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Most Valuable Australian Stamps

Much like the United States in the early days when each state issued its own postage stamps, Australia only began issuing stamps as a country in 1913. Before then, each colony of Australia provided its own stamps with New South Wales and Victoria being the first to do so in 1850. Frequently overlooked is that the Northern Territory had no stamps at all and used those of South Australia.

Inverted Black Swan
- The Black Swan is the national symbol of Australia and this was one of the first stamps printed in 1855. Horace Samson designed and printed it, but one of the printing presses broke and the printer had to replace it. The fact that it produced almost 400 stamps with the swan inverted before finding the error led to its becoming one of the most expensive stamps in the world. Fewer than 20 Inverted Black Swan stamps exist today.
Queen Victoria
- According to the Stanley Gibbons Co., which has been in existence since 1856, only 15 of these stamps exist and all of them are used. In the Scott Catalog, the cataloger described one Queen Victoria stamp as "creased, with defective perforations." In volume one of the catalog in 1977, this stamp had a value of $950, but it sells for 10 times, or more than that today.
Queensland Six Pence
- This stamp, found by accident and recently auctioned at $44,270 (plus a 10 percent commission), is the only recorded multiple stamp. A single used one is much less valuable. Only about 16 such stamps exist and its auction price made it the most precious stamp in Queensland's history.
Classic Victoria
- This was a strip of unused $3 AUS stamps that sold recently for more than $100,000 AUS. Two of the auctioned stamps have creases in them, and as was true during the 1850s, the block of four had no gum. This reproduction from the original plate is extremely crisp given its age.

Stamp Collecting