Gandhi stamps sell for £500,000

A set of four stamps featuring the portrait of Gandhi has been sold for £500,000 - but the total remains well short of an international record.

Only 13 of the 1948 Gandhi 10-rupee Purple Brown and Lake 'Service' stamps are in circulation.

The block of four was sold to a private collector-investor in Australia for the highest ever price for Indian stamps, said dealer Stanley Gibbons.

However, the record price for a stamp sold an auction was $9.5m (£7.4m).

That British Guiana one-cent magenta stamp was sold to an anonymous bidder in June 2014.

Collection

The Indian stamps were particularly rare owing to the fact they were in a set of four.

Stanley Gibbons previously sold one of these singles for £160,000 to a client in Uruguay last year.

A block of four is in the Queen's stamp collection, which is believed to be the world's largest and most valuable in private hands.

Keith Heddle, managing director of investments at Stanley Gibbons, said: "The market for high-quality Indian rarities has been strong for several years and is supported by the ongoing desire of the wealthy Indian diaspora and savvy international clients to own these historic assets."