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Preview of Stamps Catalogue: VOLUME 2

CHINA 1878-1893

Return To Catalogue - China 1894-1897 - Forgeries of the 1894 issue - China 1897-1908 - China 1909-1920 - China miscellaneous - Local Issues, part 1 - Local Issues, part 2 - Macao - Shanghai - Formosa - Manchukuo (Manchuria)

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1878 Dragon, perforated, large size, value in Candarins

1 cand green


(Reduced sizes)

  1 cand green
  3 cand red
  5 cand yellow

For the specialist: these stamps are perforated 12 1/2.

Value of the stamps

 
vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon
 
*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare
Value Unused Used Remarks
1 c RR R  
3 c R *** I've seen an imperforate strip of three in the
Ferrari collection.
5 c R ***  

Cancels:

The most common cancels are the customs seal cancels. Also can be found the customs date stamp cancellations.


(Customs seal cancel)


(Customs date cancel)

More information on cancels can be found at: http://www.chinesephilately.com/customs.htm, where many customs seal cancels, customs date stamps cancels and other cancels can be found.

Forgeries, examples:

Forgery! Forgery! Forgery!
Four forgeries, probably made by the same forger, all with very wide margins and badly perforated. There is a star like feature in the beard of the dragon (just below the chin), which is not present in the genuine stamps. Note the spelling mistake 'CANDARIN' instead of 'CANDARINS' in the 5 c value. These forgeries might have been made by the Japanese stamp forger Kamigata.

A forger from Hialeah (Florida, USA) has made many forgeries of these stamps. They are probably generated with a computer scanner and printer. In general, for these 'Hialeah forgeries', the paper is too modern, the sizes are not correct and most details are very poor. They are offered in large quantities on Ebay. Some examples of these forgeries:


(Hialeah forgeries)

 

1885 Dragon, smaller size, value in Candarins

1 c green


(Reduced size)

  1 cand green
  3 cand lilac
  5 cand yellow

Surcharged (1897)


(Reduced size)

  1 c on 1 cand green
  2 c on 3 cand lilac
  5 c on 5 cand yellow

These stamps exist with various perforations. These stamps have watermark 'Shell' (or is it the Ying - Yang symbol?).


Watermark seen from the back of a 1 c stamp, reduced size.

Value of the stamps

 
vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon
 
*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare
Value Unused Used Remarks
1 c ** **  
3 c *** **  
5 c *** ***  
Surcharged
1/2 c on 1 c *** *** Two types of overprint
2 c on 3 c *** *** Two types of overprint
5 c on 5 c *** *** Two types of overprint

I've seen two imperforate 3 c proofs.

Some primitive forgeries, examples:


Three forgeries, apparently made by the same forger. The 1 c has bottom inscription in green instead of white on green. The inscription of the 3 c value appears to be 'CANDARING' with an inverted 'G' at the end (on some copies this is more clearly visible than on the one shown above). These forgeries might have been made by the Japanese stamp forger Kamigata.


Same forgery of the 1 c; bottom inscription is wrong.


Rather deceptive forgery of the 5 c value, with wrong perforation, too wide margins and a bogus cancel.

 

For stamps of China issued from 1894 onwards click here.

Copyright by Evert Klaseboer