Zurich Asia will offer an extremely rare Republic of China 1c Junk stationary card as the highlight of its February 7-8 auction in Hong Kong.
 The cover features one of the rarest Mongolia cancellations |
The stationary card was sent from Urga, Mongolia to France and features one of the rarest Mongolia cancellations. One of only two examples recorded, it holds an estimate of $158,846-179,487.
The Junk issue is so-called due to its vignette of a "junk" boat, and went on sale on May 5, 1918.
The cover dates to 1918 and features additional Peking print 1/2 cent and 3 cent Junk stamps, each tied by a bilingual circular date stamp alongside a rare bisected "Urga/Postal Letter Box. No.1" cancel and "KALGAN" & PEKING/3.7.18" transit marks.
Also featuring is a large selection of 1980 Year of the Monkey stamps, which will be led by a complete unmounted sheet in mint condition at $141,260-166,667). The issue is not particularly rare, but holds a special place in Chinese stamp collecting due to its auspicious symbols and colour.
A series of the hugely popular 1897 Red Revenue stamps, the first issued under the Imperial Postal Service, will be led by an 1897 small figures surcharge 4c on 3c used stamp at $32,051-38,462.
At $19,231-25,641 is a 1926 overprinted "Limited For Use in Yunnan" 6c brown stamp, which was prepared for sale but went unissued, and is described as a "great rarity" of the Republic of China.
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