This rare 1851 Canadian stamp with an image of Queen Victoria was sold for $260,000 US in New York on Thursday.This rare 1851 Canadian stamp with an image of Queen Victoria was sold for $260,000 US in New York on Thursday. (CBC)

A New York stamp collector auctioned parts of his collection in New York on Thursday, including a Canadian-issued stamp that is one of the world's rarest.

The 1851 Canadian 12-pence black stamp showing a young Queen Victoria sold for $260,000 US. It was one of the first stamps released in Canada.

It is one of many British North America stamps from the collection of Wall Street money manager William H. Gross that were auctioned for a total of $3.2 million.

"The collection starts with the very first issue of Canada and other provinces and has early issues, what we call classic issues," Charles Shreves, president of auctioneer Spink Shreves Galleries in New York, said before the sale.

"It includes the 12-penny issue, the black stamp that Canada is most famous for. It's one of the finest known mint copies — that mint stamp is probably going to bring $200,000 to $300,000 US. He also has that stamp used on an envelope … very highly collectible."

The stamp on the envelope sold for $250,000. Early stamps from Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia sold at prices from $4,000 to $20,000 US. A dull violet 1851 one-shilling stamp from Nova Scotia sold for $47,500.

"Mr. Gross is probably the single most famous stamp collector in the world, having amassed the most comprehensive collection," Shreves said ahead of the auction.

"There are many reasons why people collect stamps and one of them is that they are beautiful pieces of art. But people like to collect history. Having history in their hand, they represent a time period. The first Canadian stamps were in 1851. It's a period of time that you can reminisce about," Shreves added.

Also auctioned were stamps from Civil War-era Confederate states, among them an 1861 Confederate stamp from Lebanon, La., that has a unique misprint that sold for $240,000 US, less than the $385,000 US Gross paid for it in 1999.

A blue five-cent stamp dating from 1861 in Livingston, Ala., sold for $160,000 US.

Gross, founder of investment firm Pimco, sold the collection to raise funds for the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.

He has pledged $8 million US to create a 12,000-square-foot gallery in a new street-level facility in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.