Mauritius ''Post Office'': One of the World's Rarest and Valuable Stamps

 

In September 1847, the Mauritius ''Post Office'' stamps were issued in Mauritius, a British colony. The stamps come in two denominations, a one-penny orange red and a two- pence deep blue. These stamps were engraved by Joseph Barnard, who designed the stamps based on the Great Britain stamps first released in 1841(head of Queen Victoria and released in two denominations of the same colour, a one-penny red brown and a two pence blue). Even if these stamps were locally made and possess a rather primitive characteristic, they made Barnard's name legendary in Mauritius 'postal history.

                                       

Mauritius ''Post Office'', Two Pence stamp

There were 500 of each value printed and issued on September 21, 1847, and many of these stamps were used on invitations sent out to friends and celebrities of Lady Gomm, the wife of the Governor of Mauritius, for a ball that she was hosting that weekend.

The words ''Post Office'' can be seen on the left side of the stamp, but on the next issue in 1848, these were replaced by ''Post Paid''. Many stamp collectors believe that the words ''Post Office'' had been an error.

                                      

Mauritius, ''Post Office'', One Penny and Two Pence stamps.

What made the Mauritius ''Post Office'' postage stamps some of the most valuable stamps in the world is because it has been part of the prized collections of famous or prominent stamp collectors such as Alfred F Lichtenstein (American philatelist), Arthur Hind (American Industrialist and philatelist), Sir Ernest de Silva (Sri Lanka philatelist) and Sir William Avery (baronet and British philatelist). King George V, in an auction in 1904 paid 1,450 UK Pounds which was a world record for a stamp in those days.

The best amongst all of the Mauritius Post Office collections is owned by Hiroyuki Kanai, which has unused specimens of the one-penny and two-pence stamps, called ''Bordeaux Cover''. This was dubbed ''La piece de resistance de toute la philatelie  (The greatest item in all philately). This collection of Kanai was sold in 1993 via David Feldman (auctioneer), with a price of about US $4 million.

                                     

Bordeaux Cover with Mauritius 1d Red and 2 d Deep Blue ''Post Office'' auctioned for about US $4 million in 1993
 

There are only 26 known pieces of the Mauritius Post Office stamps that exist today, 14 one-penny and 12 two-penny stamps. In 2011, a two-penny blue Mauritius Post Office stamp was sold for US $1.67 million in the UK.

Mauritius ''Post Office'' stamps