Famous Rare Stamps - Introduction

This post is the finale in the series of famous and rare stamps. Though these stamps lack a specific nickname per se, they are renowned and of exceptional value. They are referred to by the year, denomination, and country - the first stamp in the below list is popular as the 1850 2-cent British Guiana or simply the 2-cent Guiana. Any such list based purely on value will have a high concentration of stamps from the USA. US collectors are a majority in the serious stamps collectors sector and tend to specialize in US stamps. Below is our list of famous rare stamps:

Stamp	Explanation	Sample or Copy in the same series
1850, 2c – British Guiana	Only few copies known to exist. Sometimes called 2c circular Guiana.
1858, 81p – Moldavia	First stamps of Romania – Only a few 100s were ever sold and fewer still remain. The 27p, 54p, and 108p versions in the same series are also very rare.
1860, 3c – Tuscany	Very few issued because of its relatively high face value – hence, very rare. It depicts the arms of the House of Savoy.
1878, 1d – Transvaal	Some of the 1d, red on blue stamp of this series has an error – the name is spelled ‘Tranvral”. Occurs only in the first printing and so extremely rare. There are also Tete-beche pairs in the same series which are also very rare.
1859, 4p Imperforate – Ceylon	The rarest of Ceylon’s first stamps that include 8p, 9p, 1s, and 2s in the same series
1948, 10r Gandhi “Service” Overprint	Only 100 copies exist – issued exclusively for the use of the Governor General – so extremely rare & valuable.
1896, 1p Trinidad	Few copies have the denomination overprint missing making them extremely valuable
1869, 30c – USA	Depicts Shield, Eagle, and Flags – there is an inverted flags error in a few of them which make them extremely rare
1869, 24c – USA	Depicts signing the declaration of independence in the center – there is an inverted center design error in some of them that make them extremely rare
1869, 15c – USA	Depicts “landing of Columbus” as the design in the center – some have this design inverted making them extremely rare
1851, 12p – Canada	Depicts Queen Victoria in Black

There are several other stamps that have errors that make them extremely rare. Rare examples from each country will be covered in future posts on country profiles.


Last Updated: 09/2015.