Chapter 485: Zhuangyuan Lane

"Two hundred and fifty yuan each?" Su Xinghui was somewhat shocked. Two hundred and fifty yuan two years ago was almost equivalent to two months' salary for a person; this price was truly quite high.

Hou Dali said: "Isn't it? Such a high price made even an old stamp collector like me feel terrified. At that time, many people were stocking up like crazy, but I didn't dare to stock up; instead, I sold off all my inventory and even made a profit. Thinking about it now, I was truly lucky!"

A look of lingering fear appeared on Hou Dali's face: "Within a few months, the stamp market began to crash like crazy. Before long, all stamps, including coins, fell several times over in value. Many people who had stocked up at high prices were crying their eyes out!"

Su Xinghui asked: "Then what price did the Monkey Stamp fall to?"

Hou Dali said: "If you buy Monkey Stamps now, you can get them for thirty yuan each. Wouldn't you say now is the best time to buy stamps?"

Su Xinghui laughed: "Listening to you say that, it really is the best time. But Boss Hou, you're really lucky and have a good eye, selling off all your stamps at the peak; not only did you not lose money, but you even made a profit."

Hou Dali laughed: "That's true, my luck is good, but it's also because I'm not greedy. If I were as greedy as those people, I would have been finished too."

Su Xinghui nodded. Hou Dali's words were very philosophical. People really shouldn't be too greedy. How many people have suffered great losses because they were too greedy and wanted to get rich quick?

Su Xinghui asked: "Boss Hou, do you have any Monkey Stamps here now?"

Hou Dali nodded: "Of course I do."

He opened a stamp album, found a page, and showed it to Su Xinghui. This page was full of zodiac stamps; the first round of zodiac stamps was just complete, with single stamps, blocks of four, and full sets.

Su Xinghui's eyes were naturally drawn to the Monkey Stamp immediately. This Monkey Stamp had always been regarded as the barometer of the Chinese stamp market, and it was also one of the stamps with the largest increase in value in the history of Chinese stamps, rising from a face value of eight cents to a peak value of over ten thousand yuan, an increase of over one hundred thousand times.

Su Xinghui held the stamp album and began to look. In his previous life, he had never owned a Monkey Stamp, and hadn't even seen one up close. Of course, he wanted to look at it more.

When the Monkey Stamp was issued, he was only eight or nine years old. The circulation of the Monkey Stamp was small, and by the time he went to the Post and Telecommunications Bureau to buy it, it had long since been sold out.

Then the price of the Monkey Stamp rose all the way. Although it was only a few dozen yuan each, it wasn't something he could afford. Later, although he had the financial ability, the price of over ten thousand yuan each made him lose the determination to own one.

After looking for a while, Su Xinghui said: "I want all of these zodiac stamps."

Hou Dali said happily: "Alright."

He took the stamp album from Su Xinghui's hands and carefully used tweezers to place those zodiac stamps one by one into special stamp protection bags, placing them on the black cloth. Su Xinghui began to flip through other stamp albums.

Before long, Su Xinghui had selected quite a few more stamps. The stamps he selected were those with the greatest potential for appreciation, especially the souvenir sheets. The souvenir sheets issued in the early days in China did not have large circulations, so their potential for appreciation was very great.

The stamps Su Xinghui selected included the "Dream of the Red Chamber" souvenir sheet, the "Galloping Horse" souvenir sheet, the "Love Science from Childhood" souvenir sheet, and so on. These stamps all had thousands of times the potential for appreciation, but now, due to the stamp market slump, their prices were not high, not even as high as the price of the Monkey Stamp. Su Xinghui found it very easy to buy them.

Unfortunately, Hou Dali did not have the "Mei Lanfang Stage Art" souvenir sheet. The current price of this souvenir sheet was about a few hundred to a thousand yuan, but its price twenty years later reached over two hundred thousand. This range of appreciation was also huge.

For the stamps Su Xinghui took a fancy to, Hou Dali would immediately use tweezers to clip them out, put them into protection bags, and place them on the black cloth. Before long, the black cloth was covered with stamps.

Hou Dali said: "Little Su, your eye is really good. Everything you've selected is good stuff."

Su Xinghui laughed: "Since I'm collecting stamps, of course I want to collect some good ones."

Hou Dali nodded: "You're right. You should have started working by now, right? If you have money, buy some good ones. There's no need to buy too many of the new stamps issued by the post office now; buying one set is enough. The circulation of new stamps is too large, and the price cannot rise. It's these old stamps that have room for appreciation."

Su Xinghui flipped through several stamp albums, picked out all the stamps with the greatest room for appreciation, and then asked: "Boss Hou, is this all the good stuff you have?"

Hou Dali said: "Is this not enough for you? What you've picked out is worth at least several hundred yuan, which is equivalent to several months of your salary."

Su Xinghui said: "Boss Hou, you don't know, I have a friend who runs a factory in Meng Hu Ling. His family is very rich, and he likes collecting stamps, so he entrusted me to buy more good stamps for him."

Hou Dali was somewhat puzzled: "Running a factory in Meng Hu Ling?"

In Hou Dali's impression, Meng Hu Ling was a place where birds don't lay eggs; how could anyone go there to run a factory?

Su Xinghui said: "Boss Hou, don't you know? I work in Meng Hu Ling now. Meng Hu Ling has developed very well in the past two years, and several factories have already been set up."

Hou Dali then nodded in realization: "I see. Of course I have good stuff, but it's all at home. Naturally, I can't bring all of it out." ===== CHAPTER 487 =====