Chinese Year Of Monkey Stamp... What's The Big Deal?

I have seen those Chinese Year of the Monkey stamps from (I think) 1980 sell for some good cash. I am curious what the deal is with them. Were they printed in a limited run? Was there politics behind the issue? Printing mistake?

Curious...

Were this the unissued ones? Or am I thinking of some other outrageously expensive Chinese stamp?

As I was about 4 at the time, I can't answer! ;-)

Relatively speaking, not really a limited run. The print run was in the same ballpark as other commemoratives of that time.

It was the first in a series of annual Chinese New Year stamps from PRC. The printing method also produced an interesting "sheen" on the monkey's fur.

It was one of the early targets of speculators, and still remains a speculation issue.

Printed: 5 million
Counterfeits: probably 5x that many , so buyer beware

Checkout this Wiki story about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chines...Monkey_stamp

Hmmm... that article really doesn't tell why there is/was dealer speculation. Seems like a rather dull stamp to be the basis for such inflation.

It sounds like you've only seen pictures of the stamp, and not the actual stamp. As I mentioned, it has an interesting "sheen" on the monkey's fur. This is because that part was printed with "raised" ink, producing an almost 3-D like image (which is what I call "sheen"). If you hold it up to a good light at various angles, you will know what I mean.

Speculation is rarely based on whether a collector thinks the stamp is pretty or not. Many speculators are not really dedicated stamp collectors -- they fully intend to unload the stamps, real or fake.

To be a target for speculation, it only has to be a good/popular topical with the general public, or have something "special" associated (limited run, first in series, innovative printing...), or have a speculator pretty determined to market it (e.g., Feinstein).

Also note in that Wiki article posted earlier, apparently in the Chinese culture there is good luck associated with the number "8" and the color "red" both of which are prominently included as components of the stamp in question.

Even so this is a stamp that would peak at $10, if the investor market was logical.

It is not an investment, it is speculation. There is no logic once rampant speculation sets in. This is why I refused to get involved in this stamp, even though I was offered several full sheets of 80 for trade nearly 2 decades ago. Call me a fool, but one with a clean conscience. I'm not a dealer, so I'm more than happy earning my money by other means. When speculation sets in, I get out. I'll return when the speculators leave.

Since there are more speculators than there are available supply, the value remains sky high.

By the way, there are a LOT of fakes out there -- some of them pretty good if you are only looking at the picture. You should not buy one unless you know what a real one looks like.

It is really really hard to duplicate the raised ink, and even harder to replicate it accurately. Here is a genuine one (scan pilfered from a friend).



If the monkey fur on your stamp doesn't look like this under a good light, sorry, but...

This link also offers some good tips of how to distinguish a genuine stamp from a fake/forgery:

http://www.stamp2.com/library/forensic/1.asp

KHJ - I think I see the "sheen" you spoke of in the photo, though by dull I meant the overall design. Still, I learned something! I take it fakes do not have this printing technique? It still seems like an odd stamp to cause such price speculation. Did China ever continue that overall design in future "year of the..." years?

It is pure speculation and when the bubble bursts, there will be monkey blood in the streets.

It will still be many years before the bubble bursts on this item, unless there is a wholesale collapse of the entire stamp market.

There are still too many people with too much money to spend waiting to get in on the action...

Even after the bubble pops, this stamp will still catalog $100+ for a good long while.

Assuming I live long enough, I'm willing to wait it out. Fortunately for me, there are hundreds of thousands of other non-speculative stamps that are still missing from my collection.

The story is that the printing of the chinese zodiac started with the monkey in 1980 and people really got into it but there were very few monkeys compared to the others animels, the chicken comes right after, then dog then pig etc (8 million vs 100 million) and so the monkey became extremely in demand, started out as 8 cents in 1980 and had already quadrupled in 1982 to 40 cents, I know this because my dad contemplated spending 1500 dollars on it at that time but didn't pull the trigger, he did buy a full panel (64) of the chicken but lost it later. I still have one of these in my collection and the monkey is very cute.