David Feldman is in the middle of their week of auctions including the Anatoly Karpov collection of Belgian stamps and an impressive collection of Persian philatelic lots.

However, Chinese stamp enthusiasts will still be wondering what happened in the auctioneer's major sale of material from that country, and the results have finally come through.

The lucky 1980 sheet of golden monkey Chinese stamps

The two sheets of 1980 Golden 'Year of the Monkey' stamps sold well with the finer of the two ('lucky sheet number 61282') reaching seven figures as expected: HK$1,265,000. Regular readers will know that we've noted their extraordinary ongoing value for a stamp which is not even rare.

The overall highlight of the sale, however, was a seriously rare Qing dynasty stamp: The ultra-rare Dowager small figure inverted overprint 10c/9ca. This is the rarest of all Dowagers overprinted varieties for the fabled '4 Double & 8 Inverted' collection (of which only four examples would be possible, partly due to the rarity of this example).

The ultra-rare Dowager small figure inverted overprint stamp

The piece is in surprisingly good condition - indeed its only real flaw is a small scuff above 'Qing'. Only two mint and two used examples are recorded. It sold on target at HK$3.1m.

Chinese and Hong Kong stamps are at the very peak of desirability at this point, and that doesn't seem likely to change any time soon.

The greatest treasure of Hong Kong philately, the 96c bistre block of four (Click to find out more...)

For that reason, we're particularly excited to have in our possession what is regarded as the greatest treasure of Hong Kong philately: the unique 96c olive-bistre block of four. It's currently available - and qualifies for our unique 120% guarantee as an extra show of our confidence in its strong future value.