HONG KONG: A pair of rare stamps bearing a picture of Chinese nationalist leader Sun Yat-sen sold for over $ 700,000 at a sale in Hong Kong on Saturday, auction house Zurich Asia said.
The 1941 blue and black stamps, rare because the picture of Sun is accidentally inverted, sold for HK$ 5.52 million ($ 707,700) to an anonymous phone bidder, the firm said.
Zurich Asia said the price set a new “world auction record for any Republic of China stamp,” referring to the period of 1912 to 1949 in China, after the last imperial dynasty lost power and before the communists took over. The pair came from the original sheet of 50 stamps that had the error.
Mainland Chinese are regular buyers of the top lots at sales of art and jewelry as Hong Kong positions itself as an auction hub for Asia as well as the gateway to China’s vast market.
Rare Chinese stamps sell for $ 700,000
Rare Chinese stamps sell for $ 700,000
