SOTHEBY’S SELLS THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS STAMP FOR $9.5 MILLION THE BRITISH GUIANA Sets New World Auction Record for Any Stamp For the Fourth Time in Its History – Nearly 1 Billion Times Its Original Face Value – Our Coverage Sponsored by Solera Restaurant
If you want to experience premium Spanish cuisine in Manhattan, there is only one place to go and that is Solera. Solera Restaurant and Tapas bar has been dominating Spanish cuisine in Manhattan for the last twenty-one years. Housed in a comfortable midtown brownstone, Solera occupies two floors at 216 East 53rd Street, with a capacity for 115 people. Each dining room evokes a warm, intimate feeling and reflects the colors and images of Spain. Solera restaurant offers contemporary interpretations of regional Spanish cuisine that will delight you. The Wine Selection is exclusively Spanish, offering New York's most extensive collection of Spain's D.O.'s, as well as, a fine selection of Sherries and Gran Solera Brandies de Jerez. Do tell Rufino that Peachy sent you! He is famous for bringing the paella pan to New York, among his many accomplishments. Solera was highly recommended by Whom You Know:
Rufino Lopez is a Mover and Shaker:
212-644-1166
***
For the fourth time in its illustrious history, the British Guiana One-Cent Black on Magenta set a new world auction record for any stamp tonight at Sotheby’s New York*, achieving $9,480,000** – nearly 1 billion times its original face value. No stamp is rarer than the sole-surviving example of the British Guiana, a unique yet unassuming penny issue from 1856, which has been heralded as the pinnacle of stamp collecting for more than a century. The stamp was rediscovered by a 12-year-old Scottish boy living in South America in 1873, and from there passed through some of the most important stamp collections ever assembled. Until Sotheby’s international exhibitions this spring in Hong Kong, London and New York, the British Guiana had been out of public view since the 1986.
David Redden, Sotheby’s Vice Chairman, commented: “We are thrilled with tonight’s extraordinary, record-setting price of $9.5 million – a truly great moment for the world of stamp collecting. That price will be hard to beat, and likely won’t be exceeded unless the British Guiana comes up for sale again in the future. I have to say I’m a little sad to see it go – when I was eight years old this was the most precious object in the entire world, and I never dreamed I would have it in my hands.”
For detailed information on the stamp’s history, watch:
AUCTION HISTORY OF THE BRITISH GUIANA
1922
ARTHUR HIND, UTICA, NEW YORK
Purchased at the auction for then-record price of $35,000
1970
IRWIN WEINBERG STAMP CONSORTIUM
Purchased at the auction for then-record price of $280,000
1980
JOHN E. DU PONT, PENNSYLVANIA
Purchased at auction for then-record price of $935,000
2014
Purchased at auction for new world record price of $9,480,000 million
*The previous auction record for a single stamp was CHF 2,8750,000 (approximately US$2.2 million), set by the Treskilling Yellow in 1996.
The previous auction record for any philatelic item is CHF 6,123,750 (approximately US$4 million), set by The Bordeaux Cover in 1993 – the cover including both of the Mauritius “Post Office” stamps.
FOR MORE NEWS FROM SOTHEBY’S
Follow: www.twitter.com/sothebys & www.weibo.com/sothebyshongkong & WeChat (ID: sothebyshongkong)
Watch: www.youtube.com/sothebys
Sotheby’s has been uniting collectors with world-class works of art since 1744. Sotheby’s became the first international auction house when it expanded from London to New York (1955), the first to conduct sales in Hong Kong (1973), India (1992) and France (2001), and the first international fine art auction house in China (2012). Today, Sotheby’s presents auctions in 10 different salesrooms, including New York, London, Hong Kong and Paris, and Sotheby’s BidNow program allows visitors to view all auctions live online and place bids from anywhere in the world. Sotheby’s offers collectors the resources of Sotheby’s Financial Services, the world’s only full-service art financing company, as well as private sale opportunities in more than 70 categories, including S|2, the gallery arm of Sotheby's Contemporary Art department, and two retail businesses, Sotheby’s Diamonds and Sotheby’s Wine. Sotheby’s has a global network of 90 offices in 40 countries and is the oldest company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (BID).
*Estimates do not include buyer’s premium and prices achieved include the hammer price plus buyer’s premium.
