June 11 (Bloomberg) -- Early British stamps featuring a young Queen Victoria and owned by billionaire fund manager Bill Gross sold for record prices at auction today in New York.

The morning and afternoon sales totaled $9.1 million, doubling estimates. The 63-year-old Gross, manager of the world's biggest bond fund, and his wife, Sue, have designated all proceeds from the auction as an unrestricted gift to Doctors Without Borders.

The donation is the largest ever received by Doctors Without Borders, known internationally as Medecins Sans Frontieres. Founded in 1971, it's an independent medical organization that delivers emergency aid in more than 70 countries.

Gross, who was at Shreves Philatelic Galleries Inc. in midtown Manhattan for the afternoon sale, said that he bought the stamps for about $2.5 million, mostly since 2000. He decided to sell them to aid the charity and to gauge the market for stamps, in which he's one of the largest U.S. collectors. He estimates he's spent between $50 million and $100 million collecting.

``It's beyond my expectations,'' he said of the day's results. ``It's four times profit. It's better than the stock market.''

Gross is co-founder and chief investment officer of Newport Beach, California-based Pacific Investment Management Co. Accompanied by Sue, he was wearing a navy suit and a tie featuring the Inverted Jenny, a famous 1918 stamp with a plane printed upside down.

Strong Stamp Market

Auctioneer and co-owner Tracy Shreve said a strong philatelic market for the material -- especially 1840 stamps, the world's first, known as Penny Blacks and Two Penny Blues -- and the philanthropic cause helped boost the bidding.

The auction house had estimated combined total sales for both sessions at $4 million to $5 million. Prices do not include a 15 percent commission, which buyers pay and the auction house keeps.

Darin Portnoy, a physician and U.S. president of Doctors Without Borders, said after the morning session that the money coming to the organization was ``extraordinary.'' It was especially important, he said, because ``it gives us a chance to be reactive in many places, to respond to emergencies,'' particularly those involving ``victims of violence.''

Combined Lots

The top lot, auctioned this morning, included two items, ``the largest surviving mint Penny Black multiple still in private hands,'' comprising 18 stamps, and a strip of six that had been separated from it. In an unusual arrangement, Shreves first auctioned each lot, realizing $425,000 for the larger and $45,000 for the smaller. The reunited block later sold for $1 million to an unnamed bidder in the room, voiding the first sale.

Shreve, the auctioneer, sought to prod bidders, including phone and Internet players as well as about 20 people present, by citing the worthy cause or reminding a hesitant bidder, ``It's only money, and you can't take it with you.''

Bidders were from the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Switzerland, Belgium, China and Italy.

Other big lots included ``the extraordinary `Lady Louis''' envelope, which had a preauction estimate of $75,000 to $100,000 and took in $650,000 (prompting Shreve to say in an aside, ``Lady Louis must be rolling over about now'').

Two blocks of 12 Penny Blacks, showing a young Queen Victoria, each sold for $400,000, well above estimates of $200,000 to $300,000.

Records Set

Charles Shreve, co-owner of the auction house and Tracy's husband, said many of the prices set records for the individual stamp issues. He said the figure for the Lady Louis lot was ``beyond belief,'' 10 times what Gross paid for it.

Gross has a fortune of $1.2 billion, according to Forbes magazine. His most famous stamp is an 1868 One Cent ``Z'' Grill, one of two copies known and part of his complete collection of 19th-century U.S. stamps.

``It's a process of bringing order from disorder,'' Gross said of his collecting. ``It's a common human interest. It's just like wanting to clean your house. It's in our genes.''

To contact the writer of this story: Jeffrey Burke in New York at jburke21@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 11, 2007 18:28 EDT