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Everything you need to know about the rare 1847 Post Office stamps of Mauritius and their value\u2026..<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This humble looking copper plate, which is the original 1847 Mauritius \u2018Post Office<\/a>\u2019 printing plate, sold for 1\u2019300\u2019000\u2019 Euros at auction in 2016. If you want to know why it reached such financial heights, come and take a birds-eye view of the situation. <\/span><\/p>\n In the real world, Mauritius is an idyllic island, with sun kissed white sands set around crystal clear seas situated in the Indian Ocean, where a more than rare bird the Dodo once upon a time was known to have inhabited the shores. In the world of philately, Mauritius is a magical land, far far away, who\u2019s energy source is two glittering red and blue stamps, which are the very rare mystical stamps of the 1847 Mauritius \u2018Post Office\u2019 issue, that once upon a time were native to this island.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=\u00a0\u00bb2_5,3_5″ _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.4.4″][et_pb_column type=\u00a0\u00bb2_5″ _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.4.4″][et_pb_image src=\u00a0\u00bbhttps:\/\/www.davidfeldman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Mauritius_stamp_Post_office_one_penny.jpg\u00a0\u00bb alt=\u00a0\u00bbMauritius Stamp Post Office one penny\u00a0\u00bb title_text=\u00a0\u00bbMauritius_stamp_Post_office_one_penny\u00a0\u00bb url=\u00a0\u00bbhttps:\/\/www.davidfeldman.com\/dfsa-auctions\/2020-spring-auctions\/gb-and-british-empire-spring-2020\/30004\/1840-mulreadys-caricatures-1844-anti-graham-carica\/\u00a0\u00bb url_new_window=\u00a0\u00bbon\u00a0\u00bb _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″ hover_enabled=\u00a0\u00bb0″ align=\u00a0\u00bbcenter\u00a0\u00bb sticky_enabled=\u00a0\u00bb0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″ _module_preset=\u00a0\u00bbdefault\u00a0\u00bb hover_enabled=\u00a0\u00bb0″ sticky_enabled=\u00a0\u00bb0″]<\/p>\n MAURITIUS: 1847 <\/span><\/em>1d Red<\/em><\/a> The \u201cPost Office\u201d Issue Mint (sold CHF1.6m in 1993)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\u00a0\u00bb3_5″ _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.4.4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″ custom_margin=\u00a0\u00bb|||-27px||\u00a0\u00bb]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And regardless of which world you inhabit, here is a copper plated essential guide to the legendary Mauritius \u2018Post Office\u2019 One Penny Red<\/a> and Two Penny Blue<\/a> adhesives, who are members of an elite club known as, \u2018The World\u2019s Most Expensive Stamps\u2019 and who walk the philatelic red carpet as one of the world\u2019s most famous.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.4.4″][et_pb_column type=\u00a0\u00bb4_4″ _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.4.4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″ custom_padding=\u00a0\u00bb||0px|||\u00a0\u00bb]<\/p>\n The reasons for this glamorous lifestyle is quite simply their two fold rarity. The story goes like this. Firstly, Mauritius is, by anyone’s standards, a small remote island, largely a stopping off place for the odd ship on its way to India, and yet it was the first British colony to produce its own postage stamps in 1847. This makes Mauritius the fifth region in the entire world to use their own postage adhesives. If you think that the USA started to produce their own stamps in the same year, you get a perspective on the upstart nature of this otherwise sleepy island. Secondly, the Mauritius \u2018Post Office\u2019 issue of 1d red and 2d blue had only 500 copies printed of each value. The subsequent iterations of this stamp replaced the words \u2018POST OFFICE<\/a>\u2019 with ‘POST PAID<\/a>‘ and hence they are distinguished as such. The latter is still bewitchingly rare, but just not as Dodo rare as the former. <\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=\u00a0\u00bb2_5,3_5″ _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.4.4″][et_pb_column type=\u00a0\u00bb2_5″ _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.4.4″][et_pb_image src=\u00a0\u00bbhttps:\/\/www.davidfeldman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Mauritius_stamp_Post_office_two_pence.jpg\u00a0\u00bb alt=\u00a0\u00bbMauritius Stamp Post Office two pence\u00a0\u00bb title_text=\u00a0\u00bbMauritius_stamp_Post_office_two_pence\u00a0\u00bb url=\u00a0\u00bbhttps:\/\/www.davidfeldman.com\/dfsa-auctions\/2020-spring-auctions\/gb-and-british-empire-spring-2020\/30004\/1840-mulreadys-caricatures-1844-anti-graham-carica\/\u00a0\u00bb url_new_window=\u00a0\u00bbon\u00a0\u00bb _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″ hover_enabled=\u00a0\u00bb0″ align=\u00a0\u00bbcenter\u00a0\u00bb sticky_enabled=\u00a0\u00bb0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″ _module_preset=\u00a0\u00bbdefault\u00a0\u00bb hover_enabled=\u00a0\u00bb0″ sticky_enabled=\u00a0\u00bb0″]<\/p>\n MAURITIUS: 1847 <\/span><\/em>2d Blue <\/em><\/a>The \u201cPost Office\u201d Issue Mint (sold CHF1.7m in 1993) <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\u00a0\u00bb3_5″ _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.4.4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″]<\/p>\n And that\u2019s it. In a nutshell, tiny place gets out of the blocks way ahead of most of the world, and prints just a select number of stamps of this particular design, which then transpires only 26 examples that are confirmed to have survived. That\u2019s why philatelists and postal historians the world over make such a fuss about these tiny red and blue effigies from this insignificant place just off the southeast coast of Africa. But, that doesn\u2019t sufficiently explain why someone paid over a million Euros to put the above illustrated printing plate, which by anyone’s measure is a small piece of copper, into their collection. <\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″ _module_preset=\u00a0\u00bbdefault\u00a0\u00bb][et_pb_column type=\u00a0\u00bb4_4″ _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″ _module_preset=\u00a0\u00bbdefault\u00a0\u00bb][et_pb_text _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″ _module_preset=\u00a0\u00bbdefault\u00a0\u00bb]<\/p>\n As is always the case, there is more to the story which we won\u2019t cover in its full technical glory, because two far better qualified commentators have already done so, such as David R. Beech, MBE, FRPSL, and Helen Morgan, author of \u201cThe Blue Mauritius, the Hunt for the World\u2019s most Valuable Stamps\u201d, and who both contributed with informative pieces within the comprehensive auction catalogue<\/a> and a book<\/a>* produced by David Feldman SA<\/a> when this unique printing plate was offered for sale in 2016. <\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=\u00a0\u00bbhttps:\/\/www.davidfeldman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Mauritius_stamp_Bordeaux_cover.jpg\u00a0\u00bb alt=\u00a0\u00bbMauritius Stamp on Bordeaux Cover\u00a0\u00bb title_text=\u00a0\u00bbMauritius_stamp_Bordeaux_cover\u00a0\u00bb align=\u00a0\u00bbcenter\u00a0\u00bb _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″ _module_preset=\u00a0\u00bbdefault\u00a0\u00bb width=\u00a0\u00bb51%\u00a0\u00bb max_width=\u00a0\u00bb51%\u00a0\u00bb][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″ _module_preset=\u00a0\u00bbdefault\u00a0\u00bb hover_enabled=\u00a0\u00bb0″ sticky_enabled=\u00a0\u00bb0″]<\/p>\n The Bordeaux Cover<\/em><\/a>: Mauritius 1847 \u201cPost Office\u201d issue . The Famous and unique cover bearing both One Penny orange-red and Two Pence deep blue (sold CHF 6.1m in 1993)<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″ _module_preset=\u00a0\u00bbdefault\u00a0\u00bb][et_pb_column type=\u00a0\u00bb4_4″ _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″ _module_preset=\u00a0\u00bbdefault\u00a0\u00bb][et_pb_text _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″ _module_preset=\u00a0\u00bbdefault\u00a0\u00bb]<\/p>\n To understand why this copper plate is so highly coveted, we must impart the following essential information. The printing plate was engraved by an English chap Joseph Barnard (1816-65), who it\u2019s worth mentioning arrived in Mauritius as a young stowaway and later made himself known to those in Office that he had engraving and printing skills. He was engaged to engrave the plate during August 1847, and printed the said number of 500 copies of each value and delivered them in September of the same year, and if you were wondering why there is only one impression of each value on the copper plate, the answer is the lack of appropriate tools which prevented Barnard from duplicating his Queen Victoria profiles. This begs the question: how did he print a sheet of these stamps in multiples as is normally the case?\u00a0 And here\u2019s the punchline. Barnard engraved just the two impressions and printed each of the 500 stamps individually from that plate. This rather curious fact is what really captivates the unfathomable mind of the stamp collector, and a detail the observant Frenchman Dr Jacques Legrand<\/a> spotted in 1869, before anyone else, following a scientific study he conducted on this issue, at a time when the considered opinion was that the words \u2018POST OFFICE\u2019 were an error of printing, which they weren\u2019t. And Legrand arrived at this conclusion without the benefit of the plate that only came to light in 1912 and thus confirmed his hypothesis. <\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=\u00a0\u00bb1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.4.4″][et_pb_column type=\u00a0\u00bb1_2″ _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.4.4″][et_pb_image src=\u00a0\u00bbhttps:\/\/www.davidfeldman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Mauritius_printing_plate_1.jpg\u00a0\u00bb alt=\u00a0\u00bbMauritius Stamp Printing plate Post Office\u00a0\u00bb title_text=\u00a0\u00bbMauritius_printing_plate_1″ url=\u00a0\u00bbhttps:\/\/www.davidfeldman.com\/dfsa-auctions\/2020-spring-auctions\/gb-and-british-empire-spring-2020\/30004\/1840-mulreadys-caricatures-1844-anti-graham-carica\/\u00a0\u00bb url_new_window=\u00a0\u00bbon\u00a0\u00bb align=\u00a0\u00bbcenter\u00a0\u00bb _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″ _module_preset=\u00a0\u00bbdefault\u00a0\u00bb hover_enabled=\u00a0\u00bb0″ sticky_enabled=\u00a0\u00bb0″]<\/p>\n Mauritius 1847 <\/span><\/em>Copper Printing Plate<\/em><\/a> (sold for 1.3m Euros in 2016)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\u00a0\u00bb1_2″ _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.4.4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″]<\/p>\n The final chapter in this romantic tale is that another legendary French philatelist, Maurice Burrus<\/a> (1882 to 1959), acquired the copper printing plate sometime in the 1930\u2019s from a British collector Captain Sydney Loder (1867-1944) who had acquired the plate in 1912 when it had been passed through the hands of three gentlemen in quick succession in that year, the first of whom was Dominic Henry Colnaghi who it is claimed was gifted, controversially some say, the plate between 1874-1882.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″ _module_preset=\u00a0\u00bbdefault\u00a0\u00bb][et_pb_column type=\u00a0\u00bb4_4″ _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″ _module_preset=\u00a0\u00bbdefault\u00a0\u00bb][et_pb_text _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.9.4″ _module_preset=\u00a0\u00bbdefault\u00a0\u00bb]<\/p>\n Whilst it is still a puzzle how this copper plate ever got into private hands, it did, and after Burrus died his world renowned Mauritius collection was sold in 1963, but there was no sign of the printing plate – a conundrum which worried the philatelic world who feared it was lost forever. The mystery rumbled on through a seemingly long philatelic winter of half a century, until in 2015 the Burrus family contacted David Feldman auctioneers and solved the enigma by explaining it had remained in the family and it was their intention to sell. In short, what was lost, then found, only to be lost again, was re-discovered. <\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The rest is history as they say, because from our birdseye view here, the copper printing plate is not dissimilar to the more than rare flightless feathered friend of the same island. It’s been hunted to the point of extinction, but unlike the Dodo it has survived against all the odds. And that\u2019s why it sold for 1\u2019300\u2019000\u2019 Euros at auction <\/a>in 2016. <\/span><\/p>\n