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Rarer Than the Post Office Mauritius
- Functions
- Attitudes
- Alternative Names
- Post Office Mauritius, Rarer Than
- Summary
‘Rarer than the Post Office Mauritius’ became a catchcry during the twentieth century, yet no guarantee of commensurate fame and fortune.
There was only one stamp – a single specimen of the 1¢ 1856 stamp of British Guiana discovered in the late 1870s - that did eventually garner the honour of being the most expensive and the rarest stamp in the world. This was in 1980 and the record has been eclipsed many times by other stamps, including the ‘Post Office’.
By the early 1930s Charles J. Phillips acknowledged that there were numbers of nineteenth-century stamps rarer than the 'Post Office Mauritius'. They were indeed desirable, but, Phillips noted, 'Do not for a moment think that they should be priced as high. Many of these varieties are of minor importance'.
Bibliography
Journal Articles
- 'The Bermuda Mystery: Postage Stamps or Surcharge?', Stamp Collectors' Fortnightly, vol. 5, no. 105, 1 October 1898, p. 5. [ Details... ]
- Phillips, Charles J., '19th Century Stamps that are Rarer Than the Post Office Mauritius', Stamps, vol. 2, no. 1, 17 December 1932, pp. 17-18. [ Details... ]
Journal Notes
- 'Rarer Than the Post Office Mauritius', Stamp Collectors' Fortnightly, vol. 6, no. 152, 5 January 1901, p. 1. [ Details... ]
- 'Rarer Than the Post Office Mauritius', The Stamp Lover, vol. 1, no. 1, June 1908, p. 4. [ Details... ]
Prepared by: Helen Morgan
Created: 25 March 2006, Last modified: 8 July 2006