Grouping Information

Book Cover Information

Hoopla Extract Information

stdClass Object
(
    [year] => 2017
    [artist] => James Barron
    [fiction] => 
    [coverImageUrl] => https://cover.hoopladigital.com/hbg_9781616207175_270.jpeg
    [titleId] => 15956777
    [isbn] => 9781616207175
    [abridged] => 
    [language] => ENGLISH
    [profanity] => 
    [title] => The One-Cent Magenta
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    [pages] => 224
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    [artists] => Array
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                    [name] => James Barron
                    [artistFormal] => Barron, James
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            [0] => Biography & Autobiography
            [1] => Historical
            [2] => History
            [3] => Modern
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    [price] => 2.99
    [id] => 15956777
    [edited] => 
    [kind] => EBOOK
    [active] => 1
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    [synopsis] => An inside look at the obsessive, secretive, and often bizarre world of high-profile stamp collecting, told through the journey of the world's most sought-after stamp.

  

 When it was issued in 1856, it cost a penny. In 2014, this tiny square of faded red paper sold at Sotheby's for nearly $9.5 million, the largest amount ever paid for a postage stamp at auction. Through the stories of the eccentric characters who have bought, owned, and sold the one-cent magenta in the years in between, James Barron delivers a fascinating tale of global history and immense wealth, and of the human desire to collect.

  

 One-cent magentas were provisional stamps, printed quickly in what was then British Guiana when a shipment of official stamps from London did not arrive. They were intended for periodicals, and most were thrown out with the newspapers. But one stamp survived. The singular one-cent magenta has had only nine owners since a twelve-year-old boy discovered it in 1873 as he sorted through papers in his uncle's house. He soon sold it for what would be $17 today. (That's been called the worst stamp deal in history.) Among later owners was a fabulously wealthy Frenchman who hid the stamp from almost everyone (even King George V of England couldn't get a peek); a businessman who traveled with the stamp in a briefcase he handcuffed to his wrist; and John E. du Pont, an heir to the chemical fortune, who died while serving a thirty-year sentence for the murder of Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz.

  

 Recommended for fans of Nicholas A. Basbanes, Susan Orlean, and Simon Winchester, The One-Cent Magenta explores the intersection of obsessive pursuits and great affluence and asks why we want most what is most rare.

   James Barron is a reporter for the New York Times, where his writing has appeared in virtually every section of the paper. He is the author of Piano: The Making of a Steinway Concert Grand, and he also edited The New York Times Book of New York. He and his wife live in New York City.
    [url] => https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/15956777
    [pa] => 
    [subtitle] => Inside the Quest to Own the Most Valuable Stamp in the World
    [publisher] => Algonquin Books
    [purchaseModel] => INSTANT
)