Market Values
Chinese Miniature and Souvenir Sheets are interesting in a lot of respects. With their vast diversity of subjects, they can be found in most topical collections. they can also constitute a full fledged collecting area in their own right. One that can be started and completed relatively "easily", with a total catalogue value of just a little more than US$10,000 and no particular expensive variety or error to mention.
Some of these stamps have experienced a dramatic increase in value. The most noticeable in this category is the Stage Art of Mei Lanfang, issued in 1962 with a face value of 3 Yuan, catalogued today at US$ 3,000 for one in very fine condition. LINN’s Stamp News of September 21, 1998 published an article by Michael Rogers, a dealer, specialist in Asian material, which reported that an FDC with this particular stamp was sold for $ 6,250 plus 15 percent buyer’s fee. The FDC was actually mailed to the Netherlands.
I have read in one issue of Chinese Philately about another FDC with the same stamp, which was sent on September 15, 1962 from Beijing to Hamburg. It was part of the collection of a famous China collector, Mrs. Carla Michel-Lodders of Germany.
Money, however is not what we want to bring out by showing these stamps. Some of them are actually quite cheap and catalogue at around a dollar. We want to tell their stories; "read them out loud," and uncover what they were designed to convey.
In this, we shall be guided by these wise words of Shao Bolin, the Chief Designer of China Stamps issuing Bureau, who wrote in his preface to "A collection of Chinese Stamps 1982 - 1988:
