| Port Louis, Mauritius |
Blue Penny Museum
Caudan Waterfront
Port Louis, Mauritius
In November, 2001, The Mauritius
Commercial Bank has opened a museum known as the Blue Penny Museum.
This is the first philatelic
museum in the country.
Known as the 1d Post Office and 2d Post Office, these are the first
issues of Mauritius. These two stamps fetched US$2 million on November
10, 1993 at an auction in Switzerland. The successful bidder was a consortium
of Mauritian companies headed by The Mauritius Commercial Bank, comprising
Air Mauritius, Beachcomber, Currimjee Jeewanjee, Espitalier-Noël, Floréal,
General Construction, Happy World, Harel, IBL, J.Kalachand, Mauritius
Breweries, Rogers, Sun Resort, Swan, and West East
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| Great
Britain |
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British Library, London
British
Library Philatelic Collections
96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB
Tel: +44 20 7412 7635
Fax: +44 20 7412 7780
The exhibition was originally based on the superb material in the Tapling
Collection, the only major whole world 19th collection still in
existence.
The
Chand Collection
The Collection is on loan from Mr. Vikram Chand and is of the locally
produced postage stamps of Mauritius from 1848 to 1859 used on cover
to show use and aspects of the postal history.
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Tapling Collection
Was formed by T K Tapling and bequeathed in 1891. It is probably
the only major collection formed during the nineteenth century which
is still intact. Its coverage is worldwide for the period 1840 to 1890,
and is virtually complete in all basic issues; it also has a large section
of postal stationery. Apart from the rarities, the collection is strong
in unused examples, with excellent ranges of shades, and includes numerous
covers, blocks, essays and proofs. The rarities include the Mauritius:
1847 1d used on cover, 2d unused (the 'Post Office' issue).
Mosely
Collection
Formed by Dr Mosely and presented in 1946 by Mrs K Cunningham, the Mosely
Collection is of British Africa issues to 1935. Being mainly unused,
its particular strength is material from the Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius
and Rhodesia
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The
Royal Philatelic Collection
The
Royal Philatelic Collection gems include Penny Black Proofs, the Edward
VII 2d Tyrian Plum, the Bermuda 'Postmasters' and probably the most valuable
stamp in the Collection - the Post Office Mauritius. Although it is difficult
to put a precise value on many of the items in the Collection, that of
the Post Office Mauritius is in seven figures.
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| An unused imprimatur for the 1840
Penny Black. The uniform charging of the Penny Post was introduced
in January of that year although stamps did not appear until May.
Previously, postage had been calculated by distance.
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Holland
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Museum voor Communicatie Den Haag
Museum
voor Communicatie
Zeestraat 80-82
NL- 2518 AD Den Haag.
Tel: + 31 70 330 7500
e-mail: info@muscom.nl
internet: www.muscom.nl
Includes a 1847 Post Office 2d unused. Good web site.
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| Sweden |
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The Postal Museum of Stockholm
The
Postal Museum of Stockholm
Lilla Nygatan 6,
Box 2002
103 11 Stockholm
Tel: +46 8781 1756
Fax: +46 820 5426
One of the Post Office Stamps in Stockholm (Reproduction
on a Post Card)
Postal Museum & Library (on
line catalogue) situated in a beautiful building from the 1630s.
Until 1869 it was the only post office in Stockholm. Displays follow
postal history on foot, horseback, coach, train and mail ship. There
are permanent displays from the philatelic collections covering production
and printing techniques and a 50,000 volume library with public reading
room. Collections include Swedish mint stamps from 1855-1993, Finland
1891-1950 and stamps from other Nordic countries. The Treasury has some
real rarities including three letter stamps, the oldest (1686) remaining
in the world. Also the unique letter with 6-skilling banco stamps sent
from Stockholm to London in 1858; and two Mauritius 1847 "Post Office"
stamps.
Library : biblioteket@postnet.se
Museum : postmuseum@postnet.se
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