The family of a deceased stamp collector said they would not take action after an envelope with a rare commemorative stamp believed to have been stolen from the collector 20 years ago went up for auction.
The collector, Weng Ting-huai (翁廷懷), had been planning to sell his collection in 2000, but before the sale could be finalized, the collection — worth an estimated NT$5 million (US$176,442 at the current exchange rate) — was stolen in Taichung, and police at the time failed to find any leads.
Family members voiced concern after an envelope appearing to be one of the collection’s more valuable items recently went up for auction on an Internet forum.
Screen grab from auction platform Panlung’s Web site
The envelope bears commemorative stamps from the year of a visit to Taiwan by former US president Dwight Eisenhower.
The envelope, which had a starting price of NT$100,000 on the auction site, is particularly valuable because it has a misprinted commemorative stamp that was printed upside down, Weng’s nephew said on Friday.
However, due to the statute of limitations, the seller at the auction cannot be investigated on suspicion of theft, the nephew said, adding that they had no interest in pursuing the matter further.
“We have no more interest in the matter, but we just wish the collection could be preserved for historical purposes for people to enjoy,” the nephew said.
Stamp collector Hsu Chiu-chi (許求麒), who had been in talks with Weng in 2000 to buy the collection, said he appraised the collection and had been interested in purchasing it, but the sale was halted over a misunderstanding between himself, and Weng and Weng’s assistant.
Weng’s family was initially suspicious of him following the theft, Hsu said, adding that although he felt their suspicion was reasonable, he was not involved in the crime.
Panlung (蟠龍拍賣網), the auction platform where the envelope was sold, said it is familiar with the theft of Weng’s collection, but was not aware of any connection between the theft and the envelope.
Weng’s nephew said his uncle had taken an interest in collecting stamps related to Taiwan-US relations after the two countries broke diplomatic ties, feeling that the stamps would increase in value over time.
Weng had become well-known among stamp collectors, as his collection had grown so large, the nephew said.
“About two weeks after the talks on the sale were halted, someone broke into my uncle’s office where the collection was stored, and stole a portion of it,” the nephew said, adding that the thieves broke in again four days later and stole the remainder of the collection.
“The collection was hidden, but the thieves found it very quickly,” he said.
The nephew said only three other copies of the misprinted stamps are known to exist, as the Chunghwa Post office where they were being sold stopped selling them after the mistake was noticed.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
CASE COUNT: The deceased had advised law enforcement agencies regarding 60 fraud cases this year, leading to the confiscation of NT$9.3 billion in alleged illegal proceeds Prosecutors yesterday launched an investigation into the death of cryptocurrency expert Miffy Chen (陳梅慧), who died in a car crash on Wednesday under what some consider to be suspicious circumstances following her work with law enforcement to track down NT$9.3 billion (US$286.97 million) in alleged illegal proceeds. Prosecutor-General Hsing Tai-chao (邢泰釗) tasked the Hsinchu District Prosecutors’ Office with investigating the incident following requests from the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) and other agencies with which she worked to crack several prominent cases involving financial fraud and money laundering. Chen was killed in a six-car pileup near Hsinchu in the northbound lanes of Sun
RSS