Top Stamps

1. The stamp was first issued in Cape of Good Hope in 1853, which makes it the first postage stamp in the Cape of Good Hope, and in the whole of Africa. The stamp is triangular in shape, its design is a female figure sitting on top of an anchor resting on top of a rock which symbolizes the Cape. The stamp was designed by Surveyor General Charles Bell and printed by M/s Perkins, Bacon & Co. Estimated Price : $40,000 .....

The Perot Provisional Stamp

2. The Perot Postmaster's Provisional of Bermuda is the first printed stamp of Bermuda. William Bennet Perot, the postmaster of the town of Hamilton, started this for the convenience of users. Perrot along with a friend came up with this idea since sometimes the postage in the mail was not enough and had to deliver the mails himself. He then wrote the words "1 penny" above the year on a stamp, and signed his name below. Thus a postage stamp was born .....

Red Revenue Small One Dollar Surcharge

3. Originating in the seventeenth century (17th), it was the first surcharged stamp among all the red revenue stamps surcharged for postal use during the Qing Dynasty. Now about 30-some pieces still exist and only one used stamp is now exhibited in the China National Post and Postage Stamp Museum. Estimated Price : $333,382 .....

Blue Military Stamp

4. The Blue Military Stamp is a blue stamp for military use in China. In 1953, a set of three stamps, in orange, brownish red and blue, were designed and issued to the soldiers who were on active duty for free. But due to some security reasons, the stamp was discontinued but a small number of them still remain. Estimated Price : $428,654 .....

The Red Maiden in the Green Robe

5. One of China's postage stamps issued during the Qing Dynasty , the stamp is also known as a 2-cent Small Figure Surcharged on Red Revenue Stamps in green. During the dynasty's reforms, the stamps with silver were discarded and green ink became predominant on the Red Revenue stamps. The one vertical pair now sits in the China National Post and Postage stamp Museum. Estimated Price : $444,477 .....

The Whole Country is Red

6. Issued in 1968, the stamp is true to its name. Holding the "Selected works of Mao" the stamp featured a picture of a worker, a farmer and a soldier with a red map of China in the background imprinted with the golden words "The Whole Country is Red". The stamp had an error as the map of China was drawn incorrectly. As a result, all Chinese post offices had to stop selling the stamp. The face value of the stamp is 8 fen (1 US cent). Estimated Pric .....

Canada s 12 Pence Black

7. This stamp is the most famous stamps in the world and was issued in 1851 features a portrait of the youthful Queen Victoria. Many copies of the Black Pence were printed, but due to its high denomination, only a few copies were sold while the remaining were taken off the market and destroyed in 1857. Estimated Price : $488,900 .....

Olive colored Queen Victoria s Head

8. Printed in 1864, this is the most expensive historical postage stamp of Hong Kong. However, due to a printing error, 52 sheets of the stamp were printed in olive color. The stamp's watermark was wrongly styled, and the word "CC" was printed in the wrong place. Among all 40 pieces of the Olive-colored stamps there is only one block of four such stamps existing. Estimated Price : $824,648 .....

British Guiana 1 Cent Magenta

9. British Guiana 1 Cent Magenta, printed in black on magenta paper, is one of the most costly postal stamps in the world. In 1856 during a shortage of these postal stamps, a postmaster happened to ask the local newspaper to print some 1- and 4-cent stamps. Very simple in its design, the four corners of the rectangle stamps were cut to turn the shape of the stamps into that of an octagon. An only copy of this stamp was discovered by Vernon Vaughan, .....

Post Office Mauritius

10. Again as a result of an error in postal stamps. In September 1847, while inviting friends and celebrities to a ball the Mauritius Post Office issued a set of stamps but the words of "Post Office" instead of "Post Paid" were engraved on the copper plate of the stamp. This ended up being a big mistake as 240 copies were sent before noticing the error. Only 26pieces remain today in the Post Office of Mauritius. Estimated Price : $1.67 million .....

Inverted Jenny

11. This was the first stamp for air-delivery issued in 1918. While printing the sheet had to be fed through the printing machine twice. So accidently the second sheet was flipped and thus one sheet was printed with an upside down Jenny. Thus the Inverted Jenny got created. Only a 100 pieces of the Jenny are found in the world. Estimated Price : $3 million .....

Penny Black

12. Designed by Rowland Hill, or the Father of the Postage Stamp, this is the first stamp in the world. Before this ost offices had to take payments for mail delivery in cash. Hill suggested to wrap the leter in a piece of paper and n adhesive stamp was attached to indicate the prepayment of postage. This concept later came to be known as a postage stamp Penny Black. The stamp shows Queen Victoria. The stamp was only used for one year since its cance .....

Treskilling Yellow

13. The Treskilling Yellow holds the world's record auction sales price for a single postage stamp. The normal three-skilling stamp, was to be green, whereas the eight-skilling stamp was to be in yellow. Due to an unknown error in 1855 the three-skilling stamp was printed in yellow, creating this precious Treskilling Yellow stamp. The only copy of this Treskilling Yellow was discovered by a schoolboy in 1886, while going through his grandparents' att .....

Lady of the Light bulbs

14. Born in Canada, "Lady of the Lightbulbs". Electright light inspection stamp; this stamp was used on inspection reports of the electric wiring inside the house, and were issued in a variety of values. Estimated Price : Commercial Use .....

Bull s Eye

15. These were the first stamps issued by Brazil on 1 August 1843, having face values of 30, 60, and 90 r?is. The design does not include the country name. The unusual name derives from the ornamental value figures inside the oval settings and the arrangement of the stamps in the sheet permitted se-tenant pairs that looked like a pair of bull's eyes. Estimated Price : Between $5,000 - $400 .....

Basel Dove

16. This Basel Dove is a notable stamp issued by Swiss canton of Basel, the stamp also happens to be the first tricolor stamp (printed in black, crimson, blue) of the world and was issued in 1845. The stamp, designed by the architect Melchior Berri, featured a white embossed dove carrying a letter in its beak, and was inscribed "Stadt Post Basel". The stamp was later decommisioned in 1854. Estimated Price : Between $20,000 - $40,000 .....

Benjamin Franklin Z Grill

17. Many countries have issued postage stamp in the name of great people, this stamp is no less. The Benjamin Franklin Z Grill, or simply "Z-Grill", is a 1-cent postage stamp issued by the United States Postal Service in February 1868 depicting Benjamin Franklin. Even though this is the most valuable stamp, the 15-cent Lincoln Z-Grill and the 10-cent Washington Z-Grill are just as rare too. The name Z originates from the "Z" variety of a grill presse .....

Scinde Dawk

18. In a more ancient time of postal system, this was termed as the first adhesive postal stamps. The stamp originated in the Indus Valley of Sindh (Pakistan now). The name derives from the words ?Scinde?, the British name of the province of Sindh, and ?Dawk?, from Hindustani word ?Dak? or Post. Estimated Price : Commercial Use .....

Inverted Head Four Annas

19. The Inverted Head Four Annas, is a collector's delight. Issued in 1854 the stamp was lithographed by the Survey Office Calcutta. Two colors were used, red for the frame and blue for the head. During its production, the paper was first imprinted with the red frames and then blue heads were added within the frames. Though the name suggests Inverted, this arose from a mistake in printing showing the head upside down. It is also considered as one of .....

India 10 Rupees Mahatma Gandhi

20. The stamp featuring Mahatma Gandhi (bapu) was India's most famed stamp. Made in 1948, and overprinted with the word "Service" this was one of India's most rarest and costliest stamp setting a record for the most expensive modern stamp. The stamp was also used by Governor General of India for official use. According to reports, before the stamp could be issued Gandhi was assassinated. Thus the stamp were released as a memorial to the Great Indian .....

Dag Hammarskj ld Invert

21. The Dag Hammarskj?ld invert stamp was issued In 1962 by the US Postal Service; one year after the death of Dag Hammarskj?ld, Secretary-General of the United Nations, in an airplane crash. The stamp shows the yellow background inverted relative to the image and text and is also known as the Day's Folly. A total of 40 million of the inverted stamps were printed after the discovery of the error so there would be no rarity factor. Estimated Price : C .....

Postal Union Congress 1 Stamp

22. One of Britain's postage stamps issued In 1929, this is considered as the most beautiful stamps ever produced. The stamp was designed by Harold Nelson and features the head of King George V and an image of St George and the Dragon. Although the stamp was issued along with four other small format stamps but was highly criticized for its high value of ?1. Estimated Price : Commercial Use .....

Double Geneva

23. Issued by the City of Geneva in 1843, the Double Geneva is a rare Swiss stamp making it the third-oldest stamp of the European continent after the Zurich 4 and 6 (1842), and the British Penny Black and Two penny blue, (1840). As the name suggests, It bears the name Double Geneva for the double image on the stamp and its place of origin. It is considered as an extremely rare of all stamps as even its remaining few copies are not known. Estimated P .....

Pan American Invert

24. The Pan-American invert was issued in 1901 in USA during the Pan-American Expo. The stamps were issued with ornate colored frames enclosing a black-and-white image of various means of transportation. The two color printing left the possibility of errors. The stamp contained three denominations, 1 cent, 2 cents and 4 cents, out of which the 1 cent was considerably more common than the others. Estimated Price : $100,000 .....

India 1947 Aircraft 12 Annas

25. The India 1947 Aircraft 12 Annas was issued for foreign air mail. This was the third stamp issued by the Government of India on 15 August 1947. A copy of this stamp is found in the catalogue of Commonwealth & British Empire stamps 2008. Estimated Price : Commercial Use .....