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Auction: 16012 - Meiso Mizuhara, The Exhibition Collections, The Chinese Customs Post
Lot: 1696

China
1885-88 The Small Dragon Issue
1ca. green, 3ca. mauve and 5ca. olive-yellow, three unused sets from both perforation sizes with clean cut and rough perforation on the perf.12½; most are part to large part original gum. Generally fresh and clean. S.G. 10-15; Chan 13-31. (9)

The printing plates of the Large Dragon stamps began to wear and needed replacing; here was an opportunity to introduce a more conventional size stamp.



The design is very similar to the first issue, though with more detail on the dragon. At the same time, watermarked paper was introduced as an additional security measure. The watermark was the ta-chi symbol, which remained in use until 1902.



The Small Dragon stamps were issued in November 1885



The new stamps were printed in sheets of forty, divided into two panes
Similar to the Large Dragon stamps, the sheets were constructed of individual clichés which were fixed together. These printing plates were periodically cleaned and the sheets are found in several different settings, or arrangements of the individual clichés.



Numbers issued

1 candareen 508,677

3 candareen 850,711

5 candareen 348,161

Sold for
HK$24,000