British Guiana 1c Magenta
- Maker
- British Guiana (British colony)
- Year
- 1856
- Rank
- 1 of 100
British Guiana 1c Magenta
British Guiana 1c Magenta by British Guiana (British colony) (1856) is ranked 1 in the FLOAT 100 for Stamps. It sold for $8,307,000 on 8 June 2021. The single most famous stamp in the world and the only known example of its kind — repeatedly the highest price ever paid for a single stamp, the 'Mona Lisa of philately.'
What is it, and why is it in the FLOAT 100?
The single most famous stamp in the world and the only known example of its kind — repeatedly the highest price ever paid for a single stamp, the 'Mona Lisa of philately.'
1-cent magenta, black ship vignette on magenta paper, octagonal, 'Damus Petimus Que Vicissim' motto, clerk-initialed 'EDW'; the unique surviving example
What is the best-sourced number for it?
- Figure
- $8,307,000
- Kind
- Realized at auction
- Date
- 8 June 2021
Sotheby's New York, 8 June 2021 — sold to Stanley Gibbons PLC for $8,307,000 incl. premium. Prior sale: $9,480,000 to Stuart Weitzman, Sotheby's, 17 June 2014.
This is a realized sale. Somebody paid it. Source.
How this is made
- The figure
- One reference price, taken from a named public source and shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. A market asking price and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- Why no grade ladder
- Most FLOAT 100 entries are individual objects. There is one of this, so there is no population and no spread across grades to show.
- Archive
- 2026-08-08