Description: Spectacular historical rare (7,500 struck) Sir Rowland Hill Red Titanium 5 DOLLARS, dated 2004, Pobjoy Mint, Surrey, UK. The coin is identified as KM# 284. The coin is about 36 mm across and weighs about 10 g. The engraver is Ian Rank-Broadley. The Obverse of the coin depicts QE II; country name and year of issue; the Lettering reads: BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS QUEEN ELIZABETH II 2004. The Reverse features an early British Guyana stamp, with inscription at center DAMUS PETIMUS QUE VICISSIM ( We Give and we Seek in Return) and around POSTAGE BRITISH ONE CENT GUIANA. The stamp was printed in British Guiana (now Guyana) in black ink on magenta (purplish red) paper. Its corners were snipped off, giving it an octagonal shape. The Lettering around reads: 125TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LIFE OF SIR ROWLAND HILL $5. A bit of history about the coin, and the rare one-cent British Guiana Magenta 1856 postage stamp, the only one of its kind to still exist, which sold for a record $9.5 million at Sotheby’s in June, 2014. The British Guiana stamp was sold by the estate of the late multimillionaire John du Pont, an heir to the du Pont chemical fortune, who died in prison in 2010 at the age of 72. Du Pont was serving a murder sentence for the shooting of David Schultz, a champion U.S. wrestler, in 1996. Earlier this year, the Royal Philatelic Society of London re-authenticated the stamp, which du Pont, an avid stamp collector, purchased in 1980 for $935,000. The stamp’s authenticity was previously verified in 1935. The British Guiana One-Cent Magenta is one of the world’s first postage stamps. In 1856 in British Guiana - now the republic of Guyana - the local postmaster asked a newspaper to print some stamps after supplies from Britain, where its stamps were printed, were delayed. There are still a few four-cent stamps issued by British Guiana, but only one One-cent. The stamp was discovered in 1873 by a 12-year-old schoolboy named L. Vernon Vaughan, who was living in British Guiana with his family. He found it among his family papers. He kept it in his collection and later sold it to another collector in British Guiana. It surfaced in Britain in 1878 and was then purchased by Count Philippe la Renotiere von Ferrary, a noted stamp collector. The count’s collection was donated to the postal museum in Berlin and was later seized by France as war reparation from Germany and sold in 1922. It was sold several times before du Pont purchased it. Part of the proceeds of the sale went to the Eurasian Pacific Wildlife Conservation Foundation, which du Pont supported. The printing of these stamps was ordered as an emergency issue by E.T. E. Dalton, the colony's postmaster, when the stock of regular stamps of the colony was sold out before arrival of a fresh shipment from Waterlow & Sons, the London printers. The stamp, at the 1-cent rate for newspapers (the rate for letters was 4 cents), was initialed by a post office employee as a security measure. As for the coin, it honors Sir Rowland Hill (1795 -1879), an English schoolmaster who in 1837 published a pamphlet titled Post Office Reform: Its Importance and Practicability, where he proposed the use of pre-printed envelopes and adhesive postage stamps to indicate prepayment of postage. Hill’s plan also called for a uniform low postage rate to anywhere in the British Isles, instead of the existing variable rate that depended on distance and the number of sheets of paper used and which was payable by the receiver. Hill’s invention, for which he was knighted, made communication by mail both affordable to the masses and practical, and resulted in the issue of the first stamp in the world in England in 1840. The titanium of this coin was colored red through a special heat process, to convert the metal from the silver-white color obtained upon refining. The red color alludes to the color of the stamp. Titanium was discovered in 1791. The first Titanium coin was issued by Gibraltar in 1999. Your coin will be shipped as soon as payment is received. If you have any questions let me know before you bid. Shipping in the USA including tracking is $4.50. This rate does not apply to foreign purchasers, please ask before you bid. I combine shipments. Thanks and good luck!
Price: 64.95 USD
Location: Bloomington, Indiana
End Time: 2023-12-10T00:40:26.000Z
Shipping Cost: 4.5 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 14 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Country/Region of Manufacture: British Virgin Islands
Certification: Uncertified
Year: 2004
KM Number: 284
