A first-class $400,000 collection of rare Bermuda stamps put up for grabs abroad by a mystery seller should be bought for the Island, Postmaster General Clevelyn Crichlow said.

Mr. Crichlow added: "It's something the Post Office itself, if we had the money, we would want to keep.

"Anything like this, especially including postal history, it would be wonderful if we could hang on to it.'' Mr. Crichlow was speaking as the unique collection went up for sale in England -- with a whopping cover price.

And UK-based rare stamp dealer David Muscott gave the unique collection his personal stamp of approval.

Mr. Muscott, who is handling the sale, said: "I have been in this business for many years and it's the best collection to come up for a very long time.

"And it's very unusual to get an intact collection -- things like this are usually split up for auction.'' But he refused to identify the mystery seller of the huge and historic collection.

Mr. Muscott said: "In many cases you can identify clients -- but he is a private individual who is not known in international philately.'' But it is believed the seller is a Bermudian who has connections with the UK.

Among the top stamp collectors on the Island are ex-Premier David Saul, businessman Horst Augustinovic and the Bermuda Historical Society's Colin Benbow.

Mr. Benbow said the stamps were not his and could not suggest whose they might be.

Mr. Augustinovic is currently in Europe and was not available for comment.

Dr. Saul suggested the collection probably belonged to a resident of England who had died and his heirs wanted to dispose of the collection.

And he said: "I would be interested in little pieces, not the whole collection. Somebody will probably buy it and split it up.

"My guess is that whoever buys it would split it up very quickly.'' An advert placed in The Royal Gazette said the collection includes "postal history, artists' designs, proofs, rare stamps and errors.'' Included in the one-off deal is one of the 1800s vintage stamps issued by the St. George's equivalent of Hamilton's original Postmaster William Perot, Robert Ward, and parts of the famous collection of Sir Henry Tucker, auctioned off in the late 1970s.

Mr. Muscott said that the Ward stamp was particularly unusual because, unlike Perot stamps, the Ward version used a crayoned `X' instead of a pen signature -- and is likely to be very attractive to stamp collectors, known as philatelists.

He added: "To the layman, looking at this, he would throw it in the wastepaper basket -- but to a collector, it's truly remarkable.

"And there are a lot of other very rare things in there -- we have the first shilling stamp in a vertical strip with perforations horizontally but not vertically.

"It also has modern errors of Queen Elizabeth the like of which we've never seen.'' The Royal Gazette advert added: "Seldom does such an opportunity arise...ideal for continuation or it would be a wonderful heirloom.'' GOVERNMENT GVT