Fractional ownership is the process by which you can own part of an extraordinary item that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to own in its entirety.

At Showpiece, we split ownership into a fixed number of Pieces and your level of ownership corresponds to how many of these Pieces you hold. E.g., if an item was split into 100,000 pieces and you purchased 10,000 of these pieces, you would own 10% of the underlying item.

Yes.

Using Showpiece, you become a true beneficial owner of the underlying physical item. Following a purchase of your pieces you will receive the documentation that enshrines your legal rights under English Law.

At Showpiece you will be able to build a collection of the world’s most extraordinary and culturally significant items. We believe this is the future of collecting and are building a digital experience we hope you’ll love.

Both the physical and digital benefits of ownership will vary from item to item but will always include the economic rights and voting rights over the future of each item. Showpiece and our partners will also provide secure custody and insurance of each item.

Only those over the age of 18 can purchase pieces of a Showpiece. We know this isn’t ideal and apologise for any disappointment caused. A potential solution is for an adult to purchase the fraction(s) in their own name and then once the intended beneficiary reaches the age of 18, they can write to us, and we can transfer the ownership.

Once you have pieces in your collection, you can list them for sale on the marketplace to other users at a price of your choice.

We have built a dedicated gifting experience which enables you to generate a gift code that can be shared with the intended recipient. Upon redemption of the code, the recipient will have full beneficial ownership and all related documentation.

The safety and security of the offering is our number one priority. There are several elements that ensure trust in our offering:

Security of the Showpiece: The One Cent Magenta stamp is safely secured in Stanley Gibbon’s vault on the Strand, London. Stanley Gibbons have also invested significant sums to have a bespoke security display cabinet produced so that the stamp is protected whilst on display. Stanley Gibbons have also arranged for insurance to cover the stamp in case of loss.

Legal Security: By using a trust structure, the beneficial rights of those purchasing pieces of the stamp are governed by recognised and widely used elements of English Law. We have invested a lot of time into getting this right. At Showpiece we really are offering true ownership of these extraordinary items.

Digital Security: All transactions and ownership data will be recorded and stored using Amazon’s Quantum Ledger Database (QLDB). This is an immutable solution meaning that a log is maintained containing all previous changes to the database and not just the current state is stored. Cryptographic verification is used to guarantee the veracity of this log.

Following the purchase of a Showpiece you will receive legal documentation declaring your beneficial ownership, as well as a digital certificate indicating the number of pieces you hold. Both will be available for you to print.

Furthermore, those who purchase over 10 Pieces of the 1c Magenta can request that the documentation be printed and posted to them in hardcopy form

In future, we plan to add an ‘Owners Only Shop’ where owners of a particular Showpiece will be able to purchase physical products that are exclusive to its owners. Current plans include items such as a high-quality printed certificate and a framed proof of ownership display that can be placed on your wall.

Our intention is to hold and protect collectibles indefinitely for the enjoyment of our community of Collectors, rather than to sell the collectibles. If in the future a third party did offer to buy one of the collectibles, the community of Collectors would decide if the item should be sold (see further “What if a buyout offer is made on the underlying item?” below). We therefore cannot guarantee that collectibles will never be sold.

If an offer is made to purchase the whole underlying Showpiece, all owners will receive a vote for each fraction they hold. If over 60% of the pieces voted are in favour of selling, we will sell the underlying item and distribute the net proceeds to owners’ pro-rata according to the number of pieces they hold.

Showpiece will take a de-listing fee in such an event.

If you make a purchase in aggregate of over £10,000 GBP (approximately $13,700 USD or €11,800 EUR) you may be required to provide proof of identity due to Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations. If this applies to you, there are two options available:

2. Complete your purchase first, and your requested pieces will be reserved for you until we receive the documentation required. We will request this by email and upon receiving the documents from you the transaction will be approved, and ownership records updated.

You can also write to us at: Showpiece Technologies Limited, 64-66 Glentham Road, Barnes, London, SW13 9JJ.

No. Consistent with the concept of democratisation, Stanley Gibbons want to make this opportunity available to all, however, as the world’s leading stamp dealer they also want to retain a meaningful economic interest in the 1c Magenta for the foreseeable future.

Also in keeping with the concept of democratisation, Stanley Gibbons do not aim to retain a majority stake in the stamp and therefore will make 51% of the pieces in the 1c Magenta available for general sale.

Additionally, Stanley Gibbons will not vote on any buyout offer made for the stamp thus allowing the individual owners to decide, as per the terms of purchase, whether to accept an offer or not.

You can buy pieces as a gift at checkout. Go to buy pieces as normal, and tick the gift checkbox at checkout. Put in the recipients name, and we’ll generate an invite code and invitation card you can give to them as a gift! They simply need to go to showpiece.com and look for ‘redeem’.