Postage stamps have been one of the most desired objects of collectors’ passion. More than 2,000 tiny pieces of paper worth a fortune have recently been showcased in Taiwan, among which the four unseparated stamps named “The Legendary Block of Four,” with a declared value of NT$500 million owned by a Chinese entrepreneur, have become the focus of attention of collectors and stamp fans.
The PhilaTaipei 2016 World Stamp Championship Exhibition kicked off at the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 1 on Friday, showcasing 2,450 rare and valuable postage stamps from collectors from 80 countries around the world. It is the first time Taiwan has hosted the exhibition, Chunghwa Post Co stated.
Among the rare stamp collections on display from October 21 to 26, the four red stamps, with each carrying the same pattern and issued during the Qing Dynasty, generated buzz among media for their whopping value. The top horizontal line of each stamp featured the words “Great Qing Post” and the central vertical line “used as one dollar” in Chinese, with “1 dollar” in English written horizontally at the bottom of each piece of paper.
The exhibitor said that the collection was printed in 1897 and was initially owned by a French stamp collector, Robert Alexis de Villard, who died in 1904. The stamps had been kept by his wife and were made known to collectors until 1924.
In the 1980s, the stamps were purchased for a price of US$300,000 by a well-known Hong Kong postage stamp collector, Lin Wen-yen, and later found a new owner in the person of Chinese entrepreneur and collector Ding Jinsong, with an estimated value of NT$500 million (US$15.72 million) today.
The items had been exhibited in Taiwan once in celebration of the Republic of China’s 70th anniversary 35 years ago.
The World Stamp Championship Exhibition features a variety of rarest stamps from around the world including 200 frames of unseparated Shanghai flying geese stamps that bear no face value.
The organizer said that 2,450 frames of valuable stamps are on display at the exhibition with the insured amount at NT$4.1 billion.