A rare Abraham Lincoln stamp that was stolen from a safe in Indiana, US in 1967 and surfaced 39 years later in Chicago has sold for more than $430,000.

The so-called Ice House Cover stamp, with envelope, was auctioned Saturday at Manhattan's Robert A. Siegel galleries.

The buyer is known to be Arthur K.M. Woo, a doctor who has otherwise chosen to remain anonymous.

Dr Woo paid $431,250 for the 90-cent stamp - over its pre-sale estimate of $300,000-400,000, including the buyer's premium.

The Ice House Cover, featuring Lincoln's likeness is on an envelope mailed from Boston to an ice house in India in 1873.

The stamp vanished from its owner's safe in Indianapolis - but later turned up in 2006 at a home in Chicago.

A collector notified the police.