HONG KONG.- Zurich Asia achieved fantastic results in its Autumn Auctions held on 16 and 17 September 2017 at Harbour Plaza North Point Hotel in Hong Kong. The two-day series offered 2,800 lots of philatelic treasures, banknotes and coins.

The star lot was a complete sheet of 80 stamps from the 1980 Year of the Monkey (“Golden Monkey”) in shiny gold and vivid red (Lot 3187). It realized HK$1,518,000 (US$194,615) after spirited bidding, well above the pre-sale high estimate and established a new world auction record for a complete sheet of the 1980 “Golden Monkey” stamps.

An extremely rare 1922 inverted surcharge in blue green on Junk First Peking print, 2 cents on 3 cents achieved a strong price of HK$862,500 (US$110,577), above the pre-sale high estimate (Lot 510). This variety is known as one of the ‘Four Treasures of the Republic’ and was highly sought after by philatelic connoisseurs. In mint condition with partial original gum, it comes with a British Philatelic Association certificate dated 2015. With this new discovery, the number of recorded copies of this variety has increased to just 15.

A further highlight was a rare complete pane of 25 brown red 3 candarins 1878 Large Dragon stamps which realized HK$253,000 (US$32,436) (Lot 96).

Another rare item on offer was an unissued 1946 Su-Wan Border Area, Chairman Mao, 5 candarins red Common Mail, selling for HK$253,000 (US$32,436) ( Lot 2586).