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Treskilling Yellow
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Estimated value: Much higher than US$3.14 million
The Treskilling Yellow is a Swedish
postage stamp, which holds the world's record auction sales price for a
single postage stamp.
The normal three-skilling stamp, printed
in Sweden, should be green, whereas the eight-skilling stamp was
printed in yellow. However, due to an unknown error in 1855, (most
likely because the three-skilling plate was accidently replaced by an
eight-skilling one), the three-skilling stamp was printed in yellow,
creating the precious Treskilling Yellow stamp.
The only known copy in existence of the
Treskilling Yellow, was discovered by a schoolboy named Georg Wilhelm
Baeckman in 1886, while going through his grandparents' attic.
The stamp made headlines in 1984 when it
was sold for 977,500 Swiss francs (US$1.07 million). At a 1990 sale, it
made over US$1 million, and then in 1996 it sold again for 2.875
million Swiss francs. Each successive sale meant a world record worth
for a postage stamp.
Being one of the most expensive objects
in the world, the stamp was auctioned off once again in Geneva,
Switzerland, in May 2010. The exact price and the identity of the buyer
were not disclosed, but the auctioneer David Feldman released that "it
is more expensive than any other single postage stamp in the world."
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