Red Revenue

Red Revenue
The block of four "Small One Dollar" stamps is the crown jewel of Red Revenues
Country of productionChinese Qing dynasty
Location of productionLondon
PrinterWaterlow and Sons
Face value3 cents (overprinted in five denominations)
Red Revenue
Traditional Chinese紅印花郵票
Simplified Chinese红印花邮票
Literal meaningred tax-stamp postage stamp
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinhóng yìnhuā yóupiào

The Red Revenues (Chinese: 紅印花郵票) are Qing dynasty Chinese revenue stamps that were overprinted (surcharged) to be used as postage stamps in 1897. Their limited number, fine design and the intaglio process made the stamps in this series some of the most sought-after in the world.[1][2]

There are several varieties of Red Revenue stamps, with the "Small One Dollar" being the rarest and most valuable. It has been called "China's rarest regularly issued stamp". In a 2013 Hong Kong auction, a single stamp was sold for HK$6.9 million.[3] Another was sold in a 2013 Beijing auction for 7.22 million yuan. A block of four, considered the "crown jewel" of Chinese philately, was reportedly sold in 2009, together with a different stamp, for 120 million yuan (US$18.8 million).[4]

  1. ^ Woo, L.Y. (吳樂園) (1983). Taipei: Overprinted Red Revenue Stamp Collection (紅印花加蓋郵票專集)
  2. ^ Ministry of Transportation Post Office (1984). Taipei: Red Revenue stamps, Part I of 2 (紅印花郵票上編)
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