World's Rarest Stamp Now on Display - National Postal Museum

The world's most famous and valuable stamp, the British Guiana One-Cent Magenta, is now on display that the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum. Prominently showcased in the museum's William H. Gross Stamp Gallery, the stamp will be on display until November 2017, the longest and most publicly accessible showing ever. 


No postage stamp is rarer than the sole-surviving example of the British Guiana One-Cent Magenta. In January 1856, British Guiana issued a small number of one- and four-cent stamps for provisional use while the postmaster waited on a shipment of postage from England. 

Multiple copies of the four-cent stamp have survived, but the one-cent stamp now on display at the museum is the only one of its kind in the world. It generates headlines and breaks records every time it sells. It is the only major rarity absent from the Royal Philatelic Collection owned by Queen Elizabeth II. 

Dates: June 4, 2015 - November, 2017

Cost: FREE

Location: 2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20002