We are excited to share the latest breaking philatelic news with you: a famous “The Whole Country is Red” stamp has been auctioned off for 13.8 million yuan (US$2 million), making it one of the most expensive stamps in the world. There are only nine examples of this rare philatelic item are known to exist today and the specimen recently auctioned is said to be in pristine, unused condition. The stamp, nicknamed Big Patch of Red by stamp collectors, was sold by auction house China Guardian in Beijing on Thursday, Nov 23.
The Whole Country is Red has such a name due to a slogan that it contains. The item represents Mao’s enormous political revolution that imposed China’s commitment to Communism. The stamp strengthened that notion by declaring the phrase: ‘the whole country is red’. It featured an army of smiling Chinese citizens holding Mao’s ‘Little Red Book’, a symbol of communism. Although the overall design of this philatelic item was made in red colour, the small island of Taiwan, to the right, was left in white. That is why this stamp is so valuable, as it contains a design mistake!
It is the most expensive stamp yet to have sold in China, beating the 2012 record sale of 7.3 million yuan set by another Big Patch of Red stamp. No details are known about the successful bidder.
