BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Natl Postal Museum -- Exhibit (Gross Galleries 6): 1856 British Guiana One-Cent Magenta

DC -- Natl Postal Museum -- Exhibit (Gross Galleries 6): 1856 British Guiana One-Cent Magenta:

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Description of Pictures: 1856 British Guiana One-Cent Magenta
June 4, 2015 – November 2017
The National Postal Museum will display the world’s rarest postage stamp, the 1856 British Guiana One-Cent Magenta. The exhibition of the stamp will be the longest and most publicly accessible showing ever.
No postage stamp is rarer than the sole-surviving example of the British Guiana One-Cent Magenta. Printed in black ink on magenta paper, it bears the image of a three-masted ship and the colony’s motto in Latin: “we give and expect in return.” Noted for its legacy, 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. It is the only major rarity absent from the Royal Philatelic Collection owned by Queen Elizabeth II.
Note: The stamp will not be on view May 23 – June 10, 2016.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. GUIANA_161020_005.JPG: British Guiana One-Cent Magenta The World's Most Famous Stamp The stamp you are about to see is the only one of its kind in the world. In January 1856, British Guiana issued a small number of one-cent and four-cent stamps for provisional use while the postmaster waited on a shipment of postage from England. Multiple copies of the four-cent stamp have survived, but this is the only known one-cent. Every time is has sold, it has generated headlines and broken records. Perhaps we are drawn to its history of wealthy, secretive, and sometimes troubled owners. Maybe its origins in the far-flung holdings of the British Empire lend it an irresistible air of romance. On the other hand, the stamp's mystique may stem from its own elusiveness. It has spent most of its 160-plus years behind bank vault bars, appearing only on rare occasions. This display is the One-Cent Magenta's longest and most publicly accessible exhibition ever.
2. GUIANA_161020_015.JPG: Take Away the Magenta What's Left? This photograph of the 1856 One-Cent Magenta was taken using an infrared filter. This suppresses the appearance of the stamp's red surface, making the black printing more visible. Damus petimus que vicissim: British Guiana's motto, derived from the Roman poet Horace. It means, "We give and we ask in return." Initials E.D.W.: Because the stamp could be replicated by anyone with access to printer's type and a press, postal clerk Edmond D. Wight's handwritten initials deterred conuterfeiters. Vignette: Shows a barque, a three-masted sailing ship common in the nineteenth century. Not meant to represent any particular ship, this illustration would have been available in many print shops. Corners: No one knows why the one-cent stamp's rectangular corners were clipped. The four-cent exists in both clipped and intact examples. Postmark: Dated April 4, 1856, it reads Demerara, but that is a country name. The stamp was printed, sold, and used at Georgetown, the colonial capital. Surface-colored paper: Created by adding a thin later of color on top of a sheet of white paper. This method of coloring paper was cheap, but also prone to smudging. Inscriptions: The stamp's text reads British | Guiana | Postage | One Cent. The Guianese dollar, consisting of one hundred cents, became the currency in 1839. One-cent stamps were for mailing newspapers; four-cent stamps were for letters. This may explain the one-cent stamp's rarity; letters were more likely to be saved than newspapers.
3. GUIANA_161020_020.JPG: The 1952 comic book Walt Disney's Donald Duck and the Gilded Man introduced a generation of young readers to the story of the One-Cent Magenta. It features Donald and nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie traveling to British Guiana in search of the elusive stamp. They find it among the treasures hoarded by El Dorado -- the fabled golden man of South America -- and are handsomely rewarded by a wealthy collector.
4. GUIANA_161020_027.JPG: Donald: I'd like to see the records-- Clerk: On the mail of 1856? Sign: Yes, we have no magenta stamps! Clerk: Then step into that line over there! There are seventeen stamp collectors ahead of you! Donald: Gnats! Meanwhile! HDL: That speedboat is going to swamp that old man's canoe! Old Man: Help! Help! Piranhas! Cannibal fish! Sign: Trader Corn, the Oil Man HDL: We've got to save him! HDL: Don't swim out there! The fish will eat you, too!
5. GUIANA_161020_030.JPG: HDL: Pour this on yourself old-timer! Bottle: Castor Oil Old Man: Boys, you've saved my life! Old Man: Anything I can do to repay you lads, I'll do gladly -- anything! HDL: Skip it, old-timer! HDL: Wait! -- On second thought, maybe you can tell us where to find the One-Cent Magenta Stamp of 1856! Old Man: That question is a joke in Guiana -- but you tykes saved me life -- Old Man: I don't know where one is -- now, don't laugh, please -- but I do know who has one! HDL: Who? Old Man: El Dorado, the Gilded Man! HDL: Unca Donald!
6. GUIANA_161020_034.JPG: Timeline of a Rarity 1838: The British colony of Demerara in South America is joined with neighboring possessions to form British Guiana. 1856: The postmaster of British Guiana's capital, Georgetown, runs low on postage tamps and asks a local printer to prepare one-cent and four-cent stamps for provisional use until a shipment arrives from England. The One-Cent Magenta is used on April 4. 1873: Twelve-year-old stamp collector Louis Vernon Vaughn discovers the One-Cent Magenta among some old papers at his uncle's home in British Guiana. Unhappy with its appearance, he sells it for six shillings and buys a packet of prettier foreign stamps. 1878: The wealthy collector COunt Philipp von Ferrary purchases the stamp for a sum thought to be 40 pounds. It will not emerge from his vast Paris estate for nearly 40 years. 1917: Ferrary dies at the age of 67. His massive stamp collection is willed to the Berlin postal museum. However, because France and Germany are at war, his stamp collection are seized a few years later by the French government as enemy property and sold to pay off German war reparations. ... 1940: Ann Hind exhibits the stamp in the British Pavilion at the New York World's Fair, and shortly thereafter sells it to an anonymous buyer for $45,000. 1954: LIFE pictures the One-Cent Magenta in color for the first time. Its ownership remains shrouded in mystery, and the magazine claims that even the owner's wife does not know he possesses the stamp. 1966: British Guiana achieves independence and becomes the Republic of Guyana. One of the first stamps issued by newly-independent Guyana pictures the One-Cent Magenta. 1970: Frederick T. Small, an Australian living in Florida, is identified as the stamp's owner when he sells it for $280,000 to a group of investors headed b Pennsylvania stamp dealer Irwin Weinberg, who spends the next decade promoting it with theatrical flair. Irwin Weinberg steps into an armored car with a briefcase containing the One-Cent Magenta handcuffed to his wrist, Philadelphia, 1976.
7. GUIANA_161020_041.JPG: 1878: The wealthy collector COunt Philipp von Ferrary purchases the stamp for a sum thought to be 40 pounds. It will not emerge from his vast Paris estate for nearly 40 years. 1917: Ferrary dies at the age of 67. His massive stamp collection is willed to the Berlin postal museum. However, because France and Germany are at war, his stamp collection are seized a few years later by the French government as enemy property and sold to pay off German war reparations. 1922: American industrialist Arthur Hind pays $32,500 for the One-Cent Magenta, making it the most valuable stamp in the world. Arthur Hind [center] poses with philatelists Charles Phillips [left] and Gus Mosler at the American Philatelic Society's convention in Boston, August 1930. 1933: Arthur Hind dies, leaving a "dwelling, furniture, paintings but not my stamp collection" to his widow. Ann Hind sues her husband's estate for the One-Cent Magenta, claiming he gave it to her before his death. The case is settled in her favor. Ann Hind [center] shows the One-Cent Magenta to prominent stamp collector Ernest Kehr [left] and Grover Whalen, president of the New York World's Fair. ... 1970: Frederick T. Small, an Australian living in Florida, is identified as the stamp's owner when he sells it for $280,000 to a group of investors headed b Pennsylvania stamp dealer Irwin Weinberg, who spends the next decade promoting it with theatrical flair. Irwin Weinberg steps into an armored car with a briefcase containing the One-Cent Magenta handcuffed to his wrist, Philadelphia, 1976. 1980: An anonymous buyer, later revealed to be John E. du Pont, purchases the stamp for $935,000. Amateur wresting replaces philately as du Pont's main interest, and the stamp again disappears from public view for decades. 2010: John du Pont dies in prison while serving a 13-to-30 year prison sentence for third-degree murder. 2014: The stamp is sold on behalf of the du Pont estate to shoe designer and entrepreneur Stuart Weitzman. 2015: The One-Cent Magenta returns to public view once again at the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum.
8. GUIANA_161020_047.JPG: Deciphering the Back Multiple markings on the reverse of the stamp testify to its provenance, or ownership history. Circled trefoil: Count Philipp von Ferrary Handwritten J.E.d.P: John Eleuthere du Pont Pencil initials FK: Finbar Kenny, manager of Macy's stamp department, brokered the stamp's sale to Frederick T. Small. Four-leaf clover and AH: Arthur Hind Seventeen-point star: Applied by Ann Hind to obscure her husband's mark. Pencil initials IW: Irwin Weinberg and Associates Comet: Frederick T. Small Infrared photographs taken at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in 2014 revealed a four-leaf clover beneath the seventeen-point star.
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2016 photos: Equipment this year: I continued to use my Fuji XS-1 cameras but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000. Seven relatively short trips this year: two Civil War Trust conference (Gettysburg, PA and West Point, NY, with a side-trip to New York City), my 11th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including sites in Utah, Nevada, and California), a quick trip to Michigan for Uncle Wayne's funeral, two additional trips to New York City, and a Civil Rights site trip to Alabama during the November elections. Being in places where people died to preserve the rights of minority voters made the Trumputin election even more depressing. Number of photos taken this year: just over 610,000.
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