Rare Brazilian stamps sell for $1.9M at auction

1843 series ‘Bull’s Eyes’ are considered rarest of the collector stamps

The rare 1843 Brazilian series of stamps called "Bull's Eyes" for their shape, considered the rarest among Brazilian collector stamps, sold for $1.9 million at auction.

updated 5:47 p.m. ET June 5, 2008

NEW YORK - A rare Brazilian stamp series known as the “Pack Strip” has sold for $1.9 million at an auction of early South American postage stamps.

The Siegel Auction Galleries says the 1843 series of “Bull’s Eyes” stamps — considered the rarest among Brazilian collector stamps — was sold on Thursday to a buyer bidding by phone. It contains two 30-reis (ree-YAHS’) denomination stamps joined with one 60-reis.

The auction house will add a 15 percent commission to the $1.9 million hammer price.

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The auctioneer says the entire collection — with other offerings from Chile, Colombia, Argentina and Peru — could fetch more than $5 million.

It’s being sold by an anonymous retired professor of economics.