While the Penny Black is a costly stamp, it pales in comparison to the values for the first two issues of Mauritius.

A 1993 auction by David Feldman of the Hiroyuki Kanai collection of Mauritius resulted in numerous record-setting prices, including the sale of one unused example of each of the first two Mauritius issues. The 1d orange stamp sold for $1,072,260, and the 2d blue sold for $1,148,850. Both amounts include the 15 percent buyer's premium.

Only one example of the 1d stamp is known in unused condition, while three unused 2d stamps are known.

Mauritius is a small island in the Indian Ocean encompassing about 720 square miles. It is more than 500 miles east of a much larger island, Madagascar, which is located off the southeast coast of the African continent.

The first two Mauritius stamps were also the first stamps authorized by any British colonial government.

A local engraver named Joseph O. Barnard prepared the two designs, which, like the Penny Black, show the image of Queen Victoria.

One peculiarity of the two stamps is that they are inscribed with the words "POST OFFICE" along the left edge of the design. Later issues of nearly identical design were marked "POST PAID" instead.

These 1848 Post Paid issues (Scott 3-6) are also somewhat rare, but not nearly to the extent that the Post Office issues are. Only 500 each of the Mauritius Post Office stamps were printed, and most have been lost forever.

A few rare covers bearing one or both of the stamps also survive, and they command enormous sums when they are sold.

The only known cover bearing one each of the two Mauritius Post Office stamps sold at the 1993 Feldman auction for $3,829,500, the highest price ever paid for a single philatelic item.

(From Linns.com, the world's largest weekly stamp newspaper)