WORLD : ‘Penny’ Stamps Fetch $442,680
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From Times Wire Services
LONDON — A block of “penny black” postage stamps, issued in 1840, were sold at auction today for about $442,680, an auction house said.
The 36 stamps, depicting the young Queen Victoria and originally selling for one pence each, were bought by the Royale Stamp Co. for a private collector who was not identified.
When the set last changed hands in 1934, it sold for about $2,400, said Ray Haffner of the Harmers auction house.
The “penny black” and the “two-penny blue” were the first British postage stamps.
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