China 1953 Unissued 'Military Stamp' (Navy/Purple)

A free stamp for every soldier

On December 4, 1952, the communications department of the People's Liberation Army's Central Military Commission set out a rule in a provisional notice on military mail: a serviceman's free ordinary letter would be recognized by a special stamp on its face, and such letters could be posted at military post offices or at ordinary civilian ones.

In February 1953 the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and the army's communications department agreed on the details. The ministry would design and issue a set of "Military Post" stamps, to be handed out on Army Day, August 1, 1953, to officers and soldiers on active duty so they could write home without paying postage. Each serviceman was to receive two stamps a month.

The original plan was a single stamp with a print run of 100 million. After review, the planners chose three of five sample colors (the samples were reported as purplish red, orange-yellow, emerald green, brown and blue) and turned it into a set of three, with 40 million of the first and 30 million each of the second and third. The postal authority then asked for an extra 2.5 million of each for collectors, which was approved, bringing the total to 107.5 million: 42.5 million of the orange-yellow stamp and 32.5 million each of the purple and the blue.

The three-color printing proved complicated and the schedule tight, so platemaking and printing ran long and the issue slipped. The stamps were printed in batches beginning in early July 1953 and shipped by army logistics straight to military regions, units and offices, without passing through the civilian post.

Sun Chuanzhe's emblem

The set was designed by Sun Chuanzhe, described in Chinese accounts as the first great designer of New China's stamps. All three stamps share one design: the People's Liberation Army's "August 1" emblem, a red star bearing the characters for the army's founding date, set inside a golden wreath of grain. Below it run the words "Military Post" (军人贴用), "Chinese People's Post" (中国人民邮政) and the value, 800 yuan.

Only the background changes from stamp to stamp. One Chinese source states plainly what the colors meant: orange-yellow for the army, purple for the air force and blue for the navy. That is why the blue stamp is called the Navy stamp in English-language auction reports, and why collectors in China simply call the three the yellow, purple and blue military stamps.

The stamps measure 21 by 32 millimeters, are perforated 14 and have no gum. Sources differ on the printing method: one encyclopedia entry describes them as offset-printed, while another Chinese account calls them a combination of engraving and offset. English-language descriptions also vary on the colors, calling the set orange, brownish red and blue in one place and yellow, purple and blue in another; a Hong Kong auction catalog describes the air force stamp as orange-yellow, vermilion and brown-purple.

Recalled for reasons of secrecy

Before the stamps were formally put into use, the army's communications department sent people to the units to ask how the scheme would work. Three military regions raised problems. A civilian postmark on a soldier's letter could reveal where a unit was stationed and when it moved. With no one checking, more letters might go astray. The free-mail privilege could not really be controlled. Units in remote, scattered posts would struggle to get stamps canceled, and soldiers on the supply system might run short. Another account adds that the paper was thin enough that sensitive contents might be read through it.

On August 14, 1953, the General Staff telegraphed every military region, commission department, service branch, academy and the Chinese People's Volunteers: free military postage was "postponed until further notice." On September 3 a further joint telegram told units to hold, not distribute, stamps already sent to them, and on September 17 the postal ministry told post offices that the military stamps were deferred. The stocks were gathered and, after approval, destroyed.

The timing shaped what survives. The orange-yellow army stamp reached front-line units first, so used copies and real covers exist. The purple stamp reached military-region offices but not individual soldiers, so fewer survive. The blue stamp, finished last (one encyclopedia entry dates its completion to about August 24, 1953, which it also gives as the formal issue date), was essentially never handed out at all. Only a small number leaked out and were kept by collectors.

From hidden stock to the auction room

A Chinese collecting article records that a Blue Military stamp first appeared at auction in 1994 and made 800,000 yuan on its first outing. In 1999, during the world stamp exhibition held in Beijing, a block of four was offered with an opening bid of 2.8 million yuan; two bidders pushed it to 3.74 million yuan, at the time a record for a single philatelic lot. Because that was a block of four, it is not counted here as a single-stamp price.

In Hong Kong on the weekend of July 31 to August 1, 2010, a single "exceedingly rare 1953 unissued Navy military stamp" brought HK$1,495,000, reported as US$192,535, in a sale that a specialist auctioneer described as the largest stamp auction ever held there by value.

In 2011 a Blue Military stamp sold at an autumn auction in China for 2,702,500 yuan, reported in English as 2.7 million yuan or US$428,654. A Chinese article says this sale moved the stamp into the million-yuan class of rarities.

The stamp keeps reappearing in Chinese online sales. A 2020 report noted that one had sold the year before for more than 2.1 million yuan, and that another, described as bright in color with slight soiling and never repaired, was being offered in July 2020 with an estimate of 2.0 to 2.3 million yuan. Neither figure was reported in dollars.

How to tell a real one

A Chinese encyclopedia entry lists the checks used to separate genuine Blue Military stamps from the many fakes. Genuine stamps show a fine, dense screen and a crisp image; forgeries have coarse dots and a blurred picture. The paper is the coated stamp paper used by the post office, which differs in tone from ordinary offset or art paper. Genuine colors are true, rich and even; fakes are dull, off-hue and often show misregistered colors overlapping or leaving gaps.

Size and perforations matter: a genuine stamp measures 21 by 32 millimeters and is perforated 14, with regular, smooth-edged holes, while forged perforations can be triangular, ragged or polygonal. A trimmed or irregular stamp is a warning sign. Genuine Blue Military stamps were issued without gum, and some forgers have brushed a non-sticky white coating or glue on the back to imitate it.

Intact multiples of any color are rare because soldiers were to receive their stamps two at a time. In 2022 a stamp grading service reported encapsulating a sheet of eight of the purple air force stamp, grading it VF/XF 85, and noted that keeping such a block together greatly increases its rarity.

One of New China's ten great rarities

Chinese collectors count the Blue Military stamp among the ten great rarities of the People's Republic. A 2020 article gave three reasons: it belongs to New China's first military stamp issue, it is the scarcest of the three colors, and its unusual purpose and short life give it a special place in Chinese postal history.

The same article marks where the story of China's soldier stamps ended: in 1996 the postal ministry and the General Staff jointly announced that special stamps for conscripts would no longer be issued, and military postage left the stage.

Prices have followed the stamp's reputation. Reported sales of single examples rose from 800,000 yuan at the first auction appearance in 1994 to about 2.7 million yuan in 2011, and examples offered online in China in 2019 and 2020 were still reported in the range of two million yuan or more.

The numbers

Planned issue date

August 1, 1953 (Army Day)

Issue date given by one encyclopedia

August 24, 1953 (distribution was suspended August 14)

Quantity printed (blue)

32.5 million, including 2.5 million added for collectors

Quantity printed (whole set)

107.5 million: 42.5 million orange-yellow, 32.5 million purple, 32.5 million blue

Quantity surviving

Not reliably recorded; sources say only a small number leaked out

Size

21 x 32 mm

Perforation

14

Paper and gum

Coated postal stamp paper; issued without gum

Printing

Offset per one source; engraving combined with offset per another

Timeline

1. Dec 4, 1952

   An army military-mail notice rules that soldiers' free letters will carry a special stamp on the front.

2. Feb 1953

   The postal ministry and the army's communications department agree to issue a set of Military Post stamps for Army Day, August 1.

3. Jul 1953

   Printing begins in batches in early July; stamps are shipped by army logistics directly to military regions and units.

4. Aug 14, 1953

   The General Staff orders free military postage "postponed until further notice."

5. Aug 24, 1953

   Approximate completion of the blue stamp, the last to be printed, and the formal issue date given by one encyclopedia entry.

6. Sep 3, 1953

   A joint telegram tells units to hold, not distribute, stamps already sent to them.

7. Sep 17, 1953

   The postal ministry notifies post offices that the military stamps are deferred; stocks are later destroyed.

8. 1994

   A Blue Military stamp appears at auction for the first time, reported at 800,000 yuan.

9. 1999

   A block of four sells for 3.74 million yuan during the world stamp exhibition in Beijing, then a record for a single philatelic lot.

10. Jul 31, 2010

    A single Navy stamp brings HK$1,495,000 (US$192,535) at auction in Hong Kong.

11. 2011

    A single sells for 2,702,500 yuan (reported as US$428,654) at an autumn auction in China.

12. 2019

    One sells online in China for more than 2.1 million yuan.

13. Jul 28, 2020

    Another example is offered online in China with an estimate of 2.0 to 2.3 million yuan.

14. Mar 1, 2022

    A grading service reports encapsulating a sheet of eight of the purple air force stamp.

The world in 1953

• Mar 5, 1953

  Joseph Stalin dies after suffering a stroke days earlier; Georgy Malenkov succeeds him the next day.

• Apr 25, 1953

  Francis Crick and James Watson publish their description of the double-helix structure of DNA.

• May 29, 1953

  Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

• Jun 2, 1953

  Elizabeth II is crowned at Westminster Abbey.

• Jul 27, 1953

  The Korean Armistice Agreement is signed at Panmunjom by the United Nations Command, China and North Korea, ending the fighting in the Korean War.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, China 1953 Unissued 'Military Stamp' (Navy/Purple) is number 36 of 100 in the stamps entries of the FLOAT 100. 82 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (56 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The stamps were meant to be handed out two per soldier per month, so intact blocks of any color are unusual.
• The army worried that a civilian postmark on a soldier's letter could reveal where a unit was stationed and when it moved.
• The blue stamp was the last to be printed, so it was essentially never distributed before the program was halted.
• Planners first chose from five sample colors, including an emerald green that was never used.
• A block of four that sold for 3.74 million yuan in 1999 set a record at the time for a single philatelic lot in China.
• Forgers sometimes paint a fake coating on the back, but genuine Blue Military stamps were issued with no gum at all.