The Whole Country Is Red

The Whole Country is Red is a Chinese postage stamp that was published on November 24, 1968, but had a design flaw. The stamp depicts a map of China with the phrase "The Whole Country is Red" (Chinese: 全国山河一片红), as well as a worker, farmer, and soldier standing below with copies of Chairman Mao's Quotations, albeit Taiwan is not coloured red. The stamp's face value is 8 RMB.

The stamp was only available for a half-day. Sino Maps Press's editor discovered that the map on the stamp was inaccurate and informed the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. As a result, all Chinese post offices were forced to halt the sale of the stamp and return all copies. Only a tiny number of stamps were sold to individual collectors.

In 2009, a huge version of the stamp was auctioned off in Hong Kong for 3.68 million HK dollars (US$474,197), breaking the previous record for the price of a single stamp auctioned off in China. Six standard pieces of the stamp were auctioned off at the same time for a total of 2.93 million HK dollars (US$377,482). A pristine Big Patch of Red stamp sold for 13.8 million yuan ($2 million) in Beijing in late 2018.

Price: $2 million