Return To 1977 Chapter 275: Postal market

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The so-called "the country is peaceful and the people are safe, and the collection is prosperous".

There is no doubt that 1978 was the year when the collecting craze began.

Anyone who has done a little research on collecting knows that the first type of collection that became popular across the country was not antiques, calligraphy and paintings, ancient books or jade, but stamps.

Stamp collecting has a history of hundreds of years in Beijing, which is also the birthplace of my country’s stamps. Since the customs trial postal service issued the first set of "Dalong stamps" in the fourth year of Guangxu (1878), the capital has actually been the mainstream market for stamp trading in my country until today.

Even during the "Movement", many commemorative stamps and special stamps issued in the past were considered to be "sealed, endowed, and repaired goods" and stopped being sold. Stamp collecting was criticized as a "bourgeois activity". Even the official philatelic business was forced to cease on February 3, 1969. There are still many private collectors active in the capital.

The private exchange and purchase of collections between these people has never stopped, but has only been carried out underground in a more secretive manner. So the "movement" has just ended. The private stamp trade in Beijing was the first to recover, just like a resurgence. It even quickly set off a long wave of hype.

Now that we are talking about this, we have to mention a "holy place" in the minds of stamp collectors in the capital. This is the National Philatelic Company established by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications in January 1955 at No. 77 Donghua Gate in the east wing of the Forbidden City.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, this has been the most frequent place for private transactions among private collectors. After closing for a time during the "Movement", it reopened in 1972.

Of course, after the re-opening, this place will only be open to foreigners, and its business scope will only deal with the wholesale export of stamps. The only stamps available for sale at that time were the 21 sets and the 63 sets issued before the "50th Anniversary of the Founding of the Red Party", "Model Opera" and "Movement".

But at least, Chinese people can finally go into philatelic companies to watch and sell tickets. This means that stamp collecting is once again an activity that can only be seen in the light.

As a result, the inside and outside of this elegant small building once again became a place where philatelic enthusiasts from all walks of life gathered together to conduct private exchanges and transactions in a semi-public manner.

At nine o'clock in the morning on March 3, 1978, Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan came here for the fourth time. They had 5,000 yuan with them, and their main purpose was to find the "Mei Lanfang Stage Art" souvenir sheet.

Anyone with a little knowledge of philately should know that this "Drunken Concubine" with a face value of three yuan is a high-end "power stamp" that is highly sought after by philatelic enthusiasts, and its price has been rising since the beginning of its release. Today, this ticket has become the value benchmark of postal souvenir sheets. The price has successfully reached six figures, which is more than 30,000 times higher than the face value of three yuan.

But Hong Yanwu didn’t come to it because he knew about its value-added potential. It’s not that I want to reach out to the postal market and develop another kind of “scalper business”. Mainly because of the "rehabilitation" of Chang Xianzhang's father, hope is tied to this special ticket.

While Daqing was developing the "movie ticket market", Hong Yanwu did not forget to continue to go to He Jiefu's house to engage in "public relations".

Not only during the Lantern Festival, he specially sent five kilograms of Lantern Festival, but every Sunday, he also bought some in-demand products and visited the house to show his goodwill.

But the effect is not ideal, because He Jiefu is not at home most of the time, and his wife is very tight-knit. The old lady refuses to accept gifts every time. Even if you are cornered by him, you must at least insist on buying it at the original price.

So Hong Yanwu is just a familiar person at best, but might be quite annoying to others.

It was entirely by chance that he found the loophole.

Last Sunday, the water pipe in the He family's toilet burst. He happened to visit the house again at that time, and ended up acting as a volunteer plumber on an emergency basis.

Fortunately, it's just a small matter of replacing the valve, so it's not too difficult. Only then did he timely and successfully stop the flooding of the He family.

As a result, He Jiefu's wife was naturally grateful and treated him to a cup of tea. So he asked about He Jiefu's daily life and hobbies through chatting.

In this regard, He Jiefu's wife is not that vigilant. After a few words of conversation, it was revealed that He Jiefu likes to collect stamps.

According to the old lady, He Jiefu began to accumulate these small pieces of paper on envelopes as early as the "****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** time Moreover, he has been very busy at work, so as time goes by, only this hobby that takes up little time can be maintained.

But Mrs. He also complained about this, saying that He Jiefu was becoming more and more obsessed with this thing. He had bought four or five stamp albums, and the money he had spent on stamps over the years was overwhelming.

At the beginning of this year, I was so confused that I almost spent 175 yuan to buy a "Mei Shifang" with a face value of only three yuan. Fortunately, he regretted it in the end, so he didn't suffer this loss.

Unexpectedly, He Jiefu is still sighing about it after many days passed. It must be that I don’t know what happened back then, but I missed it. I will definitely try my best to find one in the future, even if I spend more money to buy it.

From her perspective, this is clearly a prodigal. She really couldn't understand why her wife could be so stupid, knowing that it was only worth three yuan, but she still had to pay such a high price to buy it...

The words of the minister’s wife were completely nagging like a housewife. But Hong Yanwu's eyes lit up and he grasped the key point.

Needless to say, gift-giving must be of course appropriate to the recipient, and the more rare and memorable the gift, the better the effect.

He firmly believed that if he could get the "Drunken Concubine" that He Jiefu had been thinking about day and night, He Jiefu would no longer be able to refuse his "goodwill".

Even if you want to get a few more rare stamps, you can fix the problem of Chang Xianzhang's father, and it can be settled on He Jiefu.

Since he discovered this opportunity, he began to visit the National Philatelic Company in Donghua Gate. I want to "hunt" the picture "The Drunken Concubine" that can break through the defense line of human relationships from here.

It's just that this matter is not that easy to handle. There was one situation that Hong Yanwu did not expect.

In this era, the collectors gathered here are all middle-aged and elderly people with high cultural quality and living standards. Their love for stamps is more about cultural needs.

Only hoarding without selling is the mainstream, and only a minority of people use hoarding to support hoarding. Even people who have no knowledge and only wealth often encounter contempt in this circle.

So even though he has the right amount of money, after asking around, many collectors do have the objects he is looking for. However, due to his professionalism, which only knows a few well-known and valuable stamps, he is not welcomed by many collectors.

Besides, most people only have one in their hands, and they all regard it as their darling. No one wants to part with it because they are greedy for money, and it is really difficult to find a willing seller for a while. And the only thing he can do is to come as many times as possible and put his hope in the probability of luck.

Of course, just because this thing can't be done doesn't mean that he came here in vain.

Fortunately, although old tickets such as "Dalong Tickets", "Four Treasures of China Post" and "Five Treasures of the Republic of China" are equally valuable, due to their simple patterns and clear "feudal reactionary" attributes, they are not suitable for this era. It has not received enough attention and love from stamp collectors, and is far less popular than the "Old Jite" stamps (Old Jite stamps refer to the commemorative stamps issued from the founding of New China to the "Movement" period when the "Movement" stamps were issued. a collective name for stamps and special stamps). There are even some collectors who are a little afraid to keep it in their hands, and many people are willing to transfer the excess in their hands at a high price.

Therefore, during this period, these stamps from before the founding of the People's Republic of China are actually the most cost-effective time,

Hong Yanwu, who knows the goods, will certainly not miss the opportunity. Every time he comes here, he hunts rabbits and buys these tickets at high prices. He has already bought dozens of tickets. He must have finally found a better place for the funds in his hand.

Don’t forget, he still has hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash at home, giving him a headache. After these days, he and Chen Liquan found time to look for banks to deposit money, but they only deposited 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. Not to mention that there will be a steady stream of income from "movie tickets" in the future.

Don’t tell me, the tide has turned and you will come to my house tomorrow. This time, Hong Yanwu felt that his luck was obviously much better than the first few times.

In this period, the unspoken rule of communication among philatelists was to bring two "mobile" stamp albums with them to the philatelic company. One contains stamps that show the level of appreciation, and the other contains stamps that can be exchanged or transferred with others.

Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan struck up a conversation at the entrance of the philatelic company as usual, and read through more than a dozen stamp albums brought by philatelists from all walks of life.

Not long after, he saw several "Big Dragon Tickets" in good condition, and then found a "Red Print" Quartet. Naturally, he would not let it go, and he bought them all after negotiating the price.

But then, the real good luck came!

He unexpectedly found a double copy of "The Country's Mountains and Rivers Are Red" in the "transferred" stamp album brought by an old man wearing glasses.

It's quite unusual that someone would sell this treasure. So even though the old man offered a price as high as one thousand and five thousand and refused to lower the price, he agreed. Then he turned over the following content with increasing interest.

Sure enough, he quickly discovered a feature. The old man's stamp album contains neither "old stamps" from before the founding of the People's Republic of China, nor any "sports" stamps. It is almost all "old Jite" stamps, and there are a lot of "hard goods".

With his newly acquired knowledge of stamps, he discovered one after another the "Fifteenth Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China" souvenir sheetlet, the "Fiftieth Anniversary of the Founding of the Red Cross Society of China" stamps that many people are eagerly seeking on the market, and just a few more One or two pieces can assemble a complete set of "Huangshan", "Goldfish" and some military stamps. It can be seen that the old man should be a special stamp collector who specializes in collecting "Old Jite" stamps.

He suddenly became hopeful and continued to read. Unexpectedly, the biggest surprise was at the back.

On the last page of the old man's stamp album, he really saw the blue and noble picture "The Drunken Concubine" that made him look for it for many days.