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Hongkong Post today (December 31) announced that a set of special stamps based on the "Year of the Dragon" will be released for sale with associated philatelic products on January 14, 2012 (Saturday).
The Lunar New Year is the most important Chinese festivity, and follows a 12-year cycle with each year associated with one of the zodiac signs. Hongkong Post has issued special stamps to mark this auspicious occasion since 1967, and this is the first issue in the fourth series of Lunar New Year stamps.
People born in Year of the Dragon are said to be confident, courageous and clever. The special stamps vividly portray four imperial dragons in various forms, and are decorated with gold-foiled clouds to convey an air of festivity. Hongkong Post has launched its first-ever silk stamp sheetlet for the occasion, making the sheetlet a precious Lunar New Year gift for relatives and friends. A sheetlet with two stamps featuring the Rabbit and the Dragon embossed with genuine gold and 99.9 per cent pure silver is also available, and we have produced a set of two sheetlets capturing all twenty-four stamps in the Gold and Silver Stamp Sheetlet on Lunar New Year Animals series.
Official First Day Covers for the "Year of the Dragon" Special Stamps and official Souvenir Covers for the "Gold and Silver Stamp Sheetlet on Lunar New Year Animals - Rabbit/Dragon" and "Gold and Silver Stamp Sheetlet on Lunar New Year Animals - A Complete Collectible Set" will be put on sale at $1 each at all post offices from today. A prestige version of official First Day Covers for the "Year of the Dragon" special stamps will also be available at $8 each at all post offices. These items will be displayed at the General Post Office, Tsim Sha Tsui Post Office, Tsuen Wan Post Office and Sha Tin Central Post Office on the same day. Advance orders for servicing self-provided covers will be accepted at all philatelic offices from today to January 6, 2012.
While the General Post Office, Tsim Sha Tsui Post Office and Airport Post Office will maintain their normal full-day operating hours, the other post offices (except mobile post offices) will extend their business hours to 5pm on January 14, 2012.
Information about this special stamp issue and associated philatelic products can be obtained from the website of Hongkong Post at www.hongkongpost.com.
Ends/Saturday, December 31, 2011
Issued at HKT 10:01
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