TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Philatelists will not want to miss the opportunity to see the rarest postage stamp in the world－The British Guiana One-Cent Black on Magenta－at an exhibition opening in Taipei on Friday (Aug. 11).

The stamp, sold at a Sotheby’s auction in 2021 for US$8,307,000 (NT$264 million), owes much of its value to its legendary back story. It was issued in British Guiana in 1856 in limited numbers and only one copy is believed to have survived.

The stamp features a sailing ship and the Latin lettering, "Damus Petimus Que Vicissim," meaning, “We give and expect in return.” This was the colony’s motto until Guyana achieved independence in 1966.

This is the first time the precious stamp is being exhibited in Asia, said event organizer Chunghwa Post. Themed “Wandering in the Stamp World,” the Taipei 2023 39th Asian International Stamp Exhibition will be held at Hall 1 of the Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC) between Aug. 11-15.

A total of 1,050 stamp sets from 26 member countries of the Federation of Inter-Asian Philately (FIAP) will be put on show. Commemorative stamp folios depicting Taiwan’s landscape, literature, and artifacts from the collection of the National Palace Museum will also be featured at the showcase, said Chunghwa Post.

A British Guiana One-Cent Magenta stamp is displayed at the Sotheby's auction house, in London, April 28, 2021. (AP photo)

The British Guiana 1865 one-cent stamp, the world's rarest postage stamp, went on display in London, March 19, 1980, about a month before it is to be auctioned off in New York.

A postage stamp sheet featuring Chinese porcelain issued by Chunghwa Post. (Chunghwa Post image)