Special offers area : Patek Graves 24M vs One Cent Magenta 9.5M 2/6
Hi everyone,
Next part of the article on the Graves.
- We’re going to talk about philately, with the 1856 British Guiana 1c magenta and its $9.5 million sale.
This stamp is rare. Mega rare. So rare that there’s only one.
The magenta colour is original and pretty. It’s one of the three basic colours of our screens. But the Supercomplication Graves with yellow gold case is actually also unique (one platinium copy is to be seen in the Patek Philippe Museum).
- Both concepts are ultra-classic.
Nothing really conceptual, except that the Graves represents a terrific piece of engineer’s work (yes, indeed, a watch designer is an engineer).
The Supercomplication is just the story of the most famous collector of the 20th century, who chose to order a piece that goes beyond the limits of mechanical watchmaking from Patek Philippe. On the other hand, a stamp of the lowest possible denomination, to the extent that its contemporaries of the 19th had neglected it to the point where there’s only one left today. The choice is yours.
- Workmanship.
We’re not going to get into the stamp. The Supercomplication Graves required thousands (tens of thousands??) of working hours from the best watchmakers of the period. They have striven to develop a wealth of inventiveness and ancestral skills, jealously transmitted to concentrate the quintessence of the know-how in the pinnacle of complicated watchmaking from 1933.
- The aesthetic.
It’s obviously the most subjective criterion. I do prefer the Patek, of course, even if I have to admit that the stamp holds itw own with its good colour, minimalism and vintage cutout…
But this comparision is not relevant, this is like comparing a Concorde with a strawberry.
- A criterion that usually seems to be irrelevent, but makes sense here : bonus.
As already mentioned in the previous article the price of Patek was multiplied by one hundred in 81 years.
So, at the end of the day, the price of Graves has only risen a hundredfold in 81 years, while the stamp was sold 1p of Guyanese pound, for a final price of USD 9.5 million. It is difficult to calculate the bonus, given the distance and the differences in currency, but the ratio is certainly one billion times,
- 10 million time more than the Patek…
In the end, the Patek is cheap,
especially since we are absolutly sure that it is authentic, given that its workmanship makes it impossible to copy, whereas we’ll always be enable to clearly demonstrate the authenticity of the stamp.
Thanks for your fidelity.
Malik.
