Any attempt to separate the layers forces one to realize that the fibers of the apparently separate layers merge into an integral and inseparable whole.
The stamp has been used for mailing as evidenced by the cancellation marks.
The Copper-banded Butterfly Fish is also known as the Beaked Coralfish. It grows to 20 cm long and lives in coral reefs up to 25 meters depth in the Indo-pacific ocean from the Andaman Sea to Ryukyu Islands and Australia, and is much sought after for aquariums.
Why is this unique and very obviously defective Singapore 1962 Chelmon Rostratus stamp worth US$2,000,000?
Well, let's see WHY the most valuable stamps and postal history items ARE the most valuable.
1) "Bordeaux Letter" or "Bordeaux Cover"
The most valuable postal history item in the world was sold by auction in November 1993 for 5,750,000 Swiss Francs (then equivalent to US$3,829,500). It was the highest price ever paid for a single philatelic item. The buyer was a Singapore collector. The item is the "Bordeaux Letter" or "Bordeaux Cover" -- the Mauritius One Penny Red and Two Pence Deep Blue "Post Office" stamps 1847 on an envelope mailed to Bordeaux France. It has been called "the greatest item in all philately" and was sold from the Hiroyuki Kanai Collection by the auctioneer David Feldman in November 1993 for 5,750,000 Swiss Francs (then equivalent to US$3,829,500).
The "Bordeaux Cover" is valuable because it is the only one of its kind known to exist and because of the defects in it. In the course preparing to print the stamps, the watchmaker (contracted to print the stamps) erroneously put the words "Post Office" instead of the correct words "Post Paid" on the stamps.
2) Great Britain One Penny Black 1840 on May 3 cover
The second most valuable postal history item in the world is also a cover -- the Great Britain One Penny Black 1840 on May 3 cover -- the only such cover of that date known to be in existence -- was sold by auction (Harmers Lugarno Switzerland) in March 1991 for 3,400,000 Swiss francs (then equivalent to US$2,415,000).
3) British Guiana One Cent Black on Magenta 1856 stamp
The most valuable single stamp in the world is the British Guiana One Cent Black on Magenta 1856 stamp sold in 1980 at a Robert. A. Siegel auction to John E. duPont who paid US$935,000 for it.
In 1856, the stock of stamps in British Guiana was sold out before the fresh shipment from England arrived. The postmaster of British Guiana needed stamps in a hurry so he asked publishers of the Official Gazette in Georgetown, to print an emergency issue of one-cent and four-cent stamps. Usually, stamps of different values of the same design were printed in different colours, but both values were printed with black ink on "magenta" coloured paper -- regardless of whether its colors were in error the One Cent Black on Magenta is the only one of its kind known to be in existence.
4) Sweden Three Skilling Banco, Yellow Color Error 1855 stamp
The second most valuable single stamp in the world is also unique and defective -- the Sweden Three Skilling Banco, Yellow Color Error 1855 stamp was sold in 1984 at Swiss auction house of David Feldman in Zurich for 977,500 Swiss Francs (then equivalent to nearly US$500,000).
The Sweden Three Skilling Banco is valuable because it is the only one of its kind and because it is defective -- the stamp’s printer made a mistake and it was printed in yellowish orange instead of the normal blue-green color.
The abovementioned 4 most valuable philatelic items in the world have one feature in common -- uniqueness -- each one being the only one of its kind known to be in existence.
And 2 or 3 of the 4 are also defective because of production errors.
Among the 4 most valuable philatelic items in the world the most recent sale was the sale of the "Bordeaux Cover" at S$3,829,500 -- 16 years ago in 1993.
The most recent sale of the most valuable single stamp among the 4 most valuable philatelic items was the sale of the One Cent Black on Magenta at US$935,000 -- 29 years ago in 1980. Today, prices would be double -- at the very least -- if only because of inflation.
That means the value of the unique and very obviously defective Singapore 1962 Chelmon Rostratus stamp should be at least US$2,000,000.
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The story of the Sweden Three Skilling Banco and its rise to become one of the most valuable items in philatelics -- is quite typical of the most valuable items in philately.
In 1855, Sweden issued its first postage stamps, a set of five depicting the Swedish coat of arms, with denominations ranging from 3 to 24 skillings banco. The 3-skilling banco value was normally printed in a blue-green color, while the 8-skilling was printed in a yellowish orange shade. It is not known exactly what went wrong, but the stamp’s printer made a mistake and a handful of the 3-skilling-banco issue were printed in yellowish orange instead of the normal blue-green color. At the time the stamps were released no one noticed the error -- certainly, both the printer and Swedish postal officials were completely unaware of the error.
Later that year, fourteen year-old schoolboy Georg Wilhelm Backman read that a Stockholm stamp dealer named Heinrich Lichtenstein was buying copies of Sweden's first stamp issue, the 'Skilling Banco' issue. For the uncommon values - the 3 and 24 Skilling Bancos, he paid 7 Swedish kronor (then equivalent to about US 50 cents) each. At this time, this was a good deal of money, even for adults.
When young Georg was visiting his grandmother during his Christmas holiday, he asked her whether she had some old letters filed away. She did. George was allowed to go through them and remove the stamps from the envelopes. His grandmother wanted to retain the actual letters.
During the period when the Skilling Banco stamps were used (1855-58), the letter rate postage in Sweden was 4 Skilling Banco. The schoolboy therefore found many of these, and they were of little value. However, while rummaging through some old envelopes in his grandmother’s attic in1886 he found at least one 3 Skilling Banco, which he took to dealer Lichtenstein as soon as he had returned to Stockholm in 1887.
When Backman showed his 3 Skilling Banco stamp to Lichtenstein, the dealer was very surprised. The boy heard the dealer mumble over and over again: "but it is yellow!" Bachman became uneasy and thought that he would not get the promised 7 kronor.
The boy asked Lichtenstein if he was going to receive the money for his stamp. Lichtenstein replied: "I will pay the 7 kronor despite the fact that it is yellow."
Backman later confirmed in a court affidavit his experience with the stamp, and that it originally came from a letter sent by his brother, a travelling botanist in his spare time. This would explain the cancellation which indicated the letter had been posted at Nya Kopparberget on July 13, 1857.
In the next 7 years the stamp was bought and sold many times and went into the hands of Sigmund Friedl who sold it to the world's most famous stamp collector Philipp la Rénotière von Ferrary.
In 1894 Ferrary, who had at that time the largest known stamp collection in the world, paid the breathtaking sum of 4,000 gulden(equivalent to about US$3,000) to buy it.
No others like it surfaced despite energetic searching, and it became clear that the stamp was not only rare, but quite possibly the only surviving example.
In 1922 Swedish Baron Eric Leijonhufvud bought it in an auction for 35,250 French Francs (then about 700 British pounds sterling).
In 1926, Claes A. Tamm a Stockholm Engineer and renowned collector paid 1,500 British pounds sterling (then equivalent to US$10,000) for it to complete his collection of the stamps of Sweden.
In 1928, Swedish lawyer Johan Ramberg paid 2000 British pounds sterling (then equivalent to US$15,000) for it.
In 1937, King Carol II of Romania bought it via the London auction firm of H.R. Harmer for 5000 British pounds sterling (then equivalent to more than US$30,000)
In 1950 Rene Berlingen of Germany, who had a passion for owning rare philatelic gems, paid an unknown price to buy it.
In the 1970s, the Swedish Postal Museum caused controversy by declaring the stamp to be a forgery, but after examination by two different commissions, it was agreed that it was a genuine error.
In October 1978 it was auctioned by Edgar Mohrmann in Hamburg Germany for a price of DM 1,150,000 including buyer commission.
In 1984 the Swiss auction house David Feldman sold it in 1984 in Zurich for 977,500 Swiss Francs (then equivalent to nearly US$500,000) to an elderly collector of Scandinavia.
In 1990 the son of the elderly collector sold it through the same auction house to Swedish businessman Sven-Olof Karlsson in for 1,897,500 swiss Francs (then equivalent to more than US$1 million). However, Karlsson failed to complete the purchase.
On November 8, 1996, it was sold again at a David Feldman Zurich auction for 2,870,000 Swiss francs (equivalent to US$2.3 million) to Hans Lernestål, a Swedish dealer but Lernestål defaulted on the purchase.
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