A sheet of 100 red colored stamps issued by the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in 1896 fetched 1.276 million yuan (154,000 US dollars) Monday at the autumn sale by Huachen Auctions, a record price for a Chinese philatelic auction.
The stamps, each valued at two fen (one yuan equals 100 fen), were purchased by well-known Chinese stamp collector Zhou Jinjue in 1930s. They are said to be the only well-preserved unused red colored stamps of its kind in the world.
The stamp was originally printed as red colored import tax noteto prevent tax evasion. But because of the opposition of merchants, it was used as temporary stamp when the Qing post office was established.
The autumn auction, which started on Nov. 1, has seen near 100 varieties of red-seal stamp lots kept by overseas collectors, which experts say shows the growing interest of collectors in the Chinese mainland in classic Chinese stamps.
In the meantime, stamps issued before the founding of New China in 1949 have become more popular. At the current auction, stamps issued after 1949 which used to account for 80 percent of those Huachen put up for sale have reduced to 20 percent.
(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2002)
