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Auction: 19008 - The Lam Man Yin Collection of Small Dragons, Dowagers and 1897 Surcharges
Lot: 731

1897 New Currency Surcharges
Small Figures Surcharge
10c. on 9 candareens
10c. on 9ca. dull green variety surcharge inverted, unused with trace of gum.


Pane 1 [21], this stamp is centred towards one corner but still exhibiting exceptional margins, large to enormous. There is a pulled perforation at the foot of the stamp, otherwise a very fresh stamp with bright colour and on white paper

A magnificent example of this legendary stamp, considered the rarest and most sought-after Dowager surcharge. Many of the finest collections were without an example of this stamp. Photo

Before printing the new value on the 9ca. stamps, all of the left margins were removed. To match the new sheet size, the far right column of the surcharge plate was taken off the surcharge plate so, effectively, all of these surcharges are one column to the right. Thus the wide space variety is now found on the right of the sheet next to the margin.

Demand for the new stamps was much greater than anticipated and all available stamps were used for this new issue. All old stamps were retuned from the post offices around China and any complete sheets were sent to the priinters for surcharging. Any 9ca. sheet returned would have had the tête-bêche column removed, probably by the postal authorites or, possibly, by the printers. It is apparent that a few of these returned sheets did not have the offending first column removed. The 10c. surcharge, setting B, was used for the 12ca. complete sheets of twenty five stamps. It was this surcharge which was applied to these few complete sheets of 9ca. The corner stamps, being inverted, received the surcharge upside-down. One proposed suggestion was tha the printers inadvertantly removed the right column instead of the left. This is not true as the surcharge matches position [21] of setting B., not the corner surcharge used for the other 9ca. sheets.

Thus these stamps with inverted surcharge must be overprinted with the surcharge position [21] of the 10c. on 12ca. surcharge. There are no obvious distinguishing features of this position but there are a few small variations. The most apparent is a small spur on the top right of the "1" character

provenance:
Sir Percival David, July 1970


literature:
The Empress Dowager Birthday Commemorative Issues and Surcharges, Chan Shiu Hon, 1994 (illustrated page 96)



Only four examples of this stamp have been recorded, two unused and two used. Some doubts had been raised about the aithenticity of the other unused example but close examination shows similarities of the surcharge. Note that the large margins (at the foot of the printed sheet) result in the surcharge being printed lower on the design.

The other examples
Pane 1
Unused
Wilson Te auction,

Pane 4
Used with Shanghai Dollar Dater
E.H. Finegan, October 1937
Sir Percival David, November 1969
Warren Kauder, November 1971
Dr Chang Min Sheng

Pane 2
Used with pa-kua
Sir Percival David, November 1969
Shanghai Universal auction, April 2015


洋銀壹角蓋於玖分銀深綠色倒蓋變體新票，保留微量背膠. 第一格[21]，此枚郵票雖處於該格下角中央位置，但仍然有令人滿意的寬闊邊紙，此外票腳上有些微齒位拉缺，雖然如此，這枚印刷在白色票紙上的倒蓋變體票，突顯其顏色鮮麗， 艷光四射，其稀有性簡直可說是鳳毛麟角，這枚早己名貫集郵界的明星級珍郵，是慈壽郵集中絕對不可缺者._x000D_ _x000D_ 在加蓋新票值於玖分銀票之前，會將全部左邊紙撕去. 為了配合新版票尺寸，除去最右段改值用印盤，因此在票上表現左邊紙窄而右邊紙寬的現象. 由於對新改值郵票的需求遠超於預計，而所有可用之郵票全投入這新改值票中. 所有當時的舊值散票都從中國各地郵局收回，而將有的未撕賣的整版票都送到印刷行加蓋成新改值票，而由於其中整版玖分銀票每全格中的第二十一號為對倒票(這是集郵界中所通識的)，為免在加蓋新洋銀壹角面值時做成倒蓋現象，所以在送往加蓋之前，就將左邊的直五連(當中包括最下之對倒票)，因此之故，後來所加蓋的均為全格二十枚，但這做法卻並不保証不會出現倒蓋票，有時加蓋前忘記撕去左行，又或錯撕了最右邊那行，這都能做成倒蓋票的出現，但至今存世極罕. 源流：1970年7月Sir Percival David; 著作：1994年陳兆漢醫生著"慈禧壽辰紀念票及其加蓋票"第96頁插圖; 目前這項倒蓋變體票只有四枚存世，即兩枚新票及兩枚舊票. 這裏有點疑問是關於如何分辬此項倒蓋變體新票的真僞，只要靠近地檢視加蓋的近似之處，會發覺加蓋在票中圖案的較低位置因而使寬邊紙產生( 在版票底部之中). 其他例證，第一格，新票，Wilson Te auction; 第四格，舊票，銷上海大圓日戳，1937年10月E.H. Finegan，1969年11月Sir Percival David，1971年11斥Warren Kauder，Dr. Chang Min Sheng; 第二格，舊票銷八卦戳，1969年11月Sir Percival David，2015年4月上海華宇拍賣

Sold for
HK$6,100,000