RARE STAMPS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 66, 19 March 1937, Page 12

RARE STAMPS.

£20,000 COLLECTION. MILLIONAIRE'S SECRET HOBBY OLD COLONIAL TREASURES. » (Special.— By Air Mail.) LONDON. February 27. A £20,000 stamp collection, amassed so quietly that very few philatelists knew of its existence, is to be sold soon in London. It is the collection of the late Mr. Michael Stephens, the ink manufacturer, who died a year ago leaving a fortune of £1,000,000. Among his treasures are some of the rare" IS.">O stamps of Xew South Wales, with old Sydney views. They are much sought after by English collectors. Mr. Stephens used occasionally to visit Planner's auction rooms in Bond Street, where his collection is now to be sold, but he never actually attended *ales, preferring to remain unknown to philatelists. All his buvinsr w-.is done by agents, and the disclosure that he possessed so rich a store of rarities has come as a surprise to stamp collectors. He would accept no stamp that was not in the very finest condition. Hence the absence from his magnificent Mauritius series of those faded "post office" varieties that the hardened and wealthy collector marks out as the Greatest prizes. ° Only a few of his intimate friends ever saw his collection, and knew that he possessed a brilliant example of the Canada 12d, now valued at £.">OO, and an envelope bearing two 1/ and one fid Nova Scotia stamps of 1852. for which, it is now learned he paid £450. One of his very latest purchases, a. few days before he died, was some rare stamps of the Italian States, in superb condition, in the Broderip sale. This sale of a small and select collection fetched £10.000. and several of the best items went to Mr. Stephens. Another rarity is an envelope bearing 4d and one Id Ceylon (1852), and there is a couple of States" worth about £150: There are also some fine specimens of the earliest stamps of Great Britain, including a brilliant mint pair of the official V.R. one-penny black. This is the first British stamp, issued in 1840, and preparations are already being made to celebrate its centenary. The Post-master-General is considering the issue of a special centenary stamp to mark the occasion.