The postage stamp market grew significantly in 2013, with Chinese collectors in particular demonstrating considerable buying power - resulting in increased demand for rare Chinese stamps. British stamps remain the most widely collected but, at the high end of the market, American rarities featured most prominently.
Top postage stamp sale of 2013
 The Dawson Cover is the rarest and most important in all Hawaiian postal history |
- The famous Hawaiian Missionary Dawson Cover was the biggest stamp sale of 2013, realising $1.9m in June. The only cover to feature both the 2 cent and 5 cent Hawaiian Missionary stamps, it was discovered in a bundle of letters bound for a furnace in 1905.
2013's important postage stamp sales
- The only known cover featuring the Hall of Classics invert, one of the rarest items of Chinese philately, auctioned for $619,000 in January.
 With only 32 examples of this temporary issue known, the Red Revenue stamp stands among the world's greatest rarities |
- A China $1 Red Revenue stamp, one of only 32 known to exist, made $890,000 in June.
- A sheet of 60 Brazilian reis stamps from the Bulls Eye edition sold for $648,720 in June.
- A set of three British 1918 registration sheets featuring the 2s 6d, 10s and 5s denominations from the King George V Seahorse Issue made $286,000 in July.
- An 1869 5 cent pictorial invert achieved $800,000 at an auction in October, while a 30 cent example at the same sale realised $600,000.
- An 1893 Columbian issue $4 block auctioned for $550,000 in November - up 83% on estimate.
It was a breakout year for…
- The Australia £1 Kangaroo, an example of which achieved $195,216 at a sale in Melbourne - up 400% on its estimate.
It was a year to forget for…
- The Royal Mail failed to notice that a number of letters posted over a number of years by Angus McDonagh, aka the Anarchist Philatelist, featured fake stamps with hilarious designs.
One you may have missed…
 The 20c St Louis Bear is among the rarest US stamps |
- A 20c St Louis Bear, among the most valuable of the pre-1847 postmaster's provisionals, achieved a 70% increase on estimate to make $85,000 in December.
View our postage stamps for sale.
