Cultural revolution postage stamps

If you have any of these in your stamp collection, move them to your safe deposit box.  The Wall Street Journal explains why.

At a standing-room-only auction last weekend, Interasia Auctions sold more than 3,000 lots for a value of 98 million Hong Kong dollars (US$12.6 million). And at another sale earlier in the week held by Zurich Asia, a leading stamp auction house, two Cultural Revolution-era stamps sold for more then HK$600,000...

The Interasia auction was led by a block of four stamps [above] known as “Mao’s Inscription to Japanese Worker Friends” from 1968, the largest existing multiple of this rare Cultural Revolution stamp. It fetched HK$8.9 million, a record for a Chinese stamp at auction.

The “Great Victory of Cultural Revolution,” an unissued stamp depicting Mao Zedong and Lin Biao, a Chinese military leader, sold for HK$632,500. It was reported to have been printed at a time when Mao was trying to elicit Lin’s support during the Cultural Revolution.

“The Whole Country is Red,” which sold for HK$690,000, shows a map of China that includes Taiwan. According to Mr. Mangin, the Zurich Asia director, the stamp was issued at post offices for just a few days before unleashing an uproar when Communist officials caught the error. The stamps were quickly withdrawn from the market but a few were lost to the public.

More at the link.