By Li Hongmei

Four thousand stamps issued for the Chinese Year of the Horse sold out an hour after their release in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province. Their value has risen significantly in the local stamp market, according to the Chinese-language Lanzhou Evening News.

China's post office released the stamps in different sizes, the largest going for 24 yuan (US$3.9) and two smaller ones at 12 yuan (US$1.9) and 7.2 yuan (US$1.1) each. The stamp, designed by well-known artist Chen Saohua, bears a white horse and a yellow saddle embroidered with a bat. The animal's name in Mandarin Chinese is a homonym with the word for luck.

Around 50,000 stamps were sold throughout the province in three days. The first buyer lined up in front of the office in Lanzhou at 5am. Most of the buyers are elder stamp collectors and people born in the year of the horse or who have family members born in the year.

In the local stamp market, horse stamp prices more than doubled a day after the release, coming to 20 yuan (US$3.3), 70 yuan (US$11) and 240 yuan (US$39) for the two smaller and one larger versions, respectively. The prices for two horse stamps released in the past by the post office also rose to 700 yuan (US$115) and 1,300 yuan (US$214).

Traders said the stamp price is likely to follow in the same footsteps as the snake stamp from last year, which rose to 380 yuan (US$62) before declining to 110 yuan (US$18). The number of horse stamps released surpassed those made in the Year of the Snake.