Special 394 New Year’s Greeting Postage Stamps (1998)
| Stamp SN | D394 |
| Stamp Name | Special 394 New Year’s Greeting Postage Stamps (1998) |
| Stamp Cat Standard | Special Stamps |
| Stamp Cat | Lunar New Year, Zodiac |
| Issue date | 1998-12-02 |
| Suspersion date | |
| Dimension of stamps(mm.) | |
| Size of souvenir Sheet (mm.) | |
| Printer | China Color Printing Co., Inc., R.O.C. |
| Drawer | |
| Designer | Lin Chun-liang |
| Photographer | |
| Engraver | |
| Creative Director | |
| Sheet composition | 20 ( 4 x 5 ) |
| Print color | Colorful |
| Process | Deep etch offset |
| Paper | (1) 3.50 - 33.00-Phosphorescent stamp paper (2)13.00- Locally-made mat finished,watermarked stamp paper with gum |
| Back | |
| Perforation | 12 1/2 x 12 |
Description
To accommodate the public's need to send New Year's greeting cards, the Directorate General of Posts plans to issue a set of two New Year's Greeting Postage Stamps (Issue of 1998), as well as souvenir sheets and stamp boolkets.
The Chinese have traditionally used double-revolving combinations of the Ten Celestial Stems and the Twelve Terrestrial Branches to designate years. The full 60-year cycle is called a chia-tzu, for the first stem and first branch. The Twelve Terrestrial Branches
also have animal representations: tzu (rat), chou (ox),yin (tiger), mao(rabbit), chen (dragon ), szu (snake), wu (horse), wei(sheep), shen(monkey), yu (rooster), hsu (dog) and hai (pig). Each year the Directorate issues New Year's Greeting Postage Stamps taking the upcoming year's animal sign as their theme, which has been called as Chinese Zodiac Stamps.
The Chinese have traditionally used double-revolving combinations of the Ten Celestial Stems and the Twelve Terrestrial Branches to designate years. The full 60-year cycle is called a chia-tzu, for the first stem and first branch. The Twelve Terrestrial Branches
also have animal representations: tzu (rat), chou (ox),yin (tiger), mao(rabbit), chen (dragon ), szu (snake), wu (horse), wei(sheep), shen(monkey), yu (rooster), hsu (dog) and hai (pig). Each year the Directorate issues New Year's Greeting Postage Stamps taking the upcoming year's animal sign as their theme, which has been called as Chinese Zodiac Stamps.
Next year, 1999 is the chi-mao year (chi is the sixth of the Ten Celestial Stems and mao is the fourth of the Twelve Terrestrial Branch and signifies the year of the rabbit).
To welcome the year of the rabbit, the Directorate has chosen the work of Mr. Lin Chun-liang, who won first prize in a competition of rabbit designs. The two stamps will have face values of NT$3.50 and NT$13.00. The souvenir sheet comprises two sets of these stamps, worth NT$33.00. The stamp booklet is composed of twelve NT$3.50
stamps, with a total value of NT$42.00.
By-issues
(1)First Day Cover in small size to be sold at NT$1.00 apiece.
First Day Cover in large size to be sold at NT$2.00 apiece.
(2)Folder especially prepared for the stamps to be sold at NT$2.00 apiece.
(3)Folder with crystal mount for better protection stamps of the stamps to be sold at NT$4.00 apiece.
Folder with crystal mount for better protection of the souvenir sheet to be sold at NT$8.00 apiece.
(4)Loose-leaf stamp album page with plastic cover to be sold at NT$16.00 apiece.
(5)Pre-cancelled First Day Cover affixed with alow-valued stamp to be sold at NT$4.50 apiece.
(6)Pre-cancelled First Day Cover affixed with acomplete set of stamps to be sold at NT$17.50 apiece.
(7)Pre-cancelled First Day Cover affixed with asouvenir sheet to be sold at NT$35.00 apiece.
First Day Cover in large size to be sold at NT$2.00 apiece.
(2)Folder especially prepared for the stamps to be sold at NT$2.00 apiece.
(3)Folder with crystal mount for better protection stamps of the stamps to be sold at NT$4.00 apiece.
Folder with crystal mount for better protection of the souvenir sheet to be sold at NT$8.00 apiece.
(4)Loose-leaf stamp album page with plastic cover to be sold at NT$16.00 apiece.
(5)Pre-cancelled First Day Cover affixed with alow-valued stamp to be sold at NT$4.50 apiece.
(6)Pre-cancelled First Day Cover affixed with acomplete set of stamps to be sold at NT$17.50 apiece.
(7)Pre-cancelled First Day Cover affixed with asouvenir sheet to be sold at NT$35.00 apiece.