26 DEC 47 (?), BORDEAUX 28 DEC 47; (on the front) BOULOGNE / 26 DEC 47 in red, COLONIES & C. ART.13 in a rectangle. The delivery charge, 90 centimes, is indicated in manuscript on the front.
Details
Events
- 1847
- Used on a letter to Ducau & Lurguie at Bordeaux, sent ‘via England’.
- 1902
- Found by a French schoolboy when searching through the firm’s correspondence.
- 1903
- Dealer Théophile Lemaire bought the letter for £1,600 and sold it to Brunet de l’Argentière for £1,800.
- 1921 (?)
- Alfred Lichtenstein bought de l’Argentière’s collection.
- 1922
- Arthur Hind bought the letter from Lichtenstein.
- 1934
- Auctioned by H. R. Harmer in London at the Hind sale (Hind died in 1933) and purchased by dealer Edgar Mohrmann for Maurice Burrus for £5,000.
- 1963
- The Raymond H. Weill Co. bought the letter at the Burrus sale on behalf of a client for £28,000.
- 1968
- The Raymond H. Weill Co. bought back the letter after it had again changed hands.
- 1971
- Bought by Hiroyuki Kanai for 120 million Japanese yen.
- 1986
- Consigned with the Kanai Mauritius collection to David Feldman.
- 1988
- Sold to an anonymous buyer for $3.8 million.
- 1993
- Auctioned by David Feldman in Zurich and purchased by a lady representing an anonymous client for SFr.5,750,000 (£2.64 million, $4 million), which remains, at the time of publication, the highest amount ever paid for a philatelic item.
Prepared by: Helen Morgan
Related Subjects
Dealers
Original Recipient
Owner
Related Cultural Artefacts
Related Places
Bibliography
Books
- Williams, L. N., Encyclopaedia of Rare and Famous Stamps, vol. 1 of 2, David Feldman, Geneva, 1993. [ Details... ]
- Williams, L. N., Encyclopaedia of Rare and Famous Stamps, vol. 2 of 2, David Feldman, Geneva, 1997. [ Details... ]
Catalogues
- The Burrus Mauritius, Auction catalogue, Tuesday, 1 October 1963, Robson Lowe, London, 1963. [ Details... ]
Ephemeras
- Lemaire, Théophile, 'Les Timbres les Plus Rares du Monde, Post Office Maurice, 1 penny et 2 pence', La Cote Réelle des Timbres-Poste, second series, no.9, Théophile Lemaire, Paris, 31 January 1903, p. loose. [ Details... ]
Journal Articles
- 'Mauritius Post Office', Deutsche Briefmarken Zeitung, vol. 15, no. 2, 29 February 1904, pp. 21-25. [ Details... ]
- Ibbotson, Peter, 'Arising from those Bordeaux Letters', Gibbons Stamp Monthly, June 1994, pp. 29-31. [ Details... ]
- Lemaire, Théophile, 'Deux nouveaux "Post-Office" de Maurice', La Cote Réelle des Timbres-Poste, second series, no.9, 31 January 1903, pp. 1-7. [ Details... ]
- Stocken, Nevile Lacy, 'The "Hind" Sales', Stamp Collecting, vol. 42, no. 13, 23 June 1934, pp. 306-07. [ Details... ]
Journal Notes
- 'Stamps of Interest', Stamp Collecting, vol. 18, no. 14, 8 July 1922, p. 330. [ Details... ]
Newspaper Articles
- 'Rare Mauritius Stamps: Big Prices at Sale of Hind Collection', The Times, 13 June 1934, p. 13. [ Details... ]
- 'Mystery Woman buys 'Crown Jewel of Philately'', L’Express, 5 November 1993, p. 15. [ Details... ]
See also
- 'Twixt Editor and Reader [Bordeaux envelope]', Stamp Collectors' Fortnightly, 4 July 1903, p. 70. [ Details... ]
- 'The Twenty-third "Post Office" Mauritius', Stamp Collectors' Fortnightly, 9 May 1903, p. 38. [ Details... ]
- 'Another Find of P.O. Mauritius', Stamp Collectors' Fortnightly, vol. 9, no. 209, 1903, p. 1. [ Details... ]
- 'The Latest "Post Office" Mauritius', London Philatelist, vol. 12, no. 135, March 1903, p. 60. [ Details... ]
- 'Mauritius: Discovery of Two More "Post Office" Stamps', London Philatelist, vol. 12, no. 134, February 1903, p. 31. [ Details... ]
Images
-
-
- Title
- Kanai Auction
- Type
- Photograph
- Date
- 1993
- Details
-
-
- Title
- Quai des Chartrons, 26-27
- Type
- Photograph
- Date
- 2003
- Creator
- Helen Morgan
- Details
Created: 14 March 2006, Last modified: 21 August 2006