A well-known Perthshire stamp dealer stole a highly collectible Penny Blue worth £5,000 from a grieving family’s collection after they entrusted him to value it for them.
Richard Allcoat helped himself to the most valuable stamp in a £23,000 collection and tried to sell it on Ebay behind the family’s backs.
Allcoat, who runs a stamp shop in Kinross and has been a dealer for 20 years, was caught because the Jarvie family noticed the stamp was gone.
On Wednesday at Perth Sheriff Court, Allcoat was told his crime was a breach of trust and he was fined £2,500 by Sheriff Neil Bowie.
Allcoat, whose address was given as Kinross Stamp Collectors, High Street, admitted stealing a collectible stamp between September 17 and 19.
Fiscal depute Sarah Wilkinson told the court: “The accused is the owner of the stamp shop. The complainer’s father died in April 2020.
“Part of the estate was a stamp collection worth £23,000. The family consulted Mr Allcoat at his shop, looking to value the collection.
“Prior to attending the shop the Jarvie family took photographs of the most expensive album.
“On 17 September, the accused asked if they could leave the album with him for a few days and said he would be in touch when he finished. On September 18 the accused called Mr Jarvie and advised him that if he were to buy the collection he would offer £5,000 for everything.
“Mr (David) Jarvie declined the offer and requested to pick the collection up. The following day he did so.
“On returning home he checked the albums and noticed the most expensive stamp was missing. This stamp was worth £5,000.
“They noticed it had been replaced with another stamp from the album. Mr Jarvie compared with the photos and confirmed it was missing.
“On the same day, Mr Jarvie searched the accused’s online Ebay store and found the missing stamp for sale for £649.99. He called the accused and demanded the stamp back.
“The accused informed Mr Jarvie he took the stamp as payment for the valuation. He later claimed the stamp had fallen out of the album and he had decided to sell it.”
Mr Jarvie, from Glasgow, went to Allcoat’s home and was given the stamp back and police were called.
‘I’m not a cheat’
Allcoat told officers: “My wife is going to kill me if she doesn’t divorce me. I don’t even know why I did it. There was a stamp on the floor when they left.
“For some reason I picked it up and put it on Ebay. I can’t fathom it. I’m not a liar and I’m not a cheat. I feel like scum.
“I didn’t do it deliberately. I put it on Ebay and afterwards I felt sick.”
Representing himself in court, Allcoat said he had been suffering from depression after losing his parents. He described his father as his “partner-in-crime”.
“I guess I was in a pretty dark place,” he said. “There is a huge matter of trust with stamp collectors and dealers. I do valuations two or three times a week and I’m not in the habit of replacing stamps.”
He disputed the value of the stamp and the collection and said that in his “honest” opinion the full collection was worth around £8,000.
“It was not for financial gain. I am financially well set. I am hugely sorry and apologetic. They had been going through the grieving process, as had I.”
Sheriff Bowie said: “I find your explanation that you found it on the floor frankly incredible. For someone who sells valuable stamps that is a very dishonest act you have undertaken. On any view it was a valuable piece of property.
“This was a breach of a customer’s trust. You were trusted as an expert to value the property.”
The £23,000 stamp collection belonged to David Jarvie Sr, a special constable with Strathclyde Police for 30 years.
Outside court, Allcoat said he intended to continue his business and described the fine as “ridiculous”.
Penny Blue stamps
The Two Penny Blue was issued only days after the first plate of the Penny Black in the exact same design.
The stamp was rarely used, however, as it was produced exclusively to cover postage for packages weighing over half an ounce.
Like the Penny Black, the Penny Blue’s design was based on the medal engraving created by William Wyon of the monarch when she was only 15.
It was issued in sheets of 240 stamps without perforations. Its design comes in 10 varieties with several different combinations of perforation gauges, watermark sizes, and thickness of white lines on blue paper.
In later years, it was also issued in a deeper ink of blue.
Two Penny Blue are ten times rarer, with twice the catalogue value, than the Penny Black.
Owing to the fact that sending such items through the post was a limited occurrence, only small quantities of the stamp were ever produced.
The first edition, from 1840, is by far the most sought-after and valuable.
The largest known surviving 38-stamp block of the Plate 1 printing of the 1840 Two Penny Blue was sold in mint condition to King George V in the 1920s.
In 2011, a Post Office Mauritius issue was sold for £1 million in an auction.
