In 1948, Macao issued a beautiful tourist set (Scott #324-35) picturing scenes of the colony. 20,000 sets were issued, and Scott '10 values it at $ 659.10 unused. The vast majority of sets were used as postage.
All of the better stamps of the European and other foreign Colonies/Possessions in China should be considered for investment, in my opinion, as they have dual markets both in their former home countries and in China.
In 1999, Macao became a special administrative district of the People's Republic of China. With a population of about 500,000, Macao's economy is dependent upon tourism, much of it geared toward gambling, although important secondary sectors include apparel manufacturing and financial services. Annual GDP growth has been high, averaging over 9% over the last 7 years. The fact that much of Macao's economic growth has been driven by a regional monopoly on gaming is somewhat worrisome, in my opinion, because obviously there is no guarantee that the People's Republic won't relax restrictions on gambling in the rest of China, allowing more competition. Nevertheless, I feel that certain scarce issues of this former colony are grossly undervalued, given the number of collectors who will be chasing them.
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