Most Expensive Stamps Sold at Auction (All Time)

About This Dataset

Postage stamps ranked by hammer price at public auction in millions of USD. The British Guiana 1c Magenta — a provisional stamp printed in 1856 in British Guiana using red ink on black paper — sold at Sotheby's New York in 2021 for $8.3 million, making it the world's most valuable stamp by a considerable margin. With only one known example in existence, it has been described as the Holy Grail of philately and has passed through some of the most remarkable ownership histories of any collectible object.

Analysis

British Guiana 1c Magenta (1856) heads the table on 8.30, ahead of Mauritius Blue Penny (1847) (3.80) and Treskilling Yellow (Sweden, 1855) (2.30) in Auction Price (Million USD) in 2021. 7.93 separates the highest figure (8.30) from the lowest (0.37). Most of that gap is between first and second alone (4.50 of 7.93); the other 7 are separated by just 3.43. Only 1 of the 8 reaches even half the leader's figure (4.15 or more).

Source: Wikipedia

Key Findings

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British Guiana 1c Magenta (1856) leads in Auction Price (Million USD) with 8.30 in 2021.

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2021 recorded the highest combined total across all categories.

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Gap in 2021: British Guiana 1c Magenta (1856) is 22.4× larger than Cape of Good Hope Triangle (1853).

Most Expensive Stamps Sold at Auction (All Time)

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Table

Data Insights Below

Data Insights

Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart

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Data Points

8 categories · 7 years

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Top Value

8.30

British Guiana 1c Magenta (1856)

Auction Price (Million USD) · 2021

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Metrics

Auction Price (Million USD)

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Period

1993 – 2021

7 years of data

Methodology & source

Data source: Wikipedia
Coverage: 8 entities · 1993–2021 (7 years) · 8 observations
Measure: Auction Price (Million USD)
Last updated: 6 September 2026
Compiled by: The ANYSTAT team, from the source above

How the figures are calculated

Values are shown as reported by the source. Nothing is rescaled, rebased or converted — the only changes are thousand separators and decimals shown to two places.
Missing years are left empty rather than estimated — no interpolation, no carrying a previous year forward.
Change is measured between the first and last year in which an entity actually reported a value, so a series that starts late is not penalised for the years before it existed.
The compound annual rate is (last ÷ first)^(1 ÷ years) − 1, using those same two reported years.
Entities are ranked highest-first on their value in 2021.
An entity that reported nothing in the latest year is still listed — it follows the ranked entities in the table rather than being dropped.

Rankings & Full Data

8 records · Auction Price (Million USD) · ranked by 2021

✓ 8 sourced

#	Category	1993	2010	2011	2015	2016	2019	2021	Change
🥇	British Guiana 1c Magenta (1856)	—	—	—	—	—	—	8.30	—
🥈	Mauritius Blue Penny (1847)	3.80	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
🥉	Treskilling Yellow (Sweden, 1855)	—	2.30	—	—	—	—	—	—
4	Inverted Jenny (USA, 1918)	—	—	—	—	1.59	—	—	—
5	Hawaii Missionaries (1851)	—	—	—	—	—	0.70	—	—
6	Penny Black (UK, 1840)	—	—	—	—	0.55	—	—	—
7	Basel Dove (Switzerland, 1845)	—	—	—	0.43	—	—	—	—
8	Cape of Good Hope Triangle (1853)	—	—	0.37	—	—	—	—	—