Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 16012 - Meiso Mizuhara, The Exhibition Collections, The Chinese Customs Post
Lot: 1704

China
1894 Dowager Issue
1ca. to 24ca. set of nine with some additional shades; part to large part original gum, most are fresh with vibrant colours. There are some varieties including 9ca. dot by fun [12] (all panes), dots to left of fun [1] (all panes), 12ca. retouched corners and 24ca. with watermark almost omitted. (13)

The 1, 3 and 5 candareen values proved to be inadequate to cope with the increase in the amount of mail being sent through the Customs Post. Additional values were required and Sir Robert Hart, the Inspector General of the Imperial Maritime Customs, suggested a completely new set of stamps. The proposed issue was to consist of nine stamps with values up to 24 candareens. November 7th 1894 was the 60th birthday of the Empress Dowager and it seemed appropriate to have the new stamps issued in time to commemorate this event.



Mr R.A. de Villard, a French designer working for the Statistical Department of Customs, was appointed to create the designs. He had previously been involved with the design and printing of some of the Shanghai Local Post stamps, so was well qualified for this task.



The first ever commemorative stamp had been issued in 1891 by Hong Kong, therefore it is tempting to think of this set as a commemorative issue. However, although this set was issued to coincide with the Empress Dowager's birthday, it is more of a celebration issue



The Nummber of stamps issued are

1ca. 100,077

2ca. 78,404

3ca. 188,494

4ca. 44,689

5ca. 32,779

6ca. 54,247

9ca. 56,182

12ca. 33,509

24ca. 34,035

Sold for
HK$22,000