The Most Expensive Letter in the World, Yet Surprisingly Boring
A wine merchant from Mauritius wrote an order note to his partners in France 170 years ago. Who could have known that this extremely ordinary letter would become the most expensive letter in the world over the years? Today, the letter, referred to as the 'Bordeaux Letter,' has been a favorite of stamp collectors for over a century.
Let's discover the secret of the $5 million Bordeaux Letter together:
The World's Most Expensive Letter: Worth 5 Million Dollars!
Imagine a letter; it only contains the phrase:
'I received the 48 barrels of wine you sent, and I sold a third of it.'
So, this letter has neither literary value nor a historical secret. However, this ordinary letter, written by Mauritian wine merchant Edward Francis to his partners in France in 1847, now holds the title of the world's most expensive letter. So, how did this piece of paper, known as the 'Bordeaux Letter,' make its place on the world's list of mosts?
Frankly, there are more than one reasons for this. Let's discover:
Million Dollar Printing Error!
One of the things that makes this letter so valuable is that it was one of the most profitable printing errors in human history. In 1847, an engraver in the British colony of Mauritius made a huge mistake while printing stamps with Queen Victoria's profile.
Instead of writing 'Post Paid' on the stamps, he accidentally wrote 'Post Office'.
By the time this error was noticed, 500 stamps had already been printed and put on sale. When the situation was understood, the stamps were withdrawn from the market, but some had already been stuck on letters and there was no turning back.
The Legendary Duo: Blue and Pink Mauritius
Today, it is known that there are only 27 of these misprinted stamps left in the world. 12 of them are blue and 15 are pink. For stamp collectors, these stamps are like treasures.
This is exactly what makes the Bordeaux Letter unique. Because both the Blue Mauritius and the Pink Mauritius stamps are side by side in the letter. Of course, at this point we need to focus on the value of the stamps. Because the value of a single clean Blue Mauritius stamp varies between 10 and 17 million dollars today. As you can see, the presence of these two stamps in the same letter makes the value of the letter priceless.
The Letter is Now in the Locked Safe of the Mysterious Singaporean
Let's come to the other mysteries of the letter. The Bordeaux Letter, which was last sold at an auction in 1993 for over 5 million dollars, has been kept locked in the safe of a mysterious and anonymous Singaporean collector ever since.
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