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The government made one of its costliest typos ever on the Post Office's first-day cover to mark World Heritage in China.

The issue on Thursday was held back because a $2.50 stamp depicting the terracotta warriors carried the caption 'from the first Qin emporer'. You'd think the Post Office didn't have any spell-check software. A reprint will now take five months and cost taxpayers an extra $200,000.

The Post Office has promised to destroy all the misprints, but given the perfect opportunity this has created for stamp collectors and sellers, I'd bet more than a few will surface in the underground market in no time.