The purchase of a few copies of the Two Cents and Twelve Cents of the first issue of Labuan, in 1879, some years before the advent of the handsome "labels," all happily now obsolete, would not have proved a matter for regret, seeing that the prices have for some years been well over £10 for the two.
At present, the current Five Shillings stamps of Montserrat, Sierra Leone, Southern Nigeria, &c., are catalogued, unused, at about 25 per cent. over face, as once were the Two Rupees Fifty of Ceylon, the Five Shillings St. Vincent, and the Five Shillings Victoria, blue on yellow; without recommending it as an investment, it is by no means impossible that within twenty years from now a Montserrat Five Shillings may be worth £10 or even £15.
Incomparable as regards romantic interest and actual value, the first two stamps of Mauritius have been, ever since their discovery in the 'sixties, the desiderata of every collector.
Other stamps—and there are several—may be rarer; but, as examples of a genuinely necessary issue, small in quantity, the One Penny and Twopence "Post Office" of sixty-four years ago will always be looked upon as the ultimate, even if seldom attained, goal of the Philatelist.
THE KING'S COPY OF THE TWO PENCE "POST OFFICE" MAURITIUS.
THE MAGNIFICENT UNUSED COPIES OF THE ONE PENNY AND TWO PENCE "POST OFFICE" MAURITIUS STAMPS ACQUIRED BY HENRY J. DUVEEN, ESQ., OUT OF THE COLLECTION FORMED BY THE LATE SIR WILLIAM AVERY, BART.