The Golden Monkey Stamp or Gēngshēn Monkey is a postage stamp issued in China in 1980 of which 5 million copies were printed. Although not rare, the stamp has come to symbolise the strong market for collectable postage stamps in Asia. Demand for the stamp has made it one of the most sought after contemporary Chinese stamps.
Technical details
The stamp was designed by
Huang Yongyu Huang or Hwang may refer to:
Location
* Huang County, former county in Shandong, China, current Longkou City
* Yellow River, or Huang River, in China
* Huangshan, mountain range in Anhui, China
* Huang (state), state in ancient China.
* Hwang ...
and Shao Bolin and printed by the
photogravure and recess printing methods. It is
perforated 11.5.
[''Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue Part 17 China''. 7th edition. London: ]Stanley Gibbons
The Stanley Gibbons Group plc is a company quoted on the London Stock Exchange specialising in the retailing of collectable postage stamps and similar products. The group is incorporated in London. The company is a major stamp dealer and philat ...
, 2006, p. 136.
Chinese New Year stamps
The stamp is in the popular
Chinese zodiac series for the
Chinese new year
Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Sinophone, Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly r ...
, the most recent of which is the 2011 Year of the
Rabbit
Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...
stamp which sold out at post offices in China within a few hours. In
Chinese culture
Chinese culture () is one of the world's oldest cultures, originating thousands of years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia and is extremely diverse and varying, with customs and traditions varying grea ...
the number 8 and the colour red are both seen as lucky.
Philatelic value
Although the stamp was initially common, a full sheet of 80 sold for 1.2 million yuan ($180,000 or £117,200
[) in 2011 with a single stamp selling for 10,000 yuan ($1,500), which was 125,000 times more than its original price of 8 fen. The stamp had a catalogue value of US$10 unused and US$5 used in 1988. In August 2011, a complete sheet sold for HK$1.44M (£117,300) in Zurich Asia's Hong Kong sale, and another sheet sold for HK$1.495,000 (£122,700) at an InterAsia sale in September 2011.][''Far East Collector's Guide'', a supplement to Gibbons Stamp Monthly, November, 2011, p. 3.]
Forgeries
The stamp has become so valuable that it has been repeatedly forged.
See also
* Asian philately
* China Philatelic Society of London
The China Philatelic Society of London (CPSL) is a philatelic organisation devoted to the study of all aspects of Chinese philately from the Municipal Posts of the Treaty Ports to the People's Republic and Taiwan.
Origins
The Society was formed ...
* China Stamp Society
The China Stamp Society is a philatelic organization dedicated to the appreciation of the postage stamps and postal history of China, including the Treaty Ports, Foreign Offices in China, the Japanese Occupation, Hong Kong, Macao, Manchukuo and Tib ...
* Postage stamps and postal history of the People's Republic of China
References
{{Reflist
Postage stamps of China
1980 in China
1980 works
Monkeys