The result was extremely interesting, as a perusal of the facts of this article will demonstrate.
There are two varieties of the 1847 Mauritius, a 1d. red and 2d. blue. The stamp is particularly distinguished, as will be observed in our illustration, by the words "Post Office" on the left-hand side instead of the more usual "Post Paid."
Owing to its rarity and the increased interest evinced by all classes in stamp collecting, the value of this stamp has gone up by leaps and bounds.
THESE TWO STAMPS WERE SOLD FOR £1,000.
There is a good specimen in the British Museum collection. It was purchased fifteen years ago for the modest sum of £70. I say modest, because in 1887, when another specimen came into the market, it realised no less a sum than £200, showing an advance of £130.
SOLD FOR £740.
But this was by no means a top price. The next transaction in blue Mauritius was the sale of a pair which after a spirited competition were knocked down to Messrs. Stanley Gibbons, Ltd., for £680—the price, by the way, of a well-matched pair of thoroughbreds. In 1897 the last transaction took place in this variety, when another pair changed hands for the respectable consideration of £1,921.
So that if by hook or crook you can get hold of an 1847 blue Mauritius, there is a fortune in store for you. However, so far as collectors know, there are only some 23 specimens of the two varieties—11 of the one and 12 of the other—in existence.