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Subject: China’s newly issued Lunar New Year monkey stamps are becoming a surprise hit for disappointed investors amid unstable gloomy markets such as stocks,…
Excerpt: English text from the archived bilingual edition · Chinese edition
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China’s newly issued Lunar New Year monkey stamps are becoming a surprise hit for disappointed investors amid unstable gloomy markets such as stocks, the exchange rate and real estate
The stamps, issued on Jan 5, are sold out soon after release and are experiencing a rocketing increase in value, china.com.cn reported
The resale price increased from 420 yuan on the day of issue to 820 yuan within a week, 21 times its face value of 38.4 yuan
A merchant in Changchun, Jilin province is surprised by the price surge of the monkey stamp market, saying: "I’m quite experienced in the stamp market but cannot understand the unreasonable price of the monkey stamps."
The stamps are the first sign of the Chinese zodiac to be commemorated in the fourth series of China’s zodiac stamp collection
The monkey stamps contain two designs. One is a monkey holding a peach as a symbol of good luck; the other one is a female monkey carrying two babies, a hint of China’s two-child policy
The designer is 92-year-old Huang Yongyu who designed the first monkey stamps 36 years ago
The price of stamps commemorating the 1980 Year of the Monkey has rocketed to a historical high
As the first of its kind, the stamps are sought-after items, with a single stamp fetching 12,000 yuan ($1,820), considerably more than its original face value of 0.8 yuan. A complete set sells for 1.5 million yuan
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