Great Find at the February Auction - Printable Version

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Great Find at the February Auction - Janet MacD - 06-03-2026

I was delighted to be the winning bidder on this cover from China. I was attracted to the large stamp with calligraphy on the upper right. It looked like a poster. 

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The stamp was issued in 1999 by the PRC to commemorate the 22nd Universal Postal Union Congress that was held in Beijing.

The calligrapher was Jiang Zemin, who in 1999 was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, the President of China, and the Paramount Leader. His message on the stamp would make a wonderful slogan cancel:

Develop modern postal services, meet social needs.

When I looked at this stamp, it reminded me of 1982, when China and Canada collaborated to bring a special exhibit to the Ontario Science Centre. It was called “China: 7,000 Years of Discovery” and master artisans travelled from China to Canada to demonstrate skills like silk weaving and embroidery, paper making, and calligraphy. We attended a special show with friends who had recently emigrated from China. As a surprise for Hugh, they had a master calligrapher write something of Hugh’s choice on a sheet of freshly made paper. It was a privilege to watch the artist’s strokes evolve into a quotation from The Art of War.

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