Frequently Asked Questions about
PRC Stamp Collecting

Last Update: Mar 2009

A number of collectors have written to us asking questions about various aspects of collecting stamps from the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since these pages are intended for the new collector of PRC stamps we hope that the "seasoned" collectors will not be critical about what we may have omitted or oversimplified.

QUESTION: Which catalogues are used the most by PRC collectors in the U.S.?

Probably Scott, Yang, and Gibbons, in that order. Most PRC dealers and collectors catalogue their PRC collections according to the numbers in the Scott Catalogue (Volume 2). The prices in the Scott Catalogue can be used a general guide for retail prices. The prices in the Scott Catalogue are edited about 9 months before the actual release date (Volume 2 is usually released around July of the year prior to that stamped on the cover). This means that the current prices in the Scott Catalogue are always obsolete. Most PRC dealers sell the common sets at, or slightly below, those listed in Scott. Some of the more scarce sets sell at or above (sometimes substantially) the current Scott listed prices. The current edition is 2009.

Yang's PRC catalogue is issued on an irregular schedule every few years. The pictures of the stamps are in color, and you will need a cross reference to convert the Yang catalogue numbers to Scott Catalogue numbers. Prices are in US dollars and, in general, tend to be rather conservative. For a number of years now there have been separate editions for unified and regional stamps. The current 14th edition for unified issues was published in 2006 and includes prices for First Day covers. The seventh edition published in 1998 is the most current edition for regional issues. Yang lists many more regional stamps than Scott does. The regional stamps which are listed in Yang and not in Scott usually sell at or above the Yang catalogue prices.

Some years ago Gibbons split their general catalogue into smaller volumes. They have grouped all of the Chinas together into one pricey volume (about $70) . In our opinion there is not much help here except for the PRC regional specialist. The illustrations are black and white and generally of good quality. The prices are in pounds rather than dollars. The illustrations for the regional overprints are more accurate and clearly distinguishable in Gibbons than in Yang. Covers all areas of Chinese philately, not just PRC.

A newcomer to the field was first published by the Japan Philatelic Society in 1988. This is an excellent catalogue of the PRC regional stamps. This catalogue sold for half of the price of the Gibbons Catalogue. A helpful tool for the PRC regional specialist. Numerous varieties not listed elsewhere abound. Illustrations are in black and white and comparable in quality to Gibbons. Prices in Japanese yen. Lists quantities printed for some issues. Currently out of print.

QUESTION: Which philatelic societies do you recommend for PRC collectors?

The China Stamp Society (CSS) and the American Philatelic Society (APS). Membership in either brings a monthly journal and the opportunity to receive the China stamp sales books prepared by the members of the society. Some PRC collectors buy and sell exclusively through these sales divisions. For CSS membership details you can write to Paul H. Gault, Membership Secretary, 140 West 18th St., Columbus, OH 43210. For APS membership details write to APS, P.O. Box 800, State College, PA 16803-9983.

QUESTION: Should I collect only mint stamps, only used stamps, or a combination of both min and used?

This would certainly be a matter of individual preference. If the collection is being formed purely for the enjoyment then the collector should decide. In most cases, used PRC stamps are considerably less expensive than the mint sets. If the investment value of the PRC collection is important then consideration should be given to collecting mint (never-hinged) stamps. Many PRC collections contain a mixture of mint and used.

QUESTION: What stamp albums are available for PRC stamps? Note: Listed prices are obsolete for all but the Fidelity album. Recent data for prices and latest supplement available has not been explored.

There are four PRC albums that are printed in English and currently distributed in the USA. These are published by Fidelity Trading Company, Lighthouse Publications, Minkus, and Scott Publishing Co. The Lighthouse albums are arranged according to Yang's numbering system. The commemoratives are all listed together in one section, the special issues in another, the regular definitives in another, and so on. Some collectors find this system very confusing because all of the issues for a particular year are not listed together in one place. The Minkus album is assembled in roughly the order that the stamps appear in the obsolete Minkus Catalogue which was generally chronological but mixes the airmails, postage dues, etc. in with the rest of the issues. This also seemed to confuse some collectors. The Fidelity album is assembled chronologically by dates of issue, and corresponds closely with the order the stamps are listed in the Scott Catalogue. The Scott album is listed in the order according to Scott Catalogue numbers. The Fidelity and Scott albums are the only ones with spaces for regional stamps.

The most expensive of the five is the Lighthouse album which is available in both regular ($609) and hingeless ($1182.50) versions. These albums are very nice, but many seem to feel they are overpriced for what you get. Contains spaces for unified issues through 1995 - no regionals. Supplements every year.

Pages only for the Minkus album are priced at $104.35 and contain spaces for all unified issues through most of 1996. Binders are $18.50 each. Supplements every year, though not complete for that year. Many feel the overall quality of this album is somewhat less than any of the others, especially the clarity of the stamp illustrations. In recent supplements they tend to miss some issues and jam them in at the end or with the following year. No dates of issue printed. The biggest complaint we hear about the Minkus products is their use of their own imprinted catalogue numbers on the stamp designs. The fact is that no PRC dealers we are aware of list their stamps according to Minkus numbers. This requires Minkus album owners to use a Minkus-Scott Cross Reference List which will convert the Minkus numbers to the Scott numbers which are used by most every USA dealer. Ask your PRC dealer if he or she has such a list.

The Scott album is published in four parts. Part 1 ($29.95 pages only) is for the regionals only, and parts 2-4 ($109.85 pages only) for the unified issues through 1992. Scott two post or three ring binders are available ($25 each). While these pages are punched for both 2 posts and 3 rings, they are the normal size Scott specialty pages (10" x 11.5") and will not fit into normal 3 ring binders. Scott Catalogue numbers are printed for each stamp. Dates are given only for the years issued (no first day of issue dates), and the name for each set is not printed. Separate pages for Scott listed varieties are not available. On the regional pages most of the overprinted stamps are not illustrated (overprints only printed), and in our opinion this makes it much more difficult to identify which stamp goes in which space. In general, quite a few stamps seem to be crowded onto each page. Supplements every year.

The Fidelity album is priced at $49.85 (with two binders) and contains spaces for all Scott listed unified and regional issues (including booklets and panes) through 1978. Supplement pages for 1979 through 2008 are available, as well as a special supplement for imperfs and common varieties ($13.95). Includes name and date of issue for each set. Supplements every year for all stamps issued during the year. Pages fit normal 3 ring binders. Custom laser printed album pages are also available.

QUESTION: If I collect used PRC stamps should they be postally used or is CTO acceptable?

The bulk of the used PRC stamps on the market are Canceled to Order (CTO) stamps. Surplus sheets of mint stamps are canceled by the post office in sheet form and then sold in quantity at a price much lower than face value. These stamps have not been used on mail and therefore are in unused condition but with a postmark. Their value depends upon the quantities of each set which were distributed. Some CTO sets are relatively scarce and rightfully sell for very high prices. The Scott Catalogue prices for PRC used stamps are for CTO stamps. The PRC postal authorities have discontinued the practice because all quantities of the mint sets are usually sold at full face value. Older postally used stamps usually sell for 50-75% of the mint price when offered, and the latest ones at 100-125% (or more) of the mint price. The quality of postally used stamps is almost always less than the same CTO stamp because of wear and/or damage received when it traveled in the mail. Most PRC collectors (including virtually all collectors inside the PRC) prefer CTO rather than postally used because the condition of the stamps is better and the price is lower.

QUESTION: I hear that it was not always legal for U.S. citizens to collect PRC stamps. Is this true?

It was illegal for U.S. citizens to collect buy or sell PRC stamps until President Nixon made his famous trip to China in 1972. Stamps from North Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba are still illegal to buy and sell here in the U.S.

QUESTION: What about gum and "mint never-hinged" on PRC stamps?

Most of the early PRC stamps were issued without gum and the "never-hinged" mania should not apply to these since there was never any gum to be "blemished". Hinge marks on ungummed stamps can easily be removed by soaking and properly drying the stamp. For stamps which were printed with gum, hinged stamps retail at considerably lower prices (typically 50%) than those that are never-hinged. The only exceptions are the gummed regional issues of Port Arthur and Dairen. For these issues never-hinged is rare and frequently commands a hefty premium over listed retail prices. On many PRC stamps the gum is very difficult to see because it is almost invisible. If the gum is very important to you, we suggest that you buy only from reputable dealers advertising that their gummed stamps are never-hinged.

QUESTION: How fussy should I be about the condition of PRC stamps I buy?

Most PRC dealers here in the USA advertise their stock as Fine to Very Fine condition. You should expect stamps in this condition not to be perfectly centered. On the other hand, the centering should not be so bad that the design or border of the stamp design touches any of the perforations. The stamp should be free from defects such as thin spots, tears, missing corners, creases, etc. You need not be fanatical about short perforations since the paper quality of many PRC stamps is poor and such short perfs are inevitable. We have found that most PRC collectors are generally not as fussy as are most collectors of US stamps, which we feel is healthy. When buying we do not pay any more for very fine or superb stamps than we do for fine to very fine.

A few PRC collectors (usually ex-USA collectors) demand very fine or superb stamps only. While some PRC stamps are indeed available in this condition, the process of sorting through a dealer's stock to fill such an order is quite time consuming. You should expect to pay 30-50% more than the fine to very fine price for such condition. In most cases such a premium will usually not be recovered when the collection is sold. The money would have been better spent on filling in stamps still missing from the collection or buying a duplicate set of a particularly hard to find issue that would make good trading material for something else needed.

QUESTION: What are the regional stamps?

As the communists gradually took over control of China after World War II various local communist governments were set up throughout the country. Philatelically the country has been divided into eight basic regions, each with their own stamps. Once the country was unified as the People's Republic of China in 1949, the unified issues (with a few exceptions) became the only stamps valid for postage within the country.

Since the regional stamps were frequently printed in a hurry as needs arose, not much consideration was given to the quality of the stamps printed. Many were very poorly printed, poorly perforated, and frequently printed on any paper they could get their hands on. The stamps were purely functional and no consideration was given to the philatelic aspects of stamp production. Once the country became unified, many of these stamp stocks were lost or destroyed. Some of the sets and/or single stamps managed to be preserved in quantity which accounts for their inexpensive retail price.

QUESTION: Which regional stamps are the hardest to find?

The region with the most scarce stamps is Port Arthur and Dalien (Dairen). They command very high catalogue prices. Most of the parcel post issues from each region are also very difficult. Several of the Northwest China pagoda overprints are quite rare. The PRC sets listed without price in the Scott Catalogue have not been offered for sale recently enough to establish a catalogue price.

Until 1980 the PRC postal authorities refused to disclose any information about the quantities printed for any PRC stamps. In 1993 the figures for all PRC commemorative and special unified issues were published in a PRC catalogue printed in Chinese for local consumption. The PRC government does not keep records of quantities printed for regular definitive issues. Fidelity Trading Company was the first dealer in the USA to publish the figures in mid-June 1993. Some quantities printed for certain regional stamps are listed in the JPS PRC Regional Catalogue. The printing quantities for most USA stamps are several hundred million each, whereas the most current PRC stamps are printed in quantities between 20 and 50 million. A high proportion of existing PRC stamps have printing quantities less than 10 million stamps. Before 1992 the typical printing quantity was less than 20 million per set. These are relatively small amounts for a country with so many people that are potential collectors!

QUESTION: What are the "reprints"?

Some of the early unified (non-regional) and Northeast China commemoratives were officially reprinted by the government in the 1950's as a service to stamp collectors who missed out on the originals because of the turmoil during unification. These reprints were on sale at the post offices and were valid for postage. Most reprinted sets have characteristic changes which help distinguish them from the original printings. These changes are noted in the various catalogues but none seem to have the latest information on determining the more difficult issues (#105-7 and #117-21). Check with your PRC dealer for the latest information. Most of the original printings are now in very limited supply. The last reprinted set was Scott #141-50 for unified issues and #1L176-8 for regional issues. The Scott catalogue only prices the reprints per set in a footnote after the listing for the original printing. In all but one case, the value of the different stamps within each reprinted set are virtually the same. The big exception, is the reprints for 1L133-5. The only good value is the last one, 1L135R, and the first two values are not scarce and worth only a few dollars.

QUESTION: How can I dispose of my duplicates?

PRC dealers are not interested in buying either common or the more recently issued PRC stamps. These are usually the ones which turn out to be duplicates for most collectors. Many collectors join the APS or CSS just to buy some of their blank sales books in which they try and dispose of their duplicates. The key to success when trying to sell stamps in sales books is to price the stamps considerably below retail prices. It is not unusual for your sales books to be on the market for a year or more so do not expect to realize any money until approximately 18 months after the books are submitted to the appropriate sales division.

QUESTION: Do you recommend PRC stamps for investment?

We have always maintained that comprehensive collections of mint (never-hinged on gummed stamps) PRC stamps in complete sets offer good investment potential over the long haul. Most of our customers are collectors rather than investors, but many of them are concerned about the value of their collection when they decide to sell their collection. Short term profits can sometimes be realized if one can find someone selling at too low a price, but PRC philatelic material should never be purchased with this in mind.

We are not investment counselors and have never pretended to be. Any potential investor should look with caution at any investment. The PRC collector has a tremendous advantage over the investor because he or she gets a lot of satisfaction from buying, mounting, and displaying his or her collection. If some money is made along the way then so much the better. If not, then nothing is lost because many hours of enjoyment were derived from collecting.

QUESTION: I understand some PRC stamps were accidentally printed on the gum side. What about this?

Several fairly recent PRC issues were inadvertently printed on the gum side. #2056 and #2061 are the most commonly offered at this writing. To distinguish between the gum side and normal ungummed side of the somewhat glossy paper on which many PRC stamps are printed, one needs to examine the stamps under ultraviolet light. By comparing a normal stamp with one printed on the gum side the difference is quite obvious. It is important to remember that on stamps which have the design printed on the gum side, the printing will wash off if any moisture gets on the printed side. These stamps should always be handled with tongs and be mounted in a plastic stamp mount for protection.

QUESTION: How do I distinguish between #1007 and #1007a?

#1007 has all 4 jacket buttons clearly visible and the brown shading on the side of the jacket with the pocket ranges from mild to heavy to the left of the shadow along the edges of the jacket. On #1007a at least the top button is missing (I've also seen many copies with the top two buttons missing) and there is no brown shading as mentioned above.

This stamp is a somewhat similar error to #1011a with the missing bayonets. For years, some have felt that both of these varieties are a result of worn plates. Regardless, the varieties are collectible, and the reason for the error has not seemed to affect the value.

It is not too uncommon to find that #1007a was inadvertently sold along with the complete set instead of the normal #1007 since one really needs to know what they are looking for to distinguish the variety.

QUESTION: Why do Scott's listings for #24-29 seem to make no sense? The rouletted values are mixed in with the regularly perforated values, contrary to every other catalogues listing.

The reason these listings make no sense is Scott's policy of listing the lowest priced variety for a particular stamp as the basic stamp and the more expensive ones as the variety. In every other catalogue the rouletted stamps are all considered varieties rather than basic stamps.

QUESTION: I see you occasionally offer material via Private Treaty. Just what is Private Treaty?

Private Treaty is a contract between two parties where one party agrees to sell the other parties' merchandise for a commission. This is one way in which a collector can choose to dispose of his or her stamp collection when the time comes to do that. The commission charged by the party who is actually selling the material is typically a little higher than the commission that an auction house would charge, but selling via Private Treaty guarantees the price at which the material will be sold.

This is an especially good way to sell scarce material which a dealer does not normally have in stock. The dealer can usually get top price for such material since it would not compete with any of his or her regular stock. On the other hand, more common material which competes directly with a selling dealer's stock will usually have to be sold as a discounted lot.

As far as a buyer is concerned, there is no difference between items which a dealer offers on his regular price lists and those items listed as Private Treaty. The only difference is that the dealer does not own the Private Treaty material and is simply selling it for the owner. While some dealers offer discounts on their regular stock, it is rare to find one that will allow a discount on Private Treaty items since the dealer is usually guaranteeing a particular sale price to the owner.

QUESTION: I have heard about various PRC gold overprinted souvenir sheets with additional serial numbers in black. What is the story on these?

Such sheets do exist, but serial numbers were not added by the PRC postal authorities. The promoters of the various stamp stamp shows at which these issues were first sold run them through a machine which adds an additional unique black serial number to each sheet. They then resell these to those who attend the show.

QUESTION: Why do the stamps in the 1998 issue commemorating He Xiangning's paintings (#2880-2) seem to have missing perforations along each short side?

Actually no perforations are missing. The stamp designers decided that a punched out ellipse (blimp shaped figure for you non-mathematicians) would look neat in center of each row of perforations on the short side of each stamp instead of the two or three normal perforation holes one would expect to find there. The effect can best be seen by examining a block of these stamps.

Question: I am confused about the catalogue numbers in the Yang PRC Unified Catalogue. Can you please explain how to use these?

Yang uses a combination of the official government numbers printed on most PRC stamps and his own system. From 1949-1991 the government basically issued stamps in three categories: commemorative issues, special issues, and regular definitive issues. This system was abandoned during the Cultural Revolution (CR) and the following years until it was resumed again in 1974. Before the CR, commemoratives received numbers beginning with a C and special issues beginning with an S, and these were imprinted on the bottom of the stamps. Regular issues received no such imprinted numbers but are officially referred to using an R in front of their number. Their numbers do correspond to the order of their date of issue. This system for numbering regular issues has remained the same up until now. When the numbering system resumed after the CR, the commemoratives received imprinted numbers starting with a J and special issues starting with a T. In 1992 a new numbering system came into use and instead of using a letter of the alphabet to start they used the year date. So the first issue in 1992 was 1992-1. During the CR no numbers were printed on the stamps and these have since become known as numbers starting with a W. After the CR the government started numbering each stamp with just a single number and no letters in front. Since then these have become known as the “N” numbers. It is important to understand that the numbers imprinted on the stamps are not necessarily in order of their actual first day of issue. In fact, we can’t recall a year when all of the numbers actually coincide with their order of issue.

The thing that seems to confuse those unfamiliar with these numbering systems is that the whole set of stamps which was issued at one time gets only one number. This is not a problem when a set is only one stamp, but most PRC stamps are issued in sets of two or more stamps. The best way to try and understand the system is to look at several examples in the Yang catalogue. Let’s start with the first commemorative set, Scott #1-4. It is the first set issued after the PRC became a nation in 1949, hence these numbers from Scott. The Chinese, on the other hand, numbered this set as C1 (first commemorative issue). The individual stamps are referred to as 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, and 4-4 where the first number is the total number of stamps in the set and the second number is its place in the set. If you look at the bottom of the actual stamps you will see the Chinese character for C followed by a 1 and then the 4-# for the individual stamp. When you deal with Chinese clients who are basically unfamiliar with other catalogue numbering systems you must refer to this set as C1 which includes all four values. If you look at the Yang listing for this set you will find the C1 in parenthesis below the illustration for this set. Yang then goes on to begin numbering each individual stamp as C1, C2, C3, C4, etc., and this is where the major confusion comes in. If you wanted to try and buy just the second stamp in this first commemorative set you would be tempted to try and order it as C2 but this would actually get you a complete set of the second commemorative set, Scott #8-11. Theoretically what you should order would be C1.4-2. This is the number that is actually imprinted on the bottom of the stamp. If you ordered C1-4 from a Chinese dealer you would get the first four complete commemorative sets (Scott #1-4,5-7,8-11, and 31-34).

We faced a real dilemma when we built our web-site on how to incorporate the Chinese numbering system into our price lists along with the Scott numbers. All of our competitors seem to have taken the safe route and used the single government numbers like C1 along with Scott #1-4, but a newcomer to PRC philately armed with only a Yang catalogue would have a tough time figuring out the system to get the stamps he or she actually wanted from any of their price lists. We decided to take a different route, and on our web-site our price lists are set up according to both Scott and Yang numbers. For the Yang numbers we decided to use C1.1-4 for Scott #1-4, C3.17-19 for Scott #5-7, etc. in the hope that a novice could figure out that the numbers after the period refer to the actual individual stamp numbers assigned by Yang, and the seasoned PRC philatelist would recognize the number in front of the period as the normal government number. It remains to be seen whether or not this is a screwball idea.

Question: Why are some of the later issued gold overprinted souvenir sheets (PJZ issues) so much cheaper than those first issued? I thought they all had a printing quantity of about one million only.

We asked the same question of our supplier in Beijing, and he confides that rampant forgeries of the gold overprints are common on these PJZ issues, so the Chinese public is hesitant to buy them which keeps the prices down. Fortunately, the forgers do not bother to try and add the almost invisible logo of the China Philatelic Corporation which is visible under ultra violet light, so it is pretty easy to detect the forgeries.

This item is not really an "official" reprint in the same sense that other earlier PRC were officially reprinted and sold as postage. According to our sources, in 1963, a year after the printing of this issue, the Chinese government discovered that it had printed too few of these sheets to meet the demand. To try and placate collectors they made full color, same size, imperforate reproductions on a large sheet (20.8mm by 24.7mm) leaving a white border all around with a vertical Chinese inscription running vertically in the right margin. Whether these were sold or given away we do not know, but they basically laid around for many years until recently. Finally, a year or two ago, a couple of these reproductions surfaced and were sold at auction for prices in the $900 range! This called attention to their existence and then more began coming out of the woodwork. In today's market (Spring, 1999) these are bringing about $200 each.

The problem with these reproductions is that apparently some of these sheets have been trimmed down to normal size, gummed, and then perforations added to make them appear as original souvenir sheets. These could easily fool anybody not familiar with the original sheets.

We have examined only an original reproduction and not one of the cut down versions. The good news is that the cutdown reproductions should be very easy to distinguish if time is taken to examine the sheet carefully. All of the original sheets are slightly brownish on the back, whereas the back of the reproductions are cream colored (ivory). Additionally there is no way to exactly duplicate the gum on stamps of this period so the gum would be different. The printing process used on the reproductions is lower quality so examination under magnification reveals larger colored printing dots on the reproduction. The basic blue background color of the sheet is also a darker shade on the reproduction. We also assume it would be extremely difficult to make the perforations on the embedded stamp look anything like those on the original. Finally, the paper looks completely different under ultraviolet light as the reproductions "light" up whereas the original does not.

QUESTION: Why is there such a discrepancy between the prices (both Scott and the various PRC dealers) on recent new issues with the same face value?

Many of the recent PRC new issues continue to have higher prices than one would expect based on face value. The only way a citizen in China can be assured of being able to get each PRC new issue at face value is to sign up each November for the upcoming year and prepay for one or more of the yearly limited number of standing order subscriptions available. The past few years the subscriptions have sold out before the new year even arrives. If the amount of money prepaid is too much for the year’s issues then a refund is issued; if was not enough then additional payment is required before the final issues for that year are released to the customer. Scott’s prices are supposed to be an average of the various dealers prices they sample, but for PRC new issues it appears their prices are based solely on face value.

QUESTION: Why do most of the sheetlets not have Scott numbers since they are postally valid?

The current Scott listing policy is as follows: if the stamp, booklet, souvenir sheet, or sheetlet is provided by the North American agency then it will get a catalogue number. If not, and the item is only available in China, then no number (but most likely a note mentioning the item below the normal listing will be included). Too bad the agency is not particularly concerned about making sure they get everything. Years ago they used to make special calls to China when items became known that were not on the list of issues scheduled to be sent to them. As far as we know, China will still send them anything ordered in a timely manner if not sold out.

Copyright©1999-2009 Fidelity Trading Company Cypress CA