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Auction: 8002 - Stamps of Hong Kong & China
Lot: 767

China 1897 Revenue Surcharges Unsurcharged 3c. red, perf.14, in a top margin block of six [6-8/16-18] with full original gum; there are some paper adherences in the upper margin, a couple of faint tone spots and a few separated perfs. at foot. An outstanding block of brilliant colour, the stamps are unmounted mint. This is one of the most important items of Chinese philately. Photo Estimate HK$ 2,000,000-2,500,000 In 1897 China prepared to change it´´s currency from units of silver to dollars and cents. At the same time, a new National Postal Service was inaugurated to take over from the old Customs Post. The order for a set of new stamps was placed with printers in Japan; however, delays meant that these were not going to be ready in time for the launch of the new currency. As an emergency measure, all available existing stamps were gathered up and sent to Chinese printers to have the new values overprinted on them. The post office was due to offer many new services, such as postal remittances, parcels and insured mail, all requiring high-value stamps. There was a stock of unused revenue stamps available and some of these were overprinted for the $1 and $5 values. Further delays at the printers meant that the remainder of these revenue stamps were utilised for 1c., 2c. and 4c. values. Introductory Page The Spink Find Occasionally great philatelic rarities are found, their importance not realised or forgotten as collections were passed down through the generations. These two remarkable blocks were discovered in an old and insignificant notebook, part of a collection brought to our offices for valuation. They belonged to the owner´´s grandfather and it is thought that they remained in this book, unnoticed, for at least eighty years. Both blocks were affixed by their margins to one page in this book. The margin of one block was already thinned, probably from when it was removed from its original page in the printer´´s archive. There has long been a degree of uncertainty as to the origins of the unsurcharged stamps and the numbers remaining. It is known that a stock was held in the Post Office archives in Shanghai as records show that 761 were removed and burnt during the Cultural Revolution. This number included the examples sent to China by the director of Chinese Customs Office in London (Chang Min-Sheng, 1997). The book, ´´Revenue Surcharges China 1897´´, illustrates 53 examples, though a few more have surfaced subsequent to its publication. In addition, about twenty examples have recently been discovered in China, though all of these are in poor condition as a result of being stored in secret during the Cultural Revolution. The colour and centring of these two blocks are slightly to each other. It is not surprising that neither are from the same sheet as the corner block of four sold by Spink in November 2002. This means that there were at least three sheets which were not surcharged (not counting those destroyed in Shanghai), though other stamps from these particular sheets may not have been saved. A few sheets were spoiled at the printers, accounting for lower numbers surcharged than the sheets sent to them. Some sheets were retainted by either the Post Office or the Statistical Department, these were probably taken from the first 500 sheets because sheets 501 to 6500 were pressed into urgent service to cater for the demand for low value stamps and it is extremely unlikely that any stamps of these sheets would have been taken out. Of those stamps not surcharged, some would have been presented to high officials as souvenirs. In addition, Waterlow, the printers, must have held some as samples, and it is believed that this is where these two blocks originated. When the Waterlow archive was sold in 1965, only two die proofs were included in the sales. The block of eight, which was owned by Sir Percival David, was split into a block of four and four singles before his collection was sold. These two blocks are now the largest ever to be offered for sale by auction.

Sold for
HK$4,600,000