China 1878 'Large Dragon'
- Maker
- Imperial Maritime Customs Post, China
- Year
- 1878
- Rank
- 54 of 100
China 1878 'Large Dragon'
China 1878 'Large Dragon' by Imperial Maritime Customs Post, China (1878) is ranked 54 in the FLOAT 100 for Stamps. It sold for $2,417,700 on 16 June 2018. China's very first postage stamps — the foundational rarity of all Chinese philately.
What is it, and why is it in the FLOAT 100?
China's very first postage stamps — the foundational rarity of all Chinese philately.
Large Dragon 1ca/3ca/5ca candarins (SG 1-3; Chan 1-3); the record lot = cover bearing three Large Dragons, Peking to Shanghai, 5 Oct 1878 (earliest of four known covers)
What is the best-sourced number for it?
- Figure
- $2,417,700
- Kind
- Realized at auction
- Date
- 16 June 2018
InterAsia Auctions, 16-18 June 2018: HK$18,975,000 (~$2,417,700) — most expensive Chinese philatelic item ever sold. NOTE: figure is for the earliest known COVER, not a single stamp; loose singles run in the low thousands.
This is a realized sale. Somebody paid it. Source.
How this is made
- The figure
- One reference price, taken from a named public source and shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. A market asking price and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- Why no grade ladder
- Most FLOAT 100 entries are individual objects. There is one of this, so there is no population and no spread across grades to show.
- Archive
- 2026-08-08