Taiwan issues New Years items

In many Asian countries New Year’s Day is a much more important holiday than Christmas. To welcome the new year of the Rabbit, Taiwan’s Chunghwa Post is issuing a set of two New Year’s Greeting Postage Stamps and a souvenir sheet. The designs find their inspiration in modern art styles, such as action paintings and pop art. The rabbits are depicted using black silhouettes that are adorned with orange and purple paint splatters. The backgrounds, which are yellow with random red splatters,  make use of traditional Chinese ink-wash effects. The bright colors symbolize joy and convey high expectations about the Year of the Rabbit. The designs are as follows: A   NT$3.50 Stamp showing a  pair of rabbits that conveys the idea of, according to Taiwan’s Post Office, “the treasuring of each other” and symbolizes a year of abundance. A   NT$13.00 Stamp featuring a rabbit looking off into the distance, which represents “achieving success in all one’s endeavors”.

 And finally a  NT$12 00 Souvenir Sheet showing an image of a hopping rabbit that represents the idea of surpassing oneself” and “bounding toward a future of personal transcendence ”  An additional special item for this issue is the release of what is called by the post office a ”press sheet”.   The uncut sheets are composed of two panes of 20 stamps ( 5 X 4) of denominations (NT$3.50 and NT$13 00).  Printer’s markings, such as traffic lights for color checks and guide lines for separating the panes, remain on the sheet margin A certificate of authenticity will be also attached. In addition, a poster tube will be available for storing the press sheet. This philatelic item, the second one of a series since 2009, and is  produced in limited quantity of 4,000 units.

Year of the Rabbit FDC

In addition to the stamps uncanceled First Day Covers for the stamps are available for  NT$2 00 apiece and uncanceled FDC’s for the Souvenir sheet will be  NT$3 00 apiece. Cancelled First Day Covers affixed with one NT$3.50 denominated stamp will NT$5.50 apiece. Cancelled First Day Covers affixed with a complete set of stamps will be NT$18.50 apiece. Finally Cancelled First Day Covers affixed with a souvenir sheet will be NT$15.00.  The price for the special uncut press sheet unit in a poster tube will be NT$1,000.00.

Specially Produced Press Sheets