108 years ago, this tiny Mediterranean island was alive.
Children sang as they skipped to school. The goat bells sounded from the sun-scorched hillside. Old men argued over backgammon in the village square.
Today, all silent. And all gone.
The last permanent inhabitants left in 1924. Today you cannot even visit - it's off limits. Few books acknowledge it's still there. Few people alive today can remember a time when it wasn't abandoned.
In fact, the island's 108-year-old postage stamps are one of the few proofs that this island once had noise and life.
You have the opportunity to own one of these rare stamps today.
But more than that.
You have the opportunity to own "the one".
The one individual stamp from this island that has no equal. The one every collector of this island's stamp history wants to own.
So rare
The stamps produced on this island are all rare and all famous. Yet yours is particularly rare because it's from the first issue. And that first issue was immediately declared unsuitable. So few were made, and even fewer exist today.
And it gets more incredible still.
Because your stamp also contains an impossibly rare error.
Just three examples with this error ever existed. And just two are known to exist today.
And of those two recorded examples, yours is in far better condition.
Which means the stamp you can own today, is:
The finest quality example in the world.
It isn't every day you have the opportunity to own the prime example of an island's entire stamp issue. Today is that day.
Here is the stamp. And it comes with a warning. It's unlike any stamp you've probably seen before.
The GRI Long Island Error
Long Island (also known as Uzunada) sits off the west coast of Turkey.Just 6 miles long. 108 years ago it was inhabited by 2,000 people of Greek heritage, living under Turkish rule.
Then in May 1916, the British Navy established a base there as part of the WW1 offensive.
The British occupation lasted just 20 days.
Yet in that time the Royal Navy created its own local stamps.
That is just 20 possible days of stamp production.
And in reality, a lot less.
The Royal Navy issued the stamps, not for the few local inhabitants, but for Navy personnel.
They produced them crudely from the resources available and in tiny numbers.
Lieutenant Commander H Pirie-Gordon was responsible for making them. And he created each one by hand on a typewriter. Adding his initials in red pen.
Pirie-Gordon typed "G.R.I. LONG ISLAND" on each stamp.
But on three he made a mistake.
Because on three he wrote "G.R.I." twice. Once in the wrong place, and then in the correct place above. You can see the first (incorrect) impression under the 'G ISLA' of 'LONG ISLAND'.
A second "G.R.I." sits under the "G ISLA"
He used green paper for the first issue, but he found it unsatisfactory and abandoned it in favour of other colours.
As a result, the first issue on green paper (even without the error) is exceptionally rare.
All the stamps from Long Island were short-lived. From a letter dated 10 June 1916 from Pirie-Gordon to the British Postmaster General, we learn:
“The Turks have been so very offensive that the issue of Long Island stamps has had to be discontinued… the Naval Authorities ordered all remaining stamps to be sent to them, with a view, I believe, to having them destroyed so it will be useless to apply to anybody for any more of them”.
Technical description of the stamp
Long Island 1916 (7 May) ½d black on pale green paper with horizontal grey lines, SG4a, typewritten (top copy as always), right marginal from Plate 2a, position 12, showing error 'G.R.I. double' (with the first impression under 'G ISLA' of 'LONG ISLAND').
A superb quality unused example.
Only three existed (from positions 10-12 of this plate), but this is one of only two recorded, and much the finer.
Provenance: Ex 'Mountrobeck' (Christies Robson Lowe 1 June 1994, lot 25).
Accompanied with a Holcombe certificate of authenticity (1990).
Cast-iron authenticity and provenance
Your mint stamp once belonged to the celebrated Long Island Mountrobeck Collection. It formed a key part of a high-profile stamp sale in 1994 at Christie's Robson Lowe Auctions.
It comes with a clean independent certificate of authenticity issued by the highly regarded philatelic expert Peter Holcombe. His certificates remain the gold standard of authenticity.
You also get my lifetime moneyback guarantee.
8.5% a year price growth
The stamp has risen in value over the past 22 years by 189%. That's 8.5% pa simple annual growth.
The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value in 2024 is £5,500.
However, I think it's worth more.
With stamps this rare, it is not unusual to see Stanley Gibbons prices fall behind the true market values.
This is because, in the absence of any trading data, the prices in the catalogue can't rise.
As one expert British Commonwealth stamp dealer wrote recently:
“Very little Long Island material comes to the market, and it’s worth noting that the entire colony is under-catalogued, as the printings include many stamps with a printing edition of less than 50 copies.”
It all makes the price today of £5,500 for the finest quality example of this impossibly rare Long Island error hugely attractive.
That's the same price as the catalogue. A catalogue that is likely undervaluing the stamp considerably.
It is certainly one of those rarities which could outperform when it next appears at auction.
So desirable - don't miss this chance
Stamps from Long Island are among the hardest to find for British Commonwealth collectors. And they are also one of the most unusual. It makes them a real trophy piece for many British Empire collectors.
They were also the first issue directly attributable to the Royal Navy.
As a result, they have become one of the most valuable of all British War Issues.
And it all means I expect this stamp to sell fast.
CLICK HERE TO BUY IT NOW
Or call +44 (0)1534 639 998 or email info@paulfrasercollectibles.com now
Until next time,
Paul Fraser
PS. You will rarely have the chance again to own the best stamp from an abandoned island. Take it today and enjoy free, fully-insured delivery to anywhere in the world.
