| How can a single postage stamp be worth
$ 16,800? Any mistake made in the printing of a stamp raises its value to stamp collectors. A mistake on one inexpensive postage stamp has made the stamp worth a million and a half times its original value. The mistake was made more than a hundred years ago in the British colony of Mauritius, a small island in the Indian Ocean. In 1847, an order for stamps was sent to a London printer--Mauritius was to become the fourth country in the world to issue stamps. (32) {{U}}Before the order was filled and delivered, a ball was planned at Mauritius' Government House, and stamps were needed to send out the invitations.{{/U}} A local printer was instructed to copy the design for the stamps. He accidentally inscribed the words "Post Office" instead of "Post Paid" on the several hundred stamps that he printed. Today there are only 26 of these misprinted stamps left-fourteen One-Penny OrangeReds and twelve Two-penny Blues. Because of the Two-penny Blues' rareness and age, collectors have paid as much as $ 16,800 for it. |