We have already examined the rarest stamps from numerous countries, including Germany, France, the UK, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Israel, the Vatican, Italy, Switzerland, New Zealand, the USA, Monaco, the Falkland Islands, Greece, Austria, Luxembourg, Malta, Finland, Sweden, Poland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Indonesia, and Namibia. Today, we take a look at the rarest and most valuable China stamps.
China is a truly remarkable country with a rich history, including, of course, a fascinating postal history. It’s incredibly challenging to even summarize the most significant postal events. For us, it’s noteworthy that the imperial period of China lasted until 1912 (Puyi was the last emperor of China and the eleventh and final monarch of the Qing dynasty). After Puyi’s fall, a long period of instability and clashes within China, as well as with Japan, began and continued until 1949, when the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) were established. Naturally, all these events resulted in numerous stamp issues—including local ones, stamps from unrecognized governments, and those issued during foreign occupations.
Additionally, considering the vast size of China, the population growth from approximately 450 million people in 1878 to about 1.4 billion people in 2024, and the fact that there are now far more people interested in philately, it’s no surprise that rare Chinese stamps can fetch extraordinarily high prices.
Red Revenue – Large Figures
China, Imperial - 1897/02/02
Denomination: 1 Chinese dollar
Estimated value: 878,908 USD (sold by Spink auction, January, 2016)
The rarest stamp of China, 32 exist
Note: Throughout its history, China has used a wide variety of currencies. Interestingly, during the 19th century, the Spanish silver dollar was also in use.
I’ll attempt to summarize the history of Chinese philately by quoting Mr. Steve Hamilton of Hamilton's for Stamps:
“The postal history of China is very fascinating as much as complicating if one considers the gradual decay of imperial China, the years of civil wars, the Japanese Occupation in the 1930s and World War II.
Early records from the first millennium BC show evidence of regular governmental postal service during the Chou Dynasty. By the 12th century, organised postal services existed as per Marco Polo’s records.
He reported the mailing of private letters by the Min Hsin Chu (a system of letter guilds) and the setting of post stages, as many as 10,000.
The Treaty of Kyakhta in 1727 allowed the regular exchange of mail between Imperial China and Russia. In the 19th century, the Opium War ended the policy of isolation and ‘treaty’ ports opened, allowing some countries to operate their ‘foreign post offices’ from 1844.
In 1865, Shanghai organised its own local post and the Englishman Robert Hart set up a mail service for the Imperial Maritime Customs for carrying consular mail to and from the ‘treaty’ ports. This function was available to the public on May 1878. Hence, China's first postage stamps, the ‘Large Dragons’ were issued to handle payment, and were inscribed "CHINA" in both Latin and Chinese characters, and denominated in candareens.
Initially, all mail to foreign destinations went through Shanghai, but by 1882, twelve post offices opened. Twelve years later, the postal operations were reorganised, Min Hsin Chu and the Shanghai local post ceased to operate, Customs Port became the Imperial Postal Service (effective 1 January 1897) and the postal system adopted cents and dollars as the new units of currency.
The lack of postage during the first half of 1897 forced the use of existing postage and revenue stock surcharged in cents, with some varieties. The first new stamps, inscribed "IMPERIAL CHINESE POST" went on sale in August 1897 with twelve values, ranging from 1/2c to $5. These lithographed stamps were printed in Japan and used desgns of a dragon, a carp and a wild goose.” - www.apta.com.au
Dowager Surcharged in Small Figures (Series: Empress Dowager's Birthday) / Dragons and Shou (dark green)
China, Imperial - 1897/01/02
Denomination: 10 Chinese cent
Estimated value: 933,000 USD (sold by Spink auction, January, 2019)
The historical situation becomes somewhat less complicated in 1949. After that year, we have mainland China (the People's Republic of China) and Taiwan (the Republic of China). In this article, we’ve focused solely on PRC stamps and history, as well as the imperial period shared by both the PRC and Taiwan.
“Nearly 50 years ago, the People’s Republic of China issued an 8-fen stamp known by the name The Whole Country is Red (Scott 999A). The 1968 stamp shows a worker, a farmer and a soldier, along with a prominently displayed China map.” - www.linns.com
The Whole Country is Red (Series: Red book) (Michel CN A1027, Scott 999A, Stanley Gibbons CN 2403a)
China, People's Republic - 1968/11/28
Denomination: 8 分 (Chinese renminbi fēn)
Estimated value: 2,000,000 USD (sold by China Guardian auction, Bejing, November, 2018)
This stamp was issued in 1968. In Chinese philately, most stamps from this year were related to Mao Zedong, featuring either his poems or his quotes. Other motifs included "Socialist folklore," various poses of Mao, and the "Red Book" series. The most valuable Chinese stamp belongs to the "Red Book" series. As the name suggests, the Red Book is the central motif of this series, depicting people holding the Red book.
The value of this particular stamp comes from an error—an ironic one at that. While the stamp is titled “The Whole Country is Red” and the People’s Republic of China considers Taiwan part of its territory, Taiwan is not painted red. After this printing error was noticed, the stamp was withdrawn from circulation.
Today, we explored some of the most valuable Chinese stamps. We encourage you to follow us for upcoming articles in this series, which will be published soon. In the meantime, feel free to browse our previous articles to further enrich your philatelic journey.
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