Stanley Gibbons, which deals in rare stamps and other collectibles, sold the ‘Plate 77 Penny Red’ for £495,000 in a private deal.
Last month the company, which has suffered in the past 12 months following a decline in the market, announced a fundraising plan alongside its third profit warning in less than a year and news that its auditors had quit, but Keith Heddle, the managing director of investments at Stanley Gibbons, said that the sale of the Plate 77 showed that the company’s core business – the sale of stamps and coins – was ‘rock solid’.
The rare Penny Red is one of just two to be made available on the open market in recent years and one of only five thought to be in existence – of the other three ‘Plate 77s’, one is in the Queen’s private collection and two can be found at the British Library.
