China has a few stamps that are considered incredibly famous and valuable, but one of the most consistently prized and historically significant is the Red Revenue stamp, particularly the “Small One Dollar” variety.

The Famous Red Revenue Stamp (1897)

The Red Revenue stamps were originally revenue stamps (used to indicate that a tax had been paid) printed for the Qing Dynasty government in 1896.

The Circumstances: When China’s new national postal service was inaugurated in early 1897, the official postage stamps that had been ordered from Japan failed to arrive on time.
The Solution: To prevent a postal disruption, the government decided to overprint (surcharge) the existing 3-cent deep red revenue stamps with new postal values in the new currency (cents and dollars), making them temporary postage stamps. The color red is also highly significant in Chinese culture, symbolizing good luck and fortune.

Importance to Collectors

The Red Revenue stamps are crucial to collectors for several key reasons, especially the rarest variety: the Small One Dollar overprint.

Extreme Rarity (The “Small One Dollar”): The very first dollar-value overprint used a small font for the Chinese characters and the English “1 Dollar.” After printing only a small number (historically believed to be just two sheets of 25 stamps each), the officials complained that the surcharge was too small and difficult to read. The font was immediately changed to a larger size. It is believed that only 32 examples of the “Small One Dollar” variety are known to exist today, making it one of the rarest and most valuable stamps in Chinese and world philately.
Historical Significance: These stamps represent a pivotal moment in Chinese history—the transition of the postal system from a Customs-controlled service to a formal national institution, and a change in currency (from candareens to cents and dollars).
High Value: Due to their scarcity and historical importance, the Red Revenue “Small One Dollar” stamps consistently fetch extremely high prices at auction, often selling for hundreds of thousands to millions of US dollars for a single stamp, and even higher for a block of four (which is considered the “crown jewel” of Chinese philately).

Other Famous Chinese Stamps

While the Red Revenue is arguably the most prestigious in classic Chinese philately, two others are also famously rare and valuable:

The Large Dragons (1878): China’s first formal, modern postage stamps, issued by the Qing government. They are the equivalent of the “Penny Black” in British collecting and are highly prized as a first issue.
The Whole Country is Red (1968): A valuable stamp from the Cultural Revolution era. It was quickly withdrawn from circulation because the design, which featured a map of the newly established Communist country, failed to color the island of Taiwan red, a political error that made the stamp instantly rare and collectible.