FLOAT

Hong Kong 1865 96c Olive-Bistre

Maker
British Hong Kong
Year
1865
Rank
53 of 100

Hong Kong 1865 96c Olive-Bistre

Hong Kong 1865 96c Olive-Bistre by British Hong Kong (1865) is ranked 53 in the FLOAT 100 for Stamps. It sold for $669,934 on 1 January 2016. Quickly withdrawn after being printed in the wrong color — Hong Kong's 'most important' classic stamp.

What is it, and why is it in the FLOAT 100?

Quickly withdrawn after being printed in the wrong color — Hong Kong's 'most important' classic stamp.

SG 16, 96c olive-bistre, wmk Crown CC; printed in the wrong color and withdrawn; ~48 surviving; unused with much o.g.

What is the best-sourced number for it?

Figure
$669,934
Kind
Realized at auction
Date
1 January 2016

Spink, Jan 2016: single fresh-color example $669,934. (A unique block of four made $889,765 at InterAsia 2013 — not conflated; the single is the cleaner per-stamp comp.)

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