The collection of stamps as a hobby commenced with the issue of the “Penny Black” in Britain in the mid nineteenth century and rapidly expanded into the colonies of the British Empire, and to the other major metropolitan powers of the world such as France, Portugal, Spain, and the USA. Britain during the reign of Queen Victoria, was acquiring the best of the products and cultures of its far-flung empire. The purchasing power of its wealthy squires encouraged the pursuit of leisure time interests which included the newfound hobby of stamp collecting.

The first postage stamp to be issued in Ceylon was in the six pence denomination – it was issued on 1 April 1857, seventeen years after Britain issued the first adhesive postage stamp in the world, the unperforated “Penny Black”, released on 6 May 1840.

The first Ceylon stamp was recess printed on blued paper with the ‘star’ watermark and bore the left profile of the head of Queen Victoria on an oval backdrop and its colour was purple, brown. From then onwards several more Ceylon stamps of the penny series in the imperforate as well as perforated type, were released over the years until 1872, when the country adopted the decimal currency and switched over to rupees and cents.

The most expensive and difficult to obtain stamps for latter day collectors, were those released in the penny series and are of the 1d, 2d, 4d, 5d, 8d, 9d, 10d, 1s, and 2s denominations. There were four basic designs in the first set of imperforates which included octagonals. The 4d dull rose octagonal stamp is regarded as the rarest and most expensive of all Ceylon stamps. The rarest and most valuable collections of Ceylon stamps are those which have a good representation of penny series stamps.

There have been several outstanding collections of Ceylon stamps auctioned over the years. Harmers of London have been the auctioneers for most of the well-known collections which included the Baron Anthony Worms Collection auctioned in June 1938, the Ernest B Lye Collection auctioned on May 8 1946 by Robson Lowe, the Rear Admiral Frederic Harris Collection auctioned on February 10/11 1953 by Harmers of New York, the Sir Ernest de Silva Collection auctioned on January 12/13 1959, the R.C Agabeg collection auctioned on May 20, 1982, the P.C. Pearson Collection auctioned on April 13 1983, and an unnamed collection auctioned on June 12 1984. Of the collections that have come on the market over the past 150 years two stand out as unique and remarkable both for the quality of the listings as well as their diversity. The two collections are those of Baron Anthony de Worms, and Sir Ernest de Silva.

Baron Anthony de Worms was born on 4 January 1869. He was the son of the first Baron Solomon de Benedict de Worms who was born in Frankfurt but was taken to England by his parents at an early age, and eventually went to Ceylon. Baron Solomon’s father was Benedict de Worms who was married to Janette the eldest sister of Baron de Rothschild the renowned banker and international financier. His two younger brothers Gabriel and Maurice de Worms who also moved to Ceylon were pioneers in plantation development in Ceylon in the mid-19th century.

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