The first extraordinary stamp discovery is stamps themselves.

The fact that they worked so extraordinarily well is a miracle.

Not every innovation works, but the introduction of a standard rate, paid postal service, paid for by the sender was a success by every measure.

Rowland Hill’s (and others’) new system was so well used it helped drive the UK’s rising literacy rates. Reading and writing was no longer an elite pursuit.

Now, let’s go beyond that and look into stamp collecting to find some more extraordinary stamp discoveries.

1 - The Inverted Jenny Sheet

Any seasoned stamp collector will know this story. It’s by common consent the most extraordinary discovery in stamp collecting history.

William T Robey is the man who discovered the Inverted Jenny, one of the most valuable stamps in history.

He rightly guessed that a new stamp - prepared to celebrate a new air mail service - using a two-stage printing process might produce an error.

And he was spectacularly right. He snapped up the only sheet of 100 stamps with an upside-down image of the Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” plane that made it into circulation.

Crucially, Robey immediately told the postal clerk who sold him the sheet about the error. The issue was soon stopped and no more Inverted Jennies are known.

Since that day, May 14, 1918, the Jennys have been catalogued and tracked and almost all of them are accounted for. Just last year, one went for $2 million at auction.

2 - British Guiana 1c magenta

This stamp is unique, it is the most expensive stamp in history, is the only stamp from its issuing country - a British colony at the time.

It was created by mistake. Or a series of mistakes. It’s 1856, and British Guiana (not for the first time) has run out of stamps from London, so has to knock up a local product. This is the result.

It stayed on the island until 1873, when a schoolboy collector, 12-year-old L Vernon Vaughan, put it into his album. It was sold by him for just 6 shillings.

Perhaps its real discovery should be dated to its purchase by Philipp von Ferrary, one of history’s most famous stamp collectors.

Ferrary’s ownership puts it into the top echelon of philately and when it was sold from his collection in 1922 it was first called the world’s rarest stamp.

It made $7,343 then.

In 1970, it sold for $280,000 to an investment group including Irwin Weinberg.  It went for $935,000 in 1980 to John E du Pont.

In 2014 it sold for $9.48 million and in 2021, it was auctioned again, selling for $8.3 million.

3 - Basel Dove of 1845

The Basel Dove is a discovery of the whole modern stamp collecting hobby. When it was released it was considered ugly and was withdrawn in part because it was so unpopular.

Now, it is considered one of the most beautiful classic stamps.

Designed by Melchior Berri and printed by Benjamin Krebs, it features a dove carrying a letter along with the Basel coat of arms.

The Dove was innovative as the first tri-color printed stamp and the first to use embossing.

Approximately 41,400 were printed in two printings.

The Dove was used in 1849-1850 after cantonal (Switzerland’s semi-independent regional states) stamps were officially discontinued. That adds to its rarity. 

Multiples are extraordinarily rare and valuable. Originally a green color version was thought to be a proof, but recently a partial sheet was found indicating the green version was actually the first printing.

The full story of the Basel Dove's birth remains a mystery because of holes in the postal archives.

Perhaps another discovery awaits.

4 - Hawaiian Missionaries of 1851

The famous Hawaiian "Missionaries" stamps were introduced by American missionaries on the islands in the 1850s.

Not so Christian was the murder that one of them inspired.

In 1851, Postmaster Henry Whitney issued 2 cent, 5 cent, and 13 cent stamps.

Handset printing means lots of variations. And thin paper - in the tropics - means that surviving copies are rare.

The 2 cent blue is one of the most sought after classics. Only 15 are known to exist.

Its fame led to murder when obsessed collector Hector Giroux killed a man to steal his unused copy. A detective uncovered the crime by checking collectors' albums.

Thankfully today you can see this great rarity, valued over $1 million, on display at the British Library without resorting to crime.

These treasured Hawaiian stamps command huge prices due to their beauty, rarity and historical significance.

5 - the Alexandria blue boy of 1846

The 1846 Alexandria Blue Boy is the only known example of the 5 cent Alexandria provisional stamp printed on blue paper. Its romantic origin story will melt the heart of even the msot data driven philatelist.

It was produced by postmaster Daniel Bryan, probably using the presses of the Alexandria Gazette newspaper. There are several different versions of the stamp with slightly different designs.

The most famous was stuck onto an envelope carrying an 1847 love letter from James Wallace Hoof to his cousin Janette Brown, defying her family's objections.

Hoof wrote "Burn as usual" but Janette kept the letter unharmed for decades until her daughter found it in 1907. That year it sold for $3000.

While not a national issue, the Alexandria Blue Boy's singular status, intriguing backstory, and remarkable color error have made it one of the most fabled United States rarities.

In 2019 sold for $1.18 million, probably less - taking inflation into account - than its $1 million sale in 1981.

6 - The Treskilling Yellow

The 1855 Sweden 3 skilling yellow is the world's most famous stamp error and a true philatelic treasure.

We know that a complete sheet went through the printer with the wrong colour. The 3 skilling should be in green, but somehow a batch was made in the rather lovely bright yellow reserved for the 8 skilling issue.

Just one stamp was found, in 1885, 30 years after the issue and it must be assumed that the others have been lost.

Again, it passed through the Ferrary collection, on its way to becoming one of the most valuable stamps in history.

The last known and most valuable sale was an auction return of $2.3 million in 1996.

It’s known to have been owned by royals and is currently in the hands of a Swedish politician.

7 - 1850 British Guiana "Cotton Reel"

Before the 1c Magenta came the “Cotton Reel”.

These “stamps” were also locally produced, and by some measures barely count as proper stamps.

They’re very crude, like others on our list, made in a newspaper office, in this case the Royal Gazette newspaper.

The stark black ink on colored paper denotes each value.

There were so few of them that they were initialed by postal officials to show they were genuine.

The rarest is the 2 cent, printed on rose paper, of which there are only 10 known examples. The ad hoc nature of their birth means that poor quality paper was used, so few survived beyond their initial use.

They have been through the UK Royal Collection and been owned by legendary philatelists like Tapling, Ferrary and King Farouk.

You can find them retailing for around £20,000 today, though they were relatively cheap as recently as the 1880s.

8 - Mauritius 1847 issue

In 1864, a Mme. Borchard found an example of one of the rarest stamps in all of philately among her husband’s paper.

So, a couple of decades after they were printed the Mauritius 1847 “Post Office” stamps started their journey into immortality.

They were printed in an orange-red one penny issue and a deep blue two pence.

Engraved by Joseph Osmond Barnard, these stamps, though locally produced, were based on the designs of GB stamps.
Just 500 of each value were printed. Famously, their first use was to send out invitations for a ball held by the Governor's wife.

The stamps are highly coveted by collectors due to their rarity, early dates, and unique primitive character.

Over the years, they fetched astronomical prices at auctions, becoming prized possessions for collectors like King George V.

In 2021, a 'Ball Invitation' envelope sold for over 11 million euros. They are one of the few stamps to leave a legacy in popular culture, featuring in literature and even an episode of The Avengers.

9 - US Benjamin Franklin Z Grill 1c

The Z grill was incised into the stamp in order to allow the ink of a cancellation stamp to be better absorbed.

Zs are extremely rare and were only in use for a few months before a different shape was employed. That means that only around 1,000 of each face value of the 1868 Benjamin Franklin issue got this particular feature.

Even fewer have survived and been discovered for collectors.

There are just 2 known 1-cent stamps. The New York Library owns 1 copy. The other was sold in 1998 for $935,000. It was bought by a stamp dealer, who later traded it for a block of Inverted Jennys.

Even knowing the grill exists requires specialist knowledge and finding them takes a fine eye for detail. It is possible more of these stamps are out there somewhere. If you can find one you can pretty much name your price.

10 - the Tyrian Plum

This stamp is rare because Queen Victoria lived so long.

When she passed away, the same frame design was used in new stamps for her son King Edward VII.

However, when the printers De La Rue switched from a two-colour to a single-colour process they decided they needed a new frame for their stamps.

While this process was worked through, the postal authorities ran down their stocks of two-colour stamps. By the time they were ready to move on to the single colour design the king, who’d had to wait so long to reign, was dead.

The vast majority of the new stamps - printed in the colour Tyranian Plum - were destroyed. Two sheets were kept by the Post Office and are in the collections of the Postal Museum.

Those few stamps that did make it out into circulation are the extraordinary discovery, and are likely to fetch at least £100,000 if they ever come to sale.

Making your own extraordinary stamp discoveries

The world of philately is extremely well documented.

Stamp catalogues are super famous after all.

And, rare stamps are generally accounted for.

Up to a point.

Stamps were produced in huge numbers. It’s possible there are more rarities out there to be discovered.

And there’s no reason why you won’t find one.

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