
The unique 1856 1c British Guiana Black on Magenta stamp photo
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There was a stamp "issued" by Antigua, Redonda in 1987 of a John Dupont as a triathlete.europhil wrote: I also recall that he was featured on a stamp from one of the
Caribbean islands. Does anyone remember which one?
europhil wrote:Yes, that's it. It honored John du Pont as the (self-proclaimed)
"Father of the Triathlon in the Americas".
John E. du Pont, an heir to the du Pont chemical fortune whose benevolent support of Olympic athletes deteriorated into delusion and ended in the shooting death of a champion wrestler...
John Eleuthère du Pont was born Nov. 22, 1938, in Philadelphia and lived a lavish and eccentric lifestyle. He built the Delaware Museum of Natural History to house his renowned collections of 66,000 birds and two million seashells...
On occasion, Mr. du Pont ferried athletes to competitions in his helicopter...
At the 1995 world wrestling championships in Atlanta, Mr. du Pont wore an orange jumpsuit and asked to be introduced as the Dalai Lama...
Prevents the wife from getting the house in a divorce settlement.phrag99 wrote:He gave his first wife and 4 young children a week to leave the mansion where they lived .....and then he pulled it down.
capetriangle wrote:All interested
My favorite recollection about the actual stamp. Prior to the Siegel Auction in 1980 my old firm Stanley Gibbons had the stamp on view in London. It was being shown by the former chairman Howard O. Fraser in his office during an interview by a French television company. The stamp, of course, was well protected in multiple layers of plastic but at one point during the interview one of the French television company's lights went out.
A loud pop was heard and some of the plastic covering was showered with hot metal fragments. There was, of course, no damage done to the stamp but it certainly made for an interesting day for Howard Fraser.
The stamp was, I believe, exhibited by DuPont in the open competitive class, under the pseudonym "Rae Mader" (Demerara) at the Toronto International in 1987. I was at the show and remember seeing it with its own security guard standing by the frames.
Kindest regards
Richard Debney
You can probably find three facsimiles quite cheaply - Guyana issued a pair in a 1967 set to mark the World's Rarest Stamp. The third was the cachet on the cover.David Smitham wrote:Greetings from New Zealand - the infamous 1c British guiana made its way to Auckland where it was displayed in 1980 at the Zeapex 80 stamp exhibition.
To mark its (well guarded) appearance in New Zealand a souvenir card was produced. Probably this is the only way most of us will ever have of owning a facsimile of this stamp.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_E._du_PontIn June of 2011, relatives of duPont, Beverly A. du Pont Gauggel and William H. du Pont, filed a petition in Media, PA, that suggested duPont was not "of sound mind" when his will was made up. Also in the petition, claims were made that duPont believed that he was alternately Jesus Christ, the Dalai Lama and a Russian Czar.
Going by history--the Anna Nicole Smith incident; the founder of DHL, Larry Hilbrand; and in HK, Nina Wang--those Will disputes all dragged on for many a year.fromdownunder wrote:Today is the first anniversary of Du Pont's death. There has been no progress as to the sale of the famous stamp - the One Cent Magenta - as apparently, not surprisingly, his Will is in dispute.
I suspect that this issue will not be resolved for years.
I've got to say, having seen a photo of it a few times in magazines, that it's nothing more than a few black splurges on a red piece of paper. I'm sorry if that's somewhat debasing the essence of this rather famous stamp, but as soon as I saw it I didn't quite "get it" -- or maybe that's the point? It's famous only for being rare and not what it looks like.fromdownunder wrote:Now after nearly 18 months since du Pont died, so will this stamp ever be found, or seen again? I am beginning to wonder if anyone actually knows where it really is.
Send it to PSE and have it slabbed. 8)mikeg wrote:Sadly, I do not think the 1¢ will survive being mauled by all the lawyers![]()
It will turn to dust being carted from one courtroom to the next
There's probably not a huge number of people out there collecting British Guiana--at least not modern material complete.fromdownunder wrote:I suppose it's a bit like Paris Hilton - famous for being famous.
The Weill brothers were not involved with the stamp, as far as I know, it was bought by Irwin Weinberg and a group of investors at the Siegel sale in 1970, being sold to John DuPont in 1980 also at a Siegel sale. Now Irwin Weinberg certainly did promote the stamp but the color was fine, when I last saw the stamp in Toronto in 1987.It really suffered under the Wiell Brothers, who carted it with them everywhere they went. It was exposed to enough sunlight to give a normal person skin cancer.
fromdownunder wrote:I suppose it's a bit like Paris Hilton - famous for being famous.
Norm
I'm reminded of Kotelnich #2 where only half of one stamp (the left-hand coupon half) is known to exist.Maxime Citerne wrote:It is interesting to see how human nature can stick to one thing and label it (at least unconsciously) as 'the ultimate', while at the same time disregarding others (at least as much interesting) as less valuable.
I always wonder: under which criteria such unique stamp is worth 5.000.000$, while another unique one will barely fetch 1.000$. Both are uniques, both are classics, both have been emitted by states (or local districts) on their own rights.
My point is: what makes the 'famous' more famous than another 'famous'![]()
There are countless of unique or extremely rare classic stamps in the world today that will never fetch that crazy price. And I am not even talking about varieties or special features, no, just normal stamps emitted by states or locally. As a short and limited example: how many rarities in Russian Zemstvo or Indian Uglies (or ... etc.) that you can buy for a few thousands, if not a few hundred bucks only.
And they are as fascinating as the One Cent Magenta. And in some cases, they also have some prestigious provenance! (I own some Zemstvo rarities that were -like the One Cent Magenta- parts of the famous Ferrari collection as well).
Maxime
Ah yes Nigel, I remember that one too now ... Let's check in my albums ... mmmm ... not in this one ... I open another album ... ah no, it is not in my collection as wellnigelc wrote: I'm reminded of Kotelnich #2 where only half of one stamp (the left-hand coupon half) is known to exist.
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