The One Cent Magenta by James Barron EPUB torrent

xx

The One Cent Magenta by James Barron EPUB

An inside look at the obsessive, secretive, and often bizarre world of high-profile stamp collecting, told through the journey of the world’s most sought-after stamp.

When it was issued in 1856, it cost a penny. In 2014, the one-cent magenta sold at Sotheby’s for nearly $9.5 million, the most money ever paid for a stamp at auction. Following the journey of this highly coveted item, we meet a fascinating gallery of eccentric, rich, and influential characters who have bought, owned, and sold this tiny square of faded red paper.

One-cent magentas were provisional stamps, printed in what was British Guiana when a shipment of official stamps failed to arrive. Most were thrown out with the newspapers. But one stamp survived. The singular one-cent magenta has had only nine owners since a twelve-year-old boy discovered it in 1873. He soon sold it—in what many call the worst stamp deal in history—for what would be $17 today.

Among later owners was a wealthy Frenchman who hid the stamp from everyone, including King George V; a businessman who traveled with the stamp in a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist; and John E. du Pont, an heir to the chemical fortune, who died in prison after murdering Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz. Together, their stories form a peculiar global history of immense wealth and obsessive desire.

xx