Author(s): Helen Morgan

History

Share

Mauritius is famous for its dodo but there is another near-extinct export that has its own fabulous story - the world's most sought after postage stamps.Blue Mauritius is an adventure that begins at a fancy dress ball on a tropical Indian Ocean island, and unfolds through discoveries of the stamps in Bordeaux, Mauritius, India and Britain. It is the fascinating story of the birth of philately: the first collectors were women, but schoolboys and kings were also collectors. Today, the men who hunt the legendary Blue Mauritius are no petty paper-chasers; they take their vocation as seriously as if they were big game hunters from Empire days. And there is still a chance that, at any moment, more treasure may be discovered...