113-Year-Old Chinese Stamp Fetches Record $618K at Auction

On Monday, a 113-year-old Chinese stamp sold for an auction record of $617,959. The 1897 "Red Revenue Small" was one of just 32 recorded copies featuring a dollar overprint with a face value of three cents.

An unidentified buyer snapped up the rare stamp, which with Interasia Auction's 15 percent commission raised the final price to $710,600. Last September, another one of the 32 copies of teh stamp sold for $333,862 at an auction in Hong Kong.

The auction yesterday was the largest ever of Chinese stamps. Also included at the auction was the $748,000 sale of a block of four commemorative stamps issued at the height of the Cultural Revolution featuring Mao Zedong and communist military leader Lin Biao.