British Guiana 1c Black on Magenta: History & Selling Shares

So for £100 , $130 or so you get an 1/80,000 part of a tiny bit of paper,


An item you can never physically touch or show off , you can only see if you make an expensive trip ( more bucks!) to The centre of London!

You don’t even get a physical certificate of ownership until you buy 10 shares.

At that price I can get a nice penny black or Cape triangle to enhance my real albums.

I will not be queueing to get trampled in the rush to buy

I think that this has been mentioned in the recent past, James (jamesw), but as it is quite an interesting and current subject, no worries.

When I have a chance to check, if I find the other thread, I may combine them. We shall see.

Alex (vikingeck), to your comment, I completely agree with your perspective: I would much rather have a really nice stamp for my own than a share of something that doesn’t really belong to me, no matter what SG may claim.

But it makes me wonder: will there be any stampede to buy shares, or will it fall flat? It will be interesting to see what the larger public reaction will be.

I still have no interest in marketing gimmicks.  SG has been trying to peddle the investment aspects of stamps for some time. Graded stamps are another one.

Interesting responses. About what I thought. I'd like to be able to hold it in my hot little tongs as well.
Have to admit I have a brief (very brief) thought of the investment possibilities for my children. If an offer came up in coming years, after I'd shuffled off this mortal coil, they could vote to sell and reap the benefits. But what are the odds? Not very good. Some past owners have hung on to it for 20 to 30 years. And I'm doubtful an offer above what SG paid would ever materialize.
So ya, not happening.
Personally I think it belongs in the Royal Collection, but Her Majesty doesn't seem to want to pony up either.

Visit to Stanley Gibbons Ltd. in London
Display of the British Guiana One-Cent Black on Magenta

Whatever you may think about SG and their current public offering of owning shares in the world's most valuable stamp (it's not anything for me), I must admit that they have done an excellent job with the display and its surroundings.  I visited the shop two days ago, and here is what I found in the upstairs museum.

This is the 2nd time I have seen this stamp, the first time being in 2016 at the big international stamp show in New York City (remember those?), and the two occasions could not have been more different.  Back then, I had to wait in line for 20-30 minutes to get inside a special part of the show to see the stamp, and there were armed security guards on duty, too.  As I recall, photos were not allowed.

The current display is free of charge and open to the public.  You can walk into the SG store, and just go upstairs to see the stamp.  They have done a nice job of creating an anteroom that tells the story of the stamp, and as you will see from the photo below, there is now a huge replica of the back of the stamp, where you are invited to add your own inscription, which I chose to do in honour of the Forum.... so, TSF is now "represented" in connection with the display.  That's about the right amount of this piece of history for me!

As always, opinions are welcome.


Left: Yours truly standing next to the wall mural created to resemble the back of the famous stamp
Inset lower middle right: Close-up view of the TSF mark now placed on the mural in honour of the Forum
Right: The actual stamp on display in a nearby room with special low lighting. Both sides of the stamp are visible.

I note from the Latest SG news letter that they have gone into merchandising the 1 c Magenta with key ring tabs , pin badges and 1000 replicas to help fund the purchase.

even if Chris Beryllium Guy didn’t buy a share of the stamp I wonder if he snapped up some merchandise ?

Chris Beryllium Guy - just read your piece from a visit at SG - Thanks for sharing this with the members - ad putting our TSF on the wall !!
You bought wisely also.....
René

SG is definitely marketing the offering.

No interest but nice to discuss - following our members who "gamble" 
René
Thanks for keeping thread active - Very important investment opportunity LOL !

I was half tempted to buy one share but decided against it in the end 

This article appeared in the business section of the London Evening Standard on 10th December. Always good to see a stamp story make the news.

Moderator Note: This post and a couple of others were originally made in a thread titled Webinar Thu-10-Mar-2022 at 6pm EST. Where that thread was on the "Announcements" board, it would probably never be viewed again, so the posts are being moving in an effort to expand the thread about The World's Most Valuable Stamp.

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The British Empire Study Group (BESG) Presents
"THE British Guiana: The World's Most Valuable Stamp"
With Robert Scott

Thanks to Rob (REL1948 ), I was informed that there is a Zoom webinar tonight from 18:00-19:00 Eastern Std Time in the US on the above subject.  Attendance is free of charge, but you need to register in advance.  Here is a link for registering:

us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/5916468691119/WN_X6Nji6OfRLOoTuqfi79aGw

If you have any problems, please send me a PM and include your email address, and I will send you the registration link by email.

18:00 EST is 23:00 here in the UK, but I am planning to stay up late and attend.  Hope to see you there!

The British Empire Study Group (BESG)
"THE British Guiana: The World's Most Valuable Stamp" by Robert Scott
Presented on 10th March 2022 via Zoom Webinar

Thanks again to Rob (REL1948 ), I was lucky enough to attend this interesting and informative presentation about the world's most valuable stamp, the 1856 British Guiana 1-Cent Black on Magenta.  As I missed the first 10 minutes of the presentation, I did not get to hear the introduction of the presenter, Mr. Scott, who later stated that he wondered if he would be the last person ever to touch this famous stamp. Now there's an interesting comment!

My understanding is that the webinar was recorded and would eventually be posted on YouTube, so I will look forward at some point to filling in the gaps on what I missed.  Below are my recollections on a couple of slides that intrigued me.  Please note that these comments are just what I can remember, so may not be 100% accurate, as I have not fact-checked myself.


I believe that this is an example of the first photograph of the stamp as it appeared in an auction catalogue.  Since the catalogue is written in French, I am guessing that this listing probably happened after the death of Philipp von Ferrary.  Ferrary was born in Paris in 1850 and owned the stamp from 1878 until his death in 1917.  Ferrary had apparently willed his entire collection that included the stamp to a Berlin museum, but the collection was taken by the French Goverment and sold for war reparations.


Mr. Scott told us that in many ways, he finds the back of the stamp more interesting than the front.  In addition to talking about the history of its ownership, he also talked about the marks on the back left by each of its owners.  In the history of the stamp, Mr. Scott told us that while it was owned by Ferrary, it was general kept in a vault where it was virtually never seen.  By the time that it was acquired by American Arthur Hind, he enjoyed displaying the stamp at shows and exhibitions.  He also apparently used to send the stamp from place to place by regular U.S. Registered Mail.

It seems that it was that practice in the end that cost Hind his ownership of the stamp.  He divorced his wife in 1933, and in the financial settlement, he was supposed to keep his stamp collection, and she would get their house and its contents.  But it seems that the stamp had been out on display somewhere and had arrived back to the house in the mail.  Hind's ex-wife claimed that the stamp was then part of the contents of the house and rightfully hers, and the court upheld her claim.  She eventually sold the stamp in 1940.

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Those are just a couple of tidbits that I can remember from the webinar.  I hope to watch it again as a recording when it is available.  I will wait a couple of days, and then I will probably merge this thread into the one specifically about the British Guiana 1856 1-Cent Black on Magenta, since this event is over.

Stay stampy, all!

I wanted to give this thread a bump to make it recent again, and I also wanted to say thank you to Carmen (seegod1 ), for graciously agreeing to let me merge her new thread into this existing one on the same interesting subject: the Stanley Gibbons sale of shares in the world's most valuable stamp, the British Guiana 1-Cent Black on Magenta.

Carmen, if you read back through this thread, you will now see what other members have had to say on the subject.  It looks like you are the first member of TSF to buy a share!