I scanned this stamp and listed it for sale yesterday (Ceylon 1 rupee 1944), and had a real flashback to collecting stamps in the UK as a kid. The palm trees were exotic, strange, trees to me then, but they were on a lot of my stamps. That was part of the allure of collecting, free travel to faraway places. I'm surrounded by palm trees now and detest the damn things. They're forever dropping fronds and they attract spiders and mosquitoes. For reasons best known to someone else, this particular stamp triggered my deep-seated childhood memory. Weird.

When an auction date has passed and the gavel's been put away, don't assume it's over. Many auction houses will offer post-auction sales at reserve price for a time, on a first come, first served basis, and nice items can still be found without the need to enter a bidding war. This works best for resellers of course, as relying on "leftovers" to fill gaps in your collection will eventually disappoint you. If you do bid with auction houses, subscribe. That way you'll be advised of post-auction sales.

Where is Inverted Jenny 66? There are just 100 of the world's most famous error stamp, printed in 1918 with an upside down plane. They include four called the McCoy Block that were stolen from a show in 1955. The McCoy in question was Ethel McCoy, who was the daughter of one of the founders of the Dow Jones company and a keen and celebrated stamp collector. Three of Mrs McCoy's stamps have resurfaced, the most recent in 2016 thanks to the FBI. But the top-right stamp, position 66 on the sheet of 100 Jennys, is still out there somewhere. Keep your eyes peeled!

@Darren Knight I can't find my old CP catalogue (clearly there's more cleaning up to be done!). Would you be able to do a lookup for me when you have time please? This is 1916 2d Yellow, SG418, and there's a colour spur in the top left corner, and I'm wondering if it's a listed variety. Any help greatly appreciated!

This is a prime example of "value confusion" that new collectors have to wrap their heads around. These are quite obscure stamps, issued for the Russian PO's in Turkish Empire 1868-1879, and are the first ones I've handled. They're not something that dealers see every day. The catalogue value for this group is only £24. A classic example showing that old doesn't equate to valuable. They're attractive and would be a nice thing to have, but definitely not investment-worthy.