Bond fund manager Bill Gross of Newport Beach’s Pacific Investment Management Co. has donated $1.5 million in rare stamps for auction to benefit needy African communities.
Gross’s British Empire stamp collection is his second sold to benefit Columbia University’s Millennium Villages Project, which delivers seeds and fertilizer to parts of Africa.
In May, he auctioned off his Scandinavian stamp collection for $1.6 million for the cause.
Gross is the co-chief investment officer and a founder of Pimco, which manages $840 billion in assets.
Gross and wife Sue said they chose the organization as an opportunity to help “some of the poorest people throughout the African continent escape from extreme poverty.”
The auction will be held Oct. 3 at Spink Shreves Galleries in New York.
The collection contains 138 stamps, which includes unique canceled stamps and envelopes, according to the auction house.
“There are classic rarities from such places as Australia, the British West Indies, the Cape of Good Hope, Cyprus, Gibraltar, India, Malta and Mauritius ranging in value from a few hundred dollars to a hundred-thousand dollars each,” said auction house President Charles Shreve.
Last year, Gross also auctioned off $9.2 million in stamps for Doctors Without Borders, which provides medical care in developing countries.
