num_pages: 276
description: An inside look at the obsessive secretive and often bizarre world of high-profile stamp collecting told through the journey of the worlds most sought-after stamp. When it was issued in 1856 it cost a penny. In 2014 this tiny square of faded red paper sold at Sothebys for nearly $9.5 million the largest amount ever paid for a postage stamp at auction. Through the stories of the eccentric characters who have bought owned and sold the one-cent magenta in the years in between James Barron delivers a fascinating tale of global history and immense wealth and of the human desire to collect. One-cent magentas were provisional stamps printed quickly in what was then British Guiana when a shipment of official stamps from London did not arrive. They were intended for periodicals and most were thrown out with the newspapers. But one stamp survived. The singular one-cent magenta has had only nine owners since a twelve-year-old boy discovered it in 1873 as he sorted through papers in his uncles house. He soon sold it for what would be $17 today. (Thats been called the worst stamp deal in history.) Among later owners was a fabulously wealthy Frenchman who hid the stamp from almost everyone (even King George V of England couldnt get a peek); a businessman who traveled with the stamp in a briefcase he handcuffed to his wrist; and John E. du Pont an heir to the chemical fortune who died while serving a thirty-year sentence for the murder of Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz. Recommended for fans of Nicholas A. Basbanes Susan Orlean and Simon Winchester The One-Cent Magenta explores the intersection of obsessive pursuits and great affluence and asks why we want most what is most rare. 
language: English
title: The One-Cent Magenta: Inside the Quest to Own the Most Valuable Stamp in the World
publisher: Algonquin Books