This rare stamp from China was in the news for the last few days. It was sold on Wednesday at auction in Hong Kong for a big price of HK$ 6.9 million'.
HONG KONG: One of China’s rarest stamps sold for HK$6.9 million ($890,000) at auction in Hong Kong, the auctioneers said Wednesday.
With just 32 recorded copies, the Qing Dynasty “1897 Red Revenue Small One Dollar” stamp is “China’s rarest regularly-issued stamp”, Interasia Auctions said in a press release.
The bright red stamp, symbolising luck and good fortune in Chinese culture, is rare because the characters “Qing Dynasty postal service, one dollar” were considered too small, prompting the printing of a second version.
The stamp was part of a three-day auction of Chinese, Hong Kong and Asian stamps which ended Monday bringing in a total of HK$71.9 million, Interasia said.
“Philately has a special place in Chinese culture, with rare stamps regarded as important cultural icons and treasures, just like art,” auction house director Jeffrey Schneider said in the statement.
A pair of rare stamps bearing an accidentally inverted picture of Chinese nationalist leader Sun Yat-sen sold for more than $700,000 in Hong Kong last October.
Interesting Facts…
The way you place a stamp on an envelope has a meaning!
You probably place stamps on an envelope with little to no care for how. Well, , you may have been accidentally sending love letters to business connections because of how you placed it!
The coded messages started in the Victorian era, as a hidden sign of courtship at an age where parents heavily censored mail. If you place a stamp upside down, for example, it means I Love You; diagonally, it means I miss you.
So now you know, if for whatever reason you still use snail mail, be careful how you stamp your letters.
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