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Turning now to the expensive stamps, here's the first page of the article,

And here's the text,

"STAMP ALBUM WORTH $1,000,000

FOR FIRST TIME 'LIFE' BRINGS WORLD'S CLASSICS TOGETHER

For its size and weight the postage stamp above is the most valuable single object in the world. Costing only one cent when it was issued in 1856 by British Guiana, this stamp today could probably not be bought for less than $100,000 - 10 million times its original price. The envelope below, which has only two one-penny stamps on it, has a valuation just as incredible: $75,000.

Why anyone would pay such fantastic sums for such seemingly worthless scraps of paper is something that can be completely understood only by those avid hobbyists called stamp collectors, of whom there are 12 million in the U.S. alone. Rarity of a stamp together with its physical perfection are general basic standards of value. The rarity in many instances has been caused by inadvertent printing mistakes or "errors"- the wrong color of ink, an inverted center, a tete-beche (a single stamp upside down in relation to another on the same sheet). But rarity alone is not enough to give great value. To become one of the world's premier classics a stamp, like a woman, must have that ineffable some thing called "desirability" which, when a man sees it, makes him willing to give up his money, risk his reputation, commit theft or even murder to possess it. The British Guiana, for example, is not a beautiful stamp. It is dirty, its corners have been clipped off, the penned initials of the postmaster scar its face. True, the stamp is unique, the only one of its kind known to exist. Yet other more attractive stamps are unique. Its irresistible fascination for collectors is an enigma.

On the back (right, above) of the British Guiana are the marks of three owners, the fleur-de-lis of Count Philippe von Ferrary, the clover of Arthur Hind, the comet of the present owner. The name of the present owner is one of the world's best-kept secrets, anonymity being an idiosyncrasy of many collectors. He bought the British Guiana in 1940 through an agent, Finbar Kenny of J. and H. Stolow of New York. According to Kenny, not even the man's wife knows that he possesses it and LIFE had to negotiate through Kenny for permission to photograph it. LIFE does know who owns the Mauritius envelope below but has promised not to tell. It is the collector identified on the following pages by the pseudonym "Atlanticus."

The assemblage of rare and valuable stamps shown in this article is unparalleled in publishing and philatelic history. Never in the 114 years since the postage stamp was invented has such a collection been seen, even at the great exhibitions in London, Paris and New York. Because of a U.S. restriction, most of these stamps have never been seen in color reproduction in this country. Some have never even been photographed before, even in black and white. In 1952  the U.S. lifted some of its restriction on reproducing foreign stamps in color, and LIFE spent two years making up this album. All of the stamps, except those of the U.S. are shown here in actual size. LIFE' s estimate of their value is over a million dollars, based on past sales as well as present retail prices. But each stamp is so treasured by its owner that no one man could buy all of them at any price."

There are two items on the page, described as,
"The face and the back of a $100,000 stamp", and
"Stamps on $75,000 envelope were issued in 1847 by Postmaster of British island of Mauritius".