Rare stamps: Swedish “Treskilling Yellow” and more famous stamps

Maybe you inherited some rare stamps, or a large collection of stamps from your grandmother or grandfather. The stamps vary in age, are from all over the world, and are well taken care of. Of course you want to find out which are the most valuable. Such a collection is a treasure of history. You can share your story or report a valuable stamp here.

If you have a stamp with an error in printing, content or perforation or some other unique feature it might be a rare stamp. But also with the advancement of technoloy in communication less postage stamps are being printed, and so more stamps have become a rarity. Rare stamps don´t have to be old to be valuable. There are modern stamps with some kind of printing error that are very valuable.

Where can you find rare stamps?

One of the most rare and expensive stamps ever documented in the world, a stamp from British Guinea, was discovered by a school child. It was literally the only one of its kind.

If you search the Internet, read stamp collecting catalogs or a free stamp collecting catalog online, visit a stamp collecting store or stamp exchange, you'll get to know several tips for finding valuable stamps. Some collectors, for example, say that purchasing sheets of Israeli stamps is a good investment now, because some of these stamps will be highly rare items later. You can also search the collection of your grandmother or grandfather, search other old albums, ask familiy members and friends, or colleagues. To find out if a stamp is really valuable you can search eBay to find the market value, or ask a stamp dealer.

World's most valuable stamps

There are stamp items that have sold at auctions for more than one or two million US dollars. These rarities are famous classic stamps. These stamps, like the “Inverted Jenny”, the “Treskilling Yellow”, or “British Guinea 1c Magenta” are discussed all over the Internet and they're all interesting to read about.

May 2010, in Geneva, Switzerland, the Swedish “Treskilling Yellow” was sold at a closed, private auction. It remains the most expensive known stamp in the world. This Swedish stamp was last sold in 1996 for 2.88 million Swiss francs (then about 2.3 million US dollars).

But many more famous stamps exist. These items are just a few of the more famous and valuable stamps that we would all love to find! Please drop by and give some suggestions for other rare and valuable stamps. So that we can compile a list of the world's most famous stamps.

Do you think you've a rare and valuable stamp? Share it here, and tell!

Do you have a rare stamp story?

Do you think you've found a rare and valuable stamp? Heard an interesting story about a rare stamp? Have any photos of a rare or famous stamp? We'd love to see your photos and read your story, and so would everyone else, we're sure.