format_quote Originally Posted by
NoName55
extravagant, ungrateful, and self-indulgent waster who pays that price for a stamp already has a mansion or 2
Quite true. Interesting history about the last owner of the British Guiana stamp:
The story of the genuine Penny Magenta, retold by senior editor Rob Haeseler in the July 3, 2000, issue of Linn's, is in itself remarkable.
A 12-year-old boy named Vernon Vaughan found the Penny Magenta in Demerara, the capital of British Guiana, in 1873. He sold it to stamp collector N.R. McKinnon for six shillings, or about $1.50.
Over the years the stamp has been owned by some of philately's greatest collectors, including Count Philippe Ferrari and Arthur Hind. In 1980 the stamp was consigned to the Robert A. Siegel firm of New York, who auctioned it for $935,000 to chemical-fortune heir John E. duPont.
In 1997, duPont was convicted of murdering a wrestler he was sponsoring. The only known British Guiana Penny Magenta remains locked in a bank vault in Philadelphia, Pa.
Perhaps a fitting end for a man who placed more emphasis on material wealth than on the value of people. In spite of DuPont's great Wealth and the mansions he owned. He will never benefit from any of it in his prison cell.