Rare stamp sells for £950,000

Zurich - A penny postage stamp issued 150 years ago on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius and stuck to a worn white envelope…

Zurich - A penny postage stamp issued 150 years ago on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius and stuck to a worn white envelope was sold yesterday for $1.42 million (about £950,000). The auctioneer, Mr David Feldman, called the object "one of the world's top five or six philatelic items outside museums". The "Mauritius Ball Envelope" is one of only three invitations to a formal dance in the then British colony known to have survived out of around 200 or 300 issued. --(Reuters)