Back in 1856 when he produced a few 'contingency' stamps to use whilst waiting on a new supply to arrive from Great Britain, it's a safe bet the postmaster of British Guiana could not have foreseen that nearly 160 years later one of them would be so rare that it would be in the running to fetch a cool $20 million at auction.
The rare stamp, from a one cent series the postmaster produced, is believed to be the only one from that series still in existence. He also produced a 4 cent series but there are a couple of those known to be in collections around the world. The stamp was owned by convicted murderer and millionaire John du Pont who died in 2010 whilst serving gaol time for the murder of wrestler David Schultz in 1996.
20% of the proceeds from the rare stamp are to go to a wildlife foundation Du Pont funded.
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