..read more

Vikram Chand was born in Osaka, Japan, and finished his schooling there before travelling to London, England for his degree. He graduated in Business Management from Richmond College/ London University, London and did further studying at Sotheby's Academic Institute of Arts in London. As a result of his travels, he is bilingual. He began his career as General Manager at Hermanos Kaybee, Hongkong in 1983, later becoming Director of Kaybee Japan Corp Osaka, Japan.  In 1993 he moved to Singapore and was designated as Managing Director of Kaybee Exim Pte Ltd - now the Group headquarters, in S ..read more

In November 2023, a tiny red rectangle of paper sold in a New York auction room for $2 million. In doing so, the Inverted Jenny became the world's first $2 million single US stamp. On May 14, 1918 William T Robey paid just $24 for the sheet of 100 stamps from which it came. William T Robey, fabled first owner of the Jennys. So how did that stamp become a $2 million precious gem?  After all, the Inverted Jenny is not the rarest stamp in the world. It's an error, yes. And a very scarce one. But plenty of other stamps fit that bill and don't become what its new owner called "the Holy G ..read more

Here for you is something extremely familiar that you may never see in this form again. If you're my age you've looked at this particular portrait of the queen thousands upon thousands of times.  But this set of Machin Head portraits are as special as they come.  They come from sheets of imprimaturs.  Just two sheets were produced for each stamp. The Postal Museum sold some duplicates to raise funds in 2013. The rest remain permanently in their archive.    So this could be your only chance to secure stamps that are: Extraordinarily scarce  ..read more

Celebrate Independence Day with 2 wonderful portraits of George Washington, the founding President of the United States. And they're portraits with rarity and value to rival any work of art. The first is 1 of just 43 possible surviving examples from an initially unloved reprint The second is from a botched experimental print run of 5,200  Many examples of these stamps will not have survived beyond their very limited first issues.  Why keep a failure, or an unwanted keepsake?   The US stamp market is the largest in the world. Many of the American stamps are snapp ..read more

Will the African stamp market replicate the Chinese stamp boom?  We could be at the start of something big.  African economies are becoming increasingly liberal. Creating a growing number of moneyed buyers with a keen interest in their country's history.  Just like in China 20 years ago… The creation of thousands of new Chinese millionaires saw the value of rare Chinese stamps enjoy an average annual growth rate of 44% in the 5 years to 2011. In that period, the worst performing stamp on the Stanley Gibbons China Rarities Index rose 54% in value. The best, 789%.  African po ..read more

I want you to imagine a door. You walk past it every day. But it's marked “Strictly Forbidden”. And it's always locked. Until one day it isn't. Somebody forgot to close it. This is your chance. And you just have to find out what's behind it... That's human nature. And it definitely applies when it comes to stamp collecting. You want the stamps you're not supposed to have. The thrill of owning something forbidden. Well the item I'm offering you today is all that and more. But before we get started... Here's a warning Because this is an extremely dangerous item. A stamp ..read more

It makes no sense.  Some of the world’s most famous and valuable stamps… …They’re not unique. They’re not even that rare.  The Penny Black: There’s over a million of them. The most desirable singles can sell for £100,000+ The Inverted Jenny: 100 of those. £200,000 minimum if you want one  China’s The Whole Country is Red: Thought to be several hundred in existence. £50,000+ The Inverted Jenny - valuable but not particularly rare And before you write in, I know I know! It’s not all about uniqueness. It’s also about the story behind the stamps. And the condi ..read more

Rare British Commonwealth Stamp Errors Collection  A major catalyst has led to a spike of interest in one specific area of the stamp market. Prices are already going up and look set to rise considerably more. The headline in the UK newspaper, The Daily Record, caught my eye last September: “Expert claims Queen Elizabeth II stamps will rise in value following her death.” We have certainly noticed an increase in sales of Queen Elizabeth II stamp errors in recent months as they become more valuable. The news article went on to state: “Collectors with rare Queen Elizabeth II stamps can likely ..read more

Arrested for stamp collecting?  And all for an overprint.  It was illegal for civilians to own the British government's "IR Official" stamps, overprinted for state use and hoarded in Whitehall. A few unfortunate philatelists faced the magistrates for this heinous crime.  Overprints are still dangerously enticing to serious collectors.  When headlines roared of "Britain's rarest stamp" in 2020 they were talking about an overprint.  And the 1904 6d pale dull purple with IR Official stamp was duly sold for over £400,000.  Extraordinary circumstances boosted its value ..read more