2024 Lunar New Year - Year of the dragon- Miniature Sheet First Day Cover

£5.30 / In Stock

This First Day Cover displays the miniature sheet from our '2024 Lunar New Year - Year of the Dragon' issue.

The Lunar New Year, also known as China’s Spring Festival, is one of the biggest celebrated points of the Chinese calendar. Chinese New Year festivities traditionally start on the first day of the lunar month and continue until the fifteenth, when the moon is brightest. In 2024, the first day of the Lunar New Year falls on Saturday, 10th February.

This First Day Cover is an exclusively produced item; all the stamps are affixed to a specially commissioned full colour envelope and cancelled with a Jersey Post First Day of Issue special date stamp. Information and technical details of the issue is printed on the reverse.

Date of issue	04-01-2024
Withdrawal date	04-01-2026
Size	95mm x 125mm
Process	four colour offset lithography plus gold metallic ink with varnish
Denominations	£5.30

Additional Information

The miniature sheet depicts a detailed Chinese dragon flying through the clouds. Wang Fu a Chinese historian and philosopher during the Eastern Han Dynasty suggested that the Chinese dragon’s unique appearance is due to it being a combination of many different animal features. These features include heads which are in similar shape to a camel, the ears of a bull, the antlers of a stag, the body of a snake, the armored body belly of a clam, feet similar to a tiger, talons of an eagle and a body that includes the protective scales of a carp. Scholars have disputed why Chinese dragons have been deciphered this way, with some suggestions being due to a unification of the different tribes.