In 1847, postage stamps had been in use for only a very short period of time. The concept was so new that it had not even been introduced to the postal authorities of the island of Mauritius. Mauritius, a British-owned island located in the Indian Ocean, was governed by a person recently appointed to office. As postage stamps were recently invented for postal use, the new governor's wife wished to use them on her invitations to the inaugural ball.

Commissioning a local jeweler, engraver to engrave the island's first plates, the jeweler was placed under great pressure to produce the plates for immediate usage. Working late into the night without experience and being rushed by the governor' wife, the engraver made a serious mistake, not noted until the proofing of the first few sheets. The jeweler erroneously engraved the words ‘Post Office’ instead of the words ‘Post Paid’ upon the stamp.

When the error was discovered, the governor's wife would not be delayed even one day. She took enough of the stamps to mail her invitations, and the rest of the errors were destroyed. How many were used cannot really be estimated, because no one really knows exactly how many invitations were sent out. There were two values issued in this first printing of the error - a 1 penny orange, and 2 pence blue. There are approximately thirty stamps known to be in existence. All have been accidentally discovered. Both mint and used copies have made it into the stamp world. In 1929, the catalogue value of the Scott #1, Imperforate 1 penny orange, was $20,000 for a unused issue; and the Scott #2, Imperforate 2 pence blue, was $17,000 for unused. The #1 was $12,500 for a used copy, and the #2 was $15,000.

In the 2007 Scott catalogue, the stamps have grown so greatly in value that one is tempted to search every nook and cranny to find one. The Scott #1 unused is now $1,100,000 and the Scott #2 unused are all in museums. The used copies of both stamps are valued at $600,000 and $675,000 respectively! This is a considerable amount for a hasty mistake made over one hundred sixty one years ago.

- Mrs. Nagalakshmi Tadakaluri, Philatelist.

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