Article: COLLECTING: Putting it philately, the price of old stamps is travelling In for a Penny Black, in for thousands of pounds - why knowledgeable investors are licking their lips

One of the most impressive stamp collections in the country is expected to fetch as much as pounds 11m when it is auctioned at Sotheby's next month.

The collection, owned by the late Sir Gawaine Baillie, specialises in Britain and the British Empire. It includes some highly sought- after items, such as a block of four 1840 2d blue plate stamps, estimated at pounds 45,000 to pounds 50,000, and the 1880s 2s brown in a unique pane of 20, estimated at pounds 200,000 to pounds 250,000.

This sale, which includes items not seen by the public for around half a century, provides yet another example of the astonishing rise in value of stamps in recent years. Stanley Gibbons, which sells and buys ...

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