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Leaning on Lunar

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.

It’s now the Year of the Horse in the Chinese Zodiac, and it’s no surprise that many
Asian countries are issuing stamps to celebrate the new year. But go to a U-S post
office and you’ll also find Year of the Horse stamps.... even though Asian Americans
are only a small part of the population.

The same is true in Canada and Britain and many other Western countries: They, too,
have issued Lunar New Year stamps. Australia’s stamps are issued in the name of its
Christmas Island territory, which is more than two-thirds ethnic Chinese.

A large part of the intended market for these Western Lunar New Year stamps isn’t
mailers in the countries issuing them. It’s Asian collectors, particularly the Chinese.
Stamp collecting is very popular in China now, as the country becomes more of a consumer
and — dare we say it? — capitalist country.

Postal agencies these days see stamps as a way to make money.. and are hoping to ride
this Horse to more profits.

And that's stamp collecting this week. I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News.

I'm Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more on stamps and stamp collecting,
visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com.

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