In a show of support for the exhibition, Gongvatana Surajit, president of the Federation of Inter-Asian Philately (FIAP) has contributed four sheet of stamps to put on display at the event, of which, the Queen’s head stamp is the most notable.

Surajit said India is the first country in Asia to issue postage stamps and that the Queen’s head stamp was issued 24 years ahead of China’s first issue of Giant Dragon stamps released in 1878.

There are only 27 stamps showing the Queen’s head upside down left in the world and they are listed as the most precious stamps in Asia, according to Surajit.

This year, the stamp collections are classified into competitive and non-competitive categories. The former includes 1,012 frames, while the non competitive one includes 20 honorary collections that have won previous awards at various international competitions, as well as five cases of collectors’ treasures, according to Taiwan Post, which is organizing the event.

The collectors’ treasures include two items from India and Siam, one of Queen Victoria stamp duty stamps in 1867, one of the third Dutch East Indies stamps issued in 1870, one of the first stamp issued in 1854 in the Philippines and one of the Shanghai flying geese stamps overprinted with small characters provided by the Taiwan Postal Museum.

All the stamps displayed in the former four cases are gold award-winning items in various postage stamp exhibitions, which philatelists describe as “masterpieces among masterpieces,” according to Taiwan Post.

The event organizers have also created another division for exhibitors from various Asian countries to run booths to present postal-related products at the exhibition, with around 90 booths registered to participate this year, Taiwan Post added.

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