Chinese Stamps Skyrocket

According to an article in California's Sacramento Bee, "Stamps from the People's Republic of China have skyrocketed in value. In the past year, more than 2,000 different vintage Chinese stamp varieties have experienced price increases. One jumped from being worth just over $27,000 last year to $60,000 now. Another catapulted from $325,000 to $750,000."

Reporter Peter Rexford pens, "Evidence of this new wealth became especially apparent recently from an unlikely source. It came in the 2011 Scott Postage Stamp Catalog Volume II. For anyone other than stamp collectors, the seven-volume compendium isn't regular reading. However, this year especially, armchair enthusiasts – or even those with old worldwide stamp collections – might want to dust them off and take a look at any Chinese stamps grandpa may have collected. Some of the prices stagger the imagination."

Scott editor James Kloetzel is quoted in the article as saying, ""Individual wealth has soared in China and it's being reflected in the price of collectible stamps. The disposable income has to go somewhere and rare stamps are one of the areas."

Shown above, "The Holy Grail" of Chinese stamps, the 1897 Red Revenue small one dollar block of four.

To read the entire article, click here.