A dealer in the Channel Islands says it has acquired the "most valuable single stamp" it has ever had up for sale.
Stanley Gibbons said the "plate 77 Penny Red" - thought to be worth £550,000 - was one of only five used examples of the stamp ever reported.A spokesman for the company said the Penny Reds were similar to the famous Penny Black, and although millions were printed on the so-called plate 77, the perforations did not line up correctly on some plates so were never released.
He said only a tiny handful of plate 77 Penny Reds existed, which had got into the public domain by mistake.
He added millions of collectors worldwide religiously checked every Penny Red they came across for the combination of two sevens, which he said was the "philatelic Holy Grail".
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