Blue Mauritius, book cover

Welcome to the Blue Mauritius Research Companion

This website contains biographical and bibliographical information about the Post Office Mauritius stamps and subjects related to them. It is based on my research for the book Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World's Most Valuable Stamps.

Museum für Post und Kommunikation, Berlin

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    The original case containing two Post Office Mauritius and other rare stamps stolen from the Berlin Postal Museum
    Details

Functions
Museum
Url
http://www.museumsstiftung.de/berlin/d211_rundgang.asp
Location
Leipziger Straße 16, D-10117 Berlin-Mitte, Berlin
Summary

The oldest postal museum in the world, Berlin's Museum für Post und Kommunikation (as it is now known) was founded in 1898, with origins dating back to the 1870s.

The Museum purchased specimens of the 'Post Office Mauritius' stamps in 1901 and 1903.

During the Second World War valuable items from the Reichspostmuseum (as it was then) had been first removed to the safety of a vault in the Reichsbank in Berlin, and early in 1945 were taken to a mineshaft in Eisleben. Some items were recovered after the war ended but the two 'Post Office' stamps did not surface until 1976 in the USA. They were finally returned to German custody in 1990.

Between the end of the war and reunification, both Germanys had established postal museums in East and West Berlin. These were eventually brought together, and after much renovation the new Museum für Post und Kommunikation opened in Berlin in 2000.

Details

Events

1901
One penny 'Post Office' stamp, used, obtained by the Reichspostmuseum, Berlin, through the agency of German dealer Philipp Kosack as an exchange.
1903
The French dealer Théophile Lemaire bought the Bordeaux letter bearing a single two pence 'Post Office' stamp for £1,200, and sold it to the German dealer Philipp Kosack for £1,400. Kosack then sold it to the Reichspostmuseum in Berlin.

Prepared by: Helen Morgan

Owner

Bibliography

Journal Articles

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Images

Title
The original case containing two Post Office Mauritius and other rare stamps stolen from the Berlin Postal Museum
Type
Photograph
Details

Created: 18 March 2006, Last modified: 1 July 2006