Rare Canadian stamp purchased for $225,000

A very rare Canadian stamp issued in 1851 has been traded between two unidentified Canadian stamp collectors for a total of about $225,000. The sale occurred Saturday in Halifax under the roof of maritime-based Eastern Auctions.  The stamp is known as the Twelve Penny Black, a description of its colour and value. The particular example of the 162-year-old stamp is said to have  long been recognized as perhaps the finest known example of the Twelve Penny Black. The stamp sold Saturday once belonged to the Marquess of Lorne — Canada’s governor general from 1878 to 1883 — and was later part of the Dale-Lichtenstein holdings amassed in the early 20th century by U.S. industrialist Alfred Lichtenstein and later bolstered by his daughter, Louise Boyd Dale.  The stamp depicts a young Queen Victoria.