British Guiana one-cent magenta stamp could fetch $20m at auction

[dipsydoodle]

A one-cent magenta postage stamp printed in what was then British Guiana in 1856 is expected to fetch a record price of $10m-$20m (£6m-£12m), Sotheby's has said.

The stamp is being sold by the estate of John du Pont, a chemical company heir who died aged 72 in 2010 in a Pennsylvania prison where he was serving a sentence for the 1996 shooting of an Olympic champion US wrestler, David Schultz.

Du Pont, whose wealth was estimated at $250m at the time of his 1997 trial, was one of the richest murder defendants in US history.

Sotheby's said experts from the Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL) had re-authenticated the stamp, the only one of its kind known to exist, and it would be offered at auction in New York on 17 June.

[PoliticAverse]

1. I'm sticking with the USPS 'forever' stamps. n/t

[AleksS]

2. wait...what?

Wait, the lead seems buried there...

So, this multi-multi-multi-millionaire shot a champion olympic wrestler when he (the millionaire) was almost 60 years old?

What?

(Edited to remove the joke, since upon researching it, it turned out to be a horribly sad situation.)

[hughee99]

3. If I remember right, he had some mental issues

And shot a wrestler, who was a longtime friend, in his driveway in front of his wife and others. He was found "guilty but mentally ill" at the trial

[AleksS]

4. Yeah, it's actually rather sad

Yeah, it's actually rather sad.

He sponsored a whole group of high caliber athletes. Apparently he had been getting progressively more unstable, and no one actually called him out on it because they were afraid of losing sponsorship money.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/10/sports/olympics/10dupont.html?_r=0