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Auction: CSS37 - Fine Stamps and Covers of China and Hong Kong
Lot: 1609

China
1897 Revenue Surcharges
Unsurcharged
3c. crimson-red, perf.14x14½ in a rich shade, part original gum with old hinge remainder on the reverse, extraordinarily well centred with even margins all round. This stamp is of outstanding freshness which few others achieve. A remarkable stamp of the highest calibre. Chan R1. Photo

In 1896 approval was granted to introduce revenue stamps. Waterlow and Sons were instructed to produce a suitable design for a 3c. stamp. However, strong public objection to the proposed new tax meant that it was abandoned and stamps that had already been printed and delivered were put into storage in the Shanghai Customs Statistical Department.

Coincidentally, around the same time, the new Imperial Post Office was planning to offer new services, including the handling of parcels and postal remittances. Both of these services required high-value stamps, in particular, a supply of $1 and $5 stamps.

The decision to overprint stamps with a value higher than their original face value has to be carefully considered as such stamps provide an easy target to defraud the post office. The unused 3c. revenue was an ideal candidate for taking high value surcharges. Firstly, the printing quality was of a very high standard and, secondly, no stamps had been released to the public, making it impossible to produce a convincing fake.

The 'Revenue Surcharges China 1897', reference book illustrates 53 examples, and a few more have surfaced subsequent to its publication. As well as the two blocks of six recently discovered by Spink, approximately twenty examples have been discovered in China. All of the latter stamps are toned or in poor condition as a result of being stored in hiding during the Cultural Revolution. It is possible that other examples may be discovered, it is unlikely that, after all this time, new discoveries would exceed more than a few stamps.




紅印花原票, 三分, 齒孔十四度乘十四度半, 顏色豐艷, 圖案居中, 齒孔齊整, 保留大部份原膠, 票背殘留有少許貼紙; 這是一枚品相非凡及難得一遇之罕有紅印花原票. 陳日R1._x000D_ _x000D_ 於1896年批准了把稅收郵票引進中國後, 華路德父子公司就被委託製作三仙面值的稅收郵票設計. 然而, 由於公眾對擬議的新稅項抱著強烈反對態度, 所以清庭便被迫放棄了新稅項, 但已經印製和交付完畢的稅票都己存放於上海海關統計部裏; 巧合的是, 在同一時間, 新的大清郵政局正計畫提供新的服務, 包括處理包裹和郵政匯款. 這兩項服務都需要高面值郵票, 特別是1元及5元郵票的提供, 但如果要加蓋於普通郵票, 而加蓋的面值是高於其郵票原本之面值的話, 則必須要謹慎考慮了. 在此他們注意到印好了而又未使用的三仙稅收(紅印花)郵票, 應是最理想加蓋高面值而又容易令大清郵政局接受的. 首先, 因其印刷的品質標準是非常高, 其次, 還沒有發佈給公眾知道這項新稅收郵票的發行. 故令人產生信服,這不可能是一個作假的郵品. "中國紅花加蓋票1897" --這參考書中列舉了53個帶插圖的例子, 還有幾枚在該書出版之後被發現了. 以及最近被斯賓克發現了二件六方連票, 還有在中國又發現了大約二十枚, 由於後來所發現的, 大都在文革期間被隱藏著, 所以此等紅印花票的色調或品相一般都很差; 以後即使還會發現其他的紅印花原票, 但卻不太可能有多少枚的品相能超越今次此枚.

Estimate
HK$650,000 to HK$750,000