–with release of new ‘Wildlife of Guyana’ stamps

THE Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) has released new and picturesque stamps capturing Guyana’s diverse fauna.

Available in $80, $130, $150, $160 and $200 denominations, these stamps will be sold at GPOC’s Headquarters from June 23, 2014, and at all post offices countrywide from July 1, 2014.

Non-member philatelists and members of the public who are desirous of obtaining First Day Covers of this rare issue of stamps should contact GPOC’s Philatelic Services Department at North Road, Georgetown, or call telephone number 225-9002. Philatelists who are registered with the Corporation will receive an updated programme. Moreover, GPOC wishes to endorse the stamp collection hobby, and remind persons of the fortune that is likely to follow an avid philatelist.

In 1856, British Guyana Postmaster E.T.E. Dalton needed stamps in a hurry. As such, he asked the publishers of the Official Gazette in Georgetown to print emergency issues. Consequently, one-cent and four-cent black-inked stamps were printed on magenta paper. Also printed on those stamps was the Latin motto of the colony, “Damus Petimus que Vicissim,” which translates as, “We give and we seek in return.”

This emergency issue, well known as the ‘Black on Magenta’, became a treasure for the avid philatelists. In 1873, an octagon shaped one cent ‘Black on Magenta’ was discovered by a 12-year-old Scottish schoolboy (Vernon Vaughan) among his family’s documents in Georgetown, Demerara. This lone stamp was sold for six shillings, and became a treasure for its many owners. In 1980, John E. du Pont bought the one cent ‘Black on Magenta’ for US$935,000., and added it to his private collection. There it remained until his death in 2010.

Fortune is expensive. On June 17, 2014, the treasured one cent ‘Black on Magenta’ was successfully auctioned in New York for US$9.48 million as part of John E. du Pont’s estate.