In geopolitics, in the economy and in stamp collecting, the biggest story of the first quarter of the 21st century is the rise of China. 

You don’t really need to know about the period of economic reform started by Deng Xiaoping from the late 1970s onwards to appreciate China’s long, complex postal history.  

Though many collectors of Chinese stamps will also be students of the country’s history. 

The effect, outside China, was very visible from 2001, when China entered the World Trade Organization and became a global power again. 

And a global power with a huge appetite for philatelly. 

Stamp collecting was cool in China. In fact, it was pretty much a state-sanctioned hobby. There are stamp collecting clubs all over the world’s most populous nation. 

And, a newly rich and emboldened nation saw its national heritage scattered across the globe as imperial loot. 

And they started to buy it back. 

Sometimes out of nationalist fervour. And sometimes as a useful investment diversification tool that could bypass some of China’s restrictions on finance. 

This influx of money into a specific area of the global stamp market was extraordinary in its effects. 

It’s been remarked on in all sorts of collectibles markets, from watches to art. 

Highly sought-after Chinese stamps saw enormous rises in value. Sometimes as much as 10% a month. Thousands of percentage points over those crazy years from around 2001 to 2016. 

There was then a slight correction. 

Unsurprisingly. But, now the market has started to tick up again. 

And the very high end, the record breakers, never really stopped.

Here are the 5 most valuable Chinese stamps:

5 - 10c on 9 Candereen surcharge inverted - $781,860

 

The story of Qing stamps is the story of an ancient system trying and failing to come to terms with a new global capitalist order. 

China tried to keep western Imperialist powers (and Japan) out. They failed. And the aging Chinese Imperial system was beset by internal fractures. 

Stamps were a modernising tool, introduced very late (most of the world was quickly on the heels of the UK’s 1840 starting gun). The stamps themselves were initially produced overseas, were made mostly for the convenience of foreign traders in treaty ports and carried international currencies. 

This example from 1897 shows a dollar overprint on a Chinese candereen-valued stamp. 

The inversion defeated the best efforts of the fledgling post office. It’s the result of a single error stamp on each sheet of the 9 candereens. In processing the overprints, a column of stamps containing the single inverted sheet should have been cut off the sheet. A few got through - perhaps as there was a rush on to meet demand for the new stamps.   

The example sold in 2019 set a world record for Dowager issues of over 6 million Hong Kong dollars, nearly $800,000 today. 

It is believed to be the only unused example of this inverted surcharge, of which there are only two other surviving values. 

4 - Olive Queen Victoria’s Head 1864 - $824,648

 

This stamp is from Hong Kong, which in 1864 was a British territory. 

Not any more. 

This is the most valuable Hong Kong stamp and it’s another error. 

The 96 Hong Kong cent stamp should have been printed in a browny grey, but a colour error gave history 52 sheets of olive stamps. 

Furthermore, a watermark error and a misprint of the text made this a pretty bad job for a 19th century stamp. 

Now, there are only 40 known pieces, and one block of four. It was the block that was sold in 2012 for around $824,648, a then record for Hong Kong auctions. 

4 - Red Revenue $1 overprint - $889,500 to $997,000

 

 

In itself, the Red Revenue, first issued in 1896 - 7, is not a particularly very rare stamp. 

It was initially made for use at China’s international ports (much-hated virtual overseas territories imposed by treaty), but when the Qing dynasty government introduced a national post service the Red Revenue got a new lease of life. 

Stamps ordered from Japan failed to show up on time, so the rather lovely Red Revenues were overprinted for use throughout the country. 

These have become very rare and are much desired by Chinese collectors. The lucky red adds to their appeal, but the design and quality of printing are highly rated by philatelists too. 

Of the five overprints, the $1 was made first, and just 50 of these were overprinted before complaints about small, illegible Chinese characters forced a redesign. 

Of those 50, 32 (numbered) examples are now known to exist. 

The most famous is a block of four that has sold several times for very high sums from the 1920s to the 2000s. 

The sales at auction in 2013 (in Hong Kong and Beijing) we’re counting were for exceptionally good single $1 overprints. They made around $900,000 and nearly $1 million. 

That’s not the highest sum paid for a Red Revenue, but as that one - the reported $18.8 million in a private deal for the block of four - also includes a Large Dragon stamp we can’t attribute the price paid to a single stamp. 

Have a look at some Red Revenues here. 

2 - The Red Stamp of 1969 - $1,860,000

 

The Cultural Revolution is still being discussed in China. And around the world. 

It’s also one of the most interesting times for Chinese stamp production. 

As Mao Zedong launched a number of (sometimes violent) plans to revitalize the Chinese revolution, stamps became a major propaganda tool. 

This is hardly novel. Stamps everywhere are used by states to sell themselves. 

But the quick changing political scene in 1960s and 70s China led to rarities like this portrait of Mao with Lin Biao. 

Biao - a military genuis who did much to help secure the foundation of the People’s Republic of China - should have succeeded the Great Helmsman. 

But after a reported coup attemp he died in a plane crash and posthumously his reputation was trashed. 

This stamp became a hot, forbidden property. It was quickly cancelled and where they did get out, Biao was sometimes scribbled out, or even cut from the stamp. 

So, a block of four is a great catch, there are believed to be only three around, and this is the only known example with two margins. 

1 - The Country is Red - $2 million 

Can you spot the unforgivable geopolitical slip up on this stamp?

 

The country’s redness is the problem with this fascinating Cultural Revolution remnant that still has resonance today. 

It’s often called the “map error” stamp, and the error is so politically disastrous that as many of these stamps as possible were destroyed. 

If you look closely at the stamp you’ll see that to the right of the happy soldiers, peasants and workers of China brandishing their copies of Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung - the Little Red Book - is a white portion of the map. 

That is Taiwan. 

Taiwan’s status is hotly contested. At the close of the Chinese Civil War and the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the defeated Kuomintang armies grabbed the island, declared it the real seat of the legitimate Chinese government and set up a state there. 

To the People’s Republic of China it is a rebellious province of the PRC. 

It’s a complicated situation. The international status of the PRC and the Republic of China (as Taiwan sometimes styles itself) has fluctuated and is still not settled. 

To show it as a separate - and not Chinese Communist red - entity on a map is a big faux pas. 

So, these stamps were cancelled and destroyed. 

Those that survived are the most valuable of all Chinese stamps. 

Examples always make hundreds of thousands of dollars, over £1 million in 2018 and $2 million in November of the same year at auction in Beijing. 

Buy rare Chinese stamps today 

If you want to understand the modern world you have to understand China. 

The country’s philately is just as fascinating as the rest of its hugely complex culture and  history. 

 

 

You can see a selection of rare Chinese stamps for sale here. 

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