A British Guiana One-Cent Magenta postage stamp from 1856, the only one of its kind to still exist, has sold for a record $9.5 million U.S. dollars at Sotheby's on Tuesday.

A British Guiana One-Cent Magenta postage stamp from 1856 has sold for a record $9.5 million U.S. dollars at Sotheby's on Tuesday.

The hefty price makes it the most expensive stamp ever sold at an auction, and the most valuable object by weight and size.

An anonymous telephone bidder purchased the stamp at the packed auction. The previous record price for a single stamp was $2.2 million dollars.

Printed in black on magenta paper, the British Guiana stamp was sold by the estate of the late multi-millionaire John du Pont, an heir to the du Pont chemical fortune who died in prison in 2010 at the age of 72.

The British Guiana One-Cent Magenta is one of the world's first postage stamps.

Part of the proceeds from the sale will go to the Eurasian Pacific Wildlife Conservation Foundation, which du Pont supported.

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