Crowds line up for Taipei stamp exhibition

Twenty-two countries taking part in the Taipei 2005 Stamp Exhibition and the 18th Asian International Stamp Exhibition showed off their distinctive colors when the six-day exhibition opened at the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall I yesterday.

More than 1,500 frames of stamps from 22 countries are on show, with more than 70 booths at the exhibition hall displaying a wide variety of stamps for sale.

Stamp dealers from the US have set up several booths at the show, promoting items such as stamps featuring Elvis Presley as well as NBA players. One US booth featuring a "Large Dragon" set of stamps from the Qing Dynasty also attracted a lot of collectors on the opening day.

A British booth is displaying not only stamps but also many old envelopes, while the Swedish booth is displaying stamps from Sweden, Denmark and Monaco. The representative manning the booth said the display features the work of Czeslaw Slania (1921-2005), considered to be the world's most famous stamp engraver.

Sponsors of the exhibition have purchased more than NT$2 billion (US$60.6 million) worth of insurance for the rare and valuable stamps and related collections on display at the fair.

Among the 1,556 stamps on display, several are deemed to be "jewels of the nation's stamps" -- including the Flying Geese stamps issued in the early 1950s, the unique Flying Dragon postage stamps for express-mail items used during the Qing Dynasty, and the rare Red Color revenue stamps currently estimated to be worth around NT$10 million, according to Chunghwa Post Co (中華郵政), key sponsor of the event.

But it was the personalized greeting stamps and postcards featuring popular model Lin Chih-ling (林志玲) that sold like hot cakes, with a long queue forming outside the exhibition hall before the show's opening.

Only a limited number of 2,500 Lin postcards were for sale on the first day of the exhibition. Many of Lin's fans arrived at the convention center early yesterday morning to make sure they got hold of one of the personalized stamps.

Chunghwa Post said that it will offer 30 postcards autographed by Lin on Monday. Those who enter the exhibition hall before 11am that day and obtain a draw ticket will have the chance to win one of the autographed postcards.

To commemorate the event, Chunghwa Post is also releasing a set of four "Taipei 2005 -- 18th Asian International Stamp Exhibition Commemorative Postage Labels," each of which features a different section of the ancient painting "Taisiantu" from the National Palace Museum collection. The postage labels will be printed with four different designs in consecutive order in a roll. On the lower left corner of each label is a serial number that consists of two letters from the Roman alphabet and four Arabic numerals.

During the event, Chunghwa Post is also offering 10,000 gifts by prize draw, in addition to offering visitors the opportunity to have their own personal stamps and postcards made digitally.

Samuel Hsu (許仁壽), chairman of Chunghwa Post, said that the event is aimed at promoting Taiwan's stamps as well as tourism. The Formosan black bear, which is indigenous to Taiwan, has been chosen as the mascot of the exhibition.

The logo of the exhibition features the Taipei 101 tower -- the world's tallest skyscraper -- which Hsu said exemplifies Taiwan's new vibrancy.