Australian Stamps Set Some "Modest" World Records

"Stamps are often nominated as the most expensive man-made objects on a value to weight ratio. Usually quoted as the world-record holder is a Swedish stamp, the Treskilling Yellow, discovered in an attic in 1886. It sold for $US2.06 million at a 1996 Geneva auction, then again in May 2010 for an allegedly higher, but undisclosed, price. The reason for its extreme value is that it was mistakenly printed in the wrong colour. It's the only example recorded in the world," writes reporter James Cockington on Australia's Sydney Morning Herald website.

He goes on to say, "Nothing quite compares with this on the Australian scene but a few more modest world records were set in the Melbourne suburb of Boronia last month at a Prestige Philately auction."

Among those setting new records - the £6 Victorian stamp duty specimen which is shown above. It sold for $3200 which is roughly the same in U.S. currency. The £8 version sold for $3600. It scored higher because there are only two known in the world according to the article.

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