For stamp collectors, rare and error postage stamps are always the target. As time goes by, the value of a postage stamp may increase unimaginably, and even reach a few million US dollars. The following are the value and history of the 13 most precious postage stamps in the world.

 Cape of Good Hope Stamp（好望角珍郵）

Cape of Good Hope Stamp

Estimated value: US$40,000

Issued in 1853, the Cape of Good Hope stamp is the first postage stamp in the Cape of Good Hope, and even in the whole of Africa. It firstly came out in the forms of 1- and 4-pennies, and the stamp with two other face values was issued two years later.

The stamp sports a triangular shape, so that even the illiterate could tell that it was not a stamp from another country, although many other countries have issued triangular stamps since then. Its design is a female figure sitting on top of an anchor, which is resting on top of a rock, symbolizing the Cape. The stamp was designed by Surveyor General Charles Bell and printed by Messrs. Perkins, Bacon & Co., a famous printer of books, bank notes and postage stamps.

Very rare copies of the stamp have survived today. In the world-famous Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue, the value of a single Cape of Good Hope stamp is about US$40,000.