The buyer was initially kept secret, but the truth soon leaked out. The stamp had been bought by Dr Arthur KM Woo, who already owned four other copies of this elusive treasure. Incidentally, the underbidder on this occasion was the insurance billionaire Joseph Hackmey. Dr Woo obviously has deep pockets and a taste for very expensive stamps.
A recently published book, written by Dr Woo and Brian Moorhouse, gives details of some of his stamps. He has at least 40 different collections of stamps, for which he has won at least 200 awards. His particular interest is in stamps which feature birds. He is particularly fond of stamps from Western Australia, which features swans. Also of stamps from Guatemala which have the famous quetzl bird and those from Bolivia which feature the condor. However many of his collections, such as his collection of Buenos Aires have no connection with birds whatsoever. One of his most expensive acquisitions was the Ice House Cover - an 1890 USA cover which has the only existing red and black Abraham Lincoln stamp on cover. He paid $431,000 including commission.
Dr Woo, who is 82, has homes in Britain and Hong Kong. Despite the fact that he is one of the world's leading philatelists, he almost never attends philatelic exhibitions – even the ones which feature his own stamps.
Dr Arthur KM Woo belongs to a prominent Hong Kong family. His father was the late Dr Arthur Wai Tak Woo a renowned obstetrician and gynaecologist, who was a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. His mother was Mrs. Dorothy May Choy who was born in Sydney, Australia from a rich Chinese family. She was an accomplished pianist and talented writer.
They had 6 children, 5 girls and one boy, Dr Arthur KM Woo who was their youngest child. The Woo's lived in Hong Kong in a colonial style mansion, with tennis court and lots of land covered with azalea flowers. Friends recall that every year at the blooming of the azaleas they gave a party , known as the 'azalea party', which was attended by the cream of Hong Kong society.
In keeping with the family tradition (his father and grandfather were medical doctors) Arthur KM Woo embarked on a course of medical studies. At the age of 16 he went to the University of Hong Kong and then moved to the University of Southern California where he graduated (cum laude) in microbiology. He then finished his post graduate studies at McGill university in Montreal, where in 1961 he received the degrees of master of surgery and Doctor of Medicine. He started practising in Hong Kong in 1962 and in 1967 moved to Maryland and then to California, where he practised medicine for 20 years.
One friend of his told me: 'Everything he did in his life he wanted to be the best. He is a very good golf player , a member of the HK golf club and he plays also the piano. He speaks good French , English and Chinese. He is very Westernised and charming.'
After his mother's Death in 1972 he had to return to HK for the inheritance. As the only male, under Chinese law he inherited the mansion , lots of shares and bonds, stamps, antiques. Friends recall that the house was full of Ching, Ming porcelain and furniture. Nowadays the house has been replaced by a high rise exclusive residential condominium. He also has a reputation as successful investor.
Dr. Arthur KM Woo started to collect stamps just after World War II. His first stamps were from Hong Kong and later he started collecting stamps from the USA.
Throughout his life he has been a keen ornithologist. Unsurprisingly, he favours stamps with classic bird motifs. In a rare interview Dr Woo said: ‘It’s simply the beauty of the Western Australia Swan, the Guatemala Quetzel, the Colombia Andean Condor, the USA 1869 Eagle and Shield etc. These wonderful designs, coupled with patience and determination, enabled me to form the collections I have now’.
His favourite stamp is the Western Australia Swan, printed by Perkins Bacon (the firm that printed the original Penny Black). He explained: 'It is recess-printed and the design of the swan is truly beautiful, as are most of the other early Perkins Bacon engraved stamps’.
Among the items in his collection are an Antarctic Expedition with Penguin labels; Falkland 1933 Centenary 5/- Penguin with a unique imprint block of four in the scarce yellow-orange shade; and a China 1897-1900 Wild Goose issue.
The famous Quetzel, originally the coat-of-arms issue, was beautifully adopted as the main bird design for Guatemala. In his collection Dr. Woo possesses all the proofs, essays, sheets, rare cover combinations, plus the famous inverted centre of the 5 centavos on cover.
Collecting these kinds of stamps means big money but Dr. Woo is also humble. He is very retiring and rarely makes personal appearances at events where his stamps are shown. When asked about what individual exhibition honour gave him the most pleasure he recalled: ‘I do remember that although I showed only a few selected pages of my Bird Collection in Claridges 1999, the positive comments I received from several world-famous philatelic personages in respect of my collection was something I will probably never forget’.
see also - Joseph Hackmey - the chess player with one of the finest collections in the world
John du Pont - the billionaire who collected stamps in jail