Monkey Business

The above pictured stamp is one item that's known by virtually all Chinese people. It's the 1980 issued Monkey stamp with a face value of 8 cents. When one look at it, one must be thinking to themselves, "It's just an ordinary stamp. There's nothing special when one looks at it". Yes, from the surface there's nothing special about it. But what it represents is the main reason for its popularity.

• This is the first issued zodiac stamp from China.
• The red color in Chinese culture represents good luck.
• The number '8' in Chinese culture means prosperity and wealth are included in the year 1980 and the denomination of 8 cents.
• The fur were engraved in such a way that after print, it has the three-dimensional feel to it.
• Created by renowned Chinese artists, Huand Yongyu and Shao Bolin.
• And of course the picture of a monkey. Everyone who ever read Chinese literature knew about the classic novel "Journey to the West". There's a Monkey character who is consider God with tremendous power and is considered the central character of the novel.

As you can see, when these interpretations are combined together, it's no wonder every Chinese person wants to own one.

As I have mentioned above, the stamp was issued back in 1980. 16 million were supposed to be issued, but due to problems with the printing processes about half of them were destroyed and then other compounding issues lower the final count to about 5 millions.

At this point, you probably think to yourself that there's plenty to go around and where can you get one. But of course when people begin to collect zodiac stamps together with more issued zodiac series by the postal system, people realized they were missing one (aka: Monkey stamp) to complete the set, people begin to look for them. With the rise of Chinese economy in the past 30 years and the number of Chinese collectors grew to 20 millions, the supply and demand curve tells you that there are very few around. In fact, if you want to buy one, it would probably cost you about $2,000 USD. If someone comes to you with a monkey stamps at far below the market price, it's most likely a fake or a forgery.

One final footnote, back in 1982, it was selling at about $1 (See a section of the original 1982 catalog below). So that's an increase of 200000% in the past 30 years.

The Beginning

My first encounter with stamp collecting was back in 1982. One day I was at my friend's home and I saw several glassine interleaving envelops with several stamps that laid on top of several notepads. I asked my friend what is it (pretending)? I knew they were stamps based on the outline, but because the glassine is semi-transparent I can't make out the picture, although I see they were brightly colored. My friend said they were his brother and that we shouldn't touch them. His brother was a much older guy who doesn't talk much and never involve with our activities. Later, being curious, I asked his brother what's in it, he told me they are PRC stamps. When he removed the stamp from the envelop, there were the most beautiful pictures I ever seen. They were the complete mint goldfish set issued from the 1960.

Like drug, I was hooked. I started to ask questions left and right about their origin while staring at them and he saw my enthusiasm and begin to talk to me about it. Later he show me his collections and I was blown away. I have never seen such beautifully made stamps from that period of time. I asked him how can I be like a collector like him and that's when my collecting career started.

After learning many things about stamp collecting, I purchased my first PRC stamps. And believe it or not, I still remember my purchase price for them. The ship set at $1 and panda set at 80 cents back in 1982 (The following are my original two sets) ! Who would've know it has risen 20000% since.

But the point about collecting back then was not about investment and monetary value but rather to learn about the history, culture, important events and appreciate the art that a country brings. The passion of learning is what this hobby is all about.

If you are new to stamp collecting, there are tons of resources online to get you started. Also feel free to bookmark this page and look for future articles about PRC stamps.