There is nothing very attractive about the appearance of the 2d. "Post Office" Mauritius sold in Paris recently for 99,500 francs, At the normal rate of exchange the figure represents £3,980, but at the present value of the franc it is about £2,000. This is certainly the highest price ever paid for a single postage stamp, the Hrevidus record being the £1,450 paid by the King in January, 1904, for a very fine copy of the rarity.
Tt shows a profile head of Queen Victoria, the reverse of Hattering. On the left is inscribed Post Office," on the right "Mauritius," at the top "Postage," and at the bottom the value in words. Engraved in copper! by Mr. J. Barnard, watchmaker of Port Louis, this stamp was issued in September, 1847. The stamps were printed one at a time, and when 500 had been produced in this tedious manner, plates were engraved and blocks issued in 1848, each consisting of twelve stamps, with the words "Post paid," introduced, instead of "Post Office." The former issue, the rarer of the two, is now known as the "Post Office' Mauritius. There is in the Tapling Collection at the British Museum a specimen of this stamp, which is slightly in ferior to that in the King's Collestion.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.