Rarest Stamp

What is the rarest (most expensive) stamp you've ever seen in person? I'm assuming this would have taken place at a stamp show, or the like. Since I don't frequent a lot of shows my record would probably an example of an inverted Jenny (C3a).

British Guiana one penny magenta at Interphil in 1976 and it looked much better than it does today.

I saw the British Guiana one penny magenta at Interphil 76 also. I still have the show program.

Same here! Saw the British Guiana 1 penny magenta, but also the Inverted Jenny at several different shows.

Peter

Heading to PIPEX in Portland, Or today. I get to see (2) US C3a (inverted Jenny) that are on display!

I never been to a stamp show - http://www.stampworld.com/stamps/Zurich/
I got a Zurich 1843 Red Horizontal Lines in a stamp box I bought- the way I understand it is the first stamp Zurich came out with. I didn't know what to do with it at first since my USA stamp collection is mostly used and inexpensive, sooo- I just pinned it to the wall in a see through glassy type card for a while- finally decided to sell it on ebay with a reserve and it sold to a man in Japan. I was freaked until he gave me a positive feedback that he got the stamp.

I've only been to one small stamp show. I saw the graf zeppelins and US #1 and #2 there. It was a great experience though, and I hope to go to many more in the future!

I have seen the Guiana, but I actually had this cover and the whole collection in my hands and was able to view it. About 25 covers on 16 exhibition pages.
http://www.stampclicks.com/articles/article-1.htm

At auction I have seen some Canadian overprint with perfin that sold for a bunch of money. I always worry about fakes with things like overprints and perfins. These went for $800 to $1500 each.

When I was about 8 years old (1958) I paid 10 cents for a copy of the British Guiana (rarest stamp in the world!). I ran to the mailbox every day for about a month. It never came. H.E. Harris, I WANT MY DIME BACK!!

Seen? The British Guiana I do believe.

Held in hand? My dad did once own a C3a and I got to hold that (in a stock card of course) in my hand. I've also held a 90c 1860 cover in my hand.

Owned? Scott 78c.

Back a few years ago we had a c3a on loan from the APS for the Minnesota Stamp Expo. I got to put it in the frame.

I have handled/sold several C3a in my career, but I was also lucky enough to handle and carefully examine the only certified 24c 1873 Continental BNCo stamp (Scott #164) which currently catalogs around $375,000. I think. I have also seen all the world rarities on display at the International exhibitions held here in the US since 1966, so if I am lucky, in two years I will attend my sixth U.S. International!

I don't think I have anything rare. The 2 stamps I have that are worth the most in my collection are #298 mnh and #9 used. I like them both. I have never been to a stamp show.

Mine would have to be the uber-rare "Tributo Emmanuelle" Guinè-Bissau.



I knew there was a reason to get into topicals........

*I've edited out the naughty parts so nobody gets offended. Posted here purely for it's philatelic value.

I am lucky to have a U.S. 19, on cover certified by Bill Weiss. Also, 89r2, 99r2 and numerous curl on cover as well. none of these are really rare to most but they are to me. And that's what counts. Compare the C3a, which is an EFO by the way, to the 19 or some other early stamps like the 316 coil which are intentional issues and not an error stamp. I think it's a case of apples and oranges. Aside from its story and the dramatic appearance of the stamp, it's not that rare. There are many stamps where less than 100 examples are known to exist but don't command that price. I suspect that if rarity were to by listed by quantity of surviving examples and not catalog value the list would be quite different.

My apologies if I got off topic.

Art