Cultural Revolution stamp sold for HK$3.68m at auction

With the design of peasants and soldiers holding the book, Quotations from Chairman Mao, the background features red flags of Chinese Revolutionary Committees and crowds of peasants and soldiers' marching triumphantly.(Photo: Xinhua)

Stamps with the theme, "A red nation all over the country" during the Cultural Revolution were recently on show at a Hong Kong auction and were sold at high prices. One stamp, 60 mm x 40 mm alone was sold for HK$3.68 million, which broke the world record for the highest price for stamps at auction. Another six smaller ones, each measuring 30 mm x 40 mm each sold for over HK$2.9 million in one lot at auction.

Printed by the Beijing Stamp Printing Factory, the stamp had a face value of eight cents in renminbi. With the design of peasants and soldiers holding the book, Quotations from Chairman Mao, the background features red flags of Chinese Revolutionary Committees and crowds of peasants and soldiers' marching triumphantly. The top of the stamp has a Chinese map in red. All the Chinese provinces are red except for Taiwan. The large version includes the words at the bottom, "Long live the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution with complete victory!"

However, the stamps, which were issued November 25, 1968, were ordered suspended and archived because of the inaccuracy of the map, according to Wan Weisheng, the designer of the stamp.