World Business: More Than Child's Play

One commodity market that is in better shape than ever is the esoteric and specialized worldwide market in postage stamps. In Manhattan last week, the costliest stamp in history was auctioned for $41,000 by Bernard Harmer, U.S. partner of London's H. R. Harmer Ltd., the world's leading stamp firm. It is a pale blue, unused 2¢ Hawaiian Missionary stamp—so called because such stamps were mostly used by Christian missionaries writing home in the mid-19th century—and it replaced the renowned British Guiana one-cent magenta ($32,900) as the world's most valuable stamp. Its sale also proved once again that stamp collecting is a...