Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 5018 - Stamps of Hong Kong & China
Lot: 1269

China 1897 Revenue Surcharge Small Figures 2c. on 3c. red bearing trial surcharge in green, showing raised stop and distinctive characters of position 20. A faint impression but with good perforations and some original, dry gum; there is some minor rubbing below "EN" of "REVENUE". This is one of the great rarities of Chinese philately, for which only ten examples have been recorded. Holcombe Certificate (1997) incorrectly identifying this as position 3. Chan 84T. From the collection of Ramon Lo. Photo Estimate HK$ 1,500,000-2,000,000provenance: Laurie Franks, April 1992 Spink Sale, November 1997 The mystery of the green surcharge was highlighted by Chao Jen-Lung after he had examined the vertical pair which is held in the China National Postage Stamp Museum. After careful study he found that this pair consisted of clichés 16 and 17. Further investigation was made by Huang Kuang-Sheng, who concluded that the surcharge block had been broken up for cleaning. The green ink was very fluid, resulting in a heavy, smudged surcharge. The colour was not clear enough. For the next block, black ink was used, without first cleaning off the remaining green. The resulting surcharge in black on green ink was similarly heavy and smudged. The printing block needed thorough cleaning, and the theory that it was broken up to do this is reasonable. The pale colour and over-inking of the surcharge makes identification of the clichés difficult and, over the years, several of the stamps have been mis-identified. This study attempts to correct these errors and to determine the positions of the stamps in the printing block. These stamps originally came from the Government archives and due to poor storage, the colour of the green has become somewhat faded with the gum toned and dried up. The Order of the Printing Block We know that the green setting was applied on the top two rows, and it is logical to assume that the black on green was applied on the next two rows. The overprint on the top row is higher than that on the second. Cliché 2 shows the weak frameline of sheet position [18] The width of the side margins varies across the sheet and this is a useful guide in assessing likely positions Wide right margin 3 and 5 Wide left margin 9 and 20 Narrow margins 10 and 15 16/17 show widely spaced perforation holes between. 20 shows this pattern on the right Left Side of Sheet 9 20 16 10 17 4 Right Side of Sheet 12 3 15 2 5 15

Sold for
HK$1,500,000