WORLD : ‘Penny’ Stamps Fetch $442,680
- Share via
LONDON — A block of “penny black” postage stamps, issued in 1840, were sold at auction today for about $442,680, an auction house said.
The 36 stamps, depicting the young Queen Victoria and originally selling for one pence each, were bought by the Royale Stamp Co. for a private collector who was not identified.
When the set last changed hands in 1934, it sold for about $2,400, said Ray Haffner of the Harmers auction house.
The “penny black” and the “two-penny blue” were the first British postage stamps.
More to Read
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
Whitney Haggins hopes to break ground using a design from The Foothill Catalog. Given her story, we re-air our conversation with Alex Athenson, co-founder of The Foothill Catalog Foundation.
Attorney Frank Carson was acquitted of murder. When the star witness admitted lying, Stanislaus County agreed to pay $22.5 million to settle the malicious prosecution suit.
Whaddya know – the feds work with CA’s “queen of green.” The Golden State gets “secret recipe” gas, but new partners mean new frictions over the familiar smog check program.
