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1 Cent Magenta

from This is Why by Nathan's Taken

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about

I'm not a stamp collector, but I found the story of the worlds rarest stamp quite interesting so I wrote a little ditty about it.

lyrics

This is a song about Vernon Vaughan
A Scottish boy in Demerara Guyana
The 12 year old as truth be told
Had just become a stamp collector
One day in 1873 while searching through his uncles attic
Vernon came upon an octagon
Printed on magenta paper
Sold it to N.R. McKinnon
For a dollar and fifty cents
This is one letter that won't be returned to sender
The 1 Cent Magenta

McKinnon in 1877 sold his entire collection
To Thomas Ridpath from Liverpool
For about ten thousand
The magenta stayed with him
Till the turn of the century
Then along came Philipp la Renotiere von Ferrary
But his dreams of sharing it with the world
Came to a sudden end
When the war sent a split right down the centre
Between the world and the magenta

Arthur Hind an upholstery giant
Snatched it up for 300K
When it was auctioned off by the French
And brought to the US of A
The media crews spread the news
And they saw it on display yeah
But like it's life and all other times
The stamp wasn't long to stay
When Hind was gone
His widow moved it on
To a man named Frederick Small
Small paid a 500 thou or greater
For the 1 Cent Magenta

In 69 Small thought it was time
To pass the stamp along again
With the help of Robert A. Siegel
The 1 Cent went up for auction
They started the bill at about a mill
And in a minute and a half
With a sharp whack from the gavel
The stamp now worth 4 times that
Irwin Weinberg and his team of investors
Showed it around the world
Trying to make the price inflate yeah
For the 1 Cent Magenta

A decade past value shot up fast
Exactly like they wanted
They got all their investments back
And even made a profit
Their plan worked well but it was time to sell
Of course they wanted a lot
It was 1980 all music was crazy
The buyers name was John du Pont
John killed a man
In an argument
His name was David Shultz
Richest man ever on the stand yeah
And owner of the magenta

This is where our story stays
And I hope I've entertained you
To this day the stamps locked away
Somewhere in Pennsylvania
I hope some day if I get my way
I'll get to gaze upon her
The rarest stamp of them all
The 1 Cent Magenta


Words and music written by Nathan Peebles

credits

from This is Why, track released April 11, 2016
Nathan Peebles - guitar/vocals/mandolin/tambourine
"Joe" Rob Smith - harmonica
Chris Tuijtel - percussion

Chris Tuijtel - mixing

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Nathan's Taken Calgary, Alberta

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