An important and rare mint stamp collection worth over £60k has been discovered on a valuation day in Sutton Coldfield.

Specialist philatelic valuation days are held by Richard Winterton Auctioneers every so often, (at the Trinity Centre, Church Hill, Sutton Coldfield) with recognised authority Stuart Billington on hand to give his expert advice and knowledge of the stamp market.

It was on just such a recent occasion that Stuart made a remarkable discovery, an extremely valuable and rare collection of mint China postage stamps brought in by a local client.

The collection briefly comprises miniature sheet of 1962 Mei Lan-fang Stage Art stamps, an imperforate set of Mei Lan-fang and a strip of five 1968 Directives of Mao Tse-tung. The market for fine and rare stamps is booming at present with much interest and activity coming from the East, including China. The collection is estimated to fetch over £60K when offered in a specialist auction in March.