Hong Kong China Overprints

Swatow

Swatow, now known as Shantou, is on the eastern coast of the Guangdong province. The Swatow Treaty Port opened in 1860 as a result of the Treaty of Tientsin, and it became a city in 1919. The Treaty Port closed on November 30, 1922.

The British Consulate in Swatow opened on the Kakchich bank of the Han river on 7 July 1860. The British Post office was established there in 1866, with a second branch being added later on in the main trading area of Swatow on the other side of the river. ¹

There were 4 subtypes of the Registration handstamp, 3 of which were used with the ‘China’ overprints, and the Type I has two distinct subtypes; Ii and Iii, the Ii type has shorter sidebands than the Iii type.²

As with some of the other agencies, many varieties of the cancels from Swatow have only been discovered and reported in the last few years so ERD and LRD information may change with the addition of new examples.

Description	ERD Stamp	LRD Stamp	Image Front	Image Back	Date of Cancel	Total Franking	Destination
Fi 22.5 mm Single Circle Index C 6.5mm from top Day before Month	3 Feb 1917	25 Aug 1918 Proud 26 Feb 1918 HKSCJ 265/4		"Image Back	23-Jul-17	$0.16	USA
				"Image Back	26-Nov-17	$0.10	USA
Fi 22.5 mm Single Circle Index C 6.5mm from top Month before Day	Jun 9 1917 HKSC Jean Paul Beck		"Image Front	"Image Back
Fi 22.5 mm Single Circle Index D 6.5mm from top Day before Month	21 Dec 1920 HKSC K.W.Lau		"Image Front	"Image Back
Fi 22.5 mm Single Circle Index D 6.5mm from top Month before Day	Oct 12 1920 HKSC K.W.Lau			"Image Back	Dec 7 1921	$0.02	Germany
Fi 22.5 mm Single Circle Index E 6.5mm from top Day before Month			"Image Front	"Image Back
Fi 22.5 mm Single Circle Index E 6.5mm from top Month before Day	Oct 12 1920 HKSC K.W.Lau 1 Jun ?? HKSCJ 265/4		"Image Front	"Image Back
Gi 22.5 mm Single Circle Index C 5.5 mm from top		22 Feb 1917 Schoenfeld	"Image Front	"Image Back
Giii 22.5 mm Single Circle Index A 5.5 mm		2 Aug 1922 Schoenfeld	"Image Front	"Image Back
Hii 25 mm Single Circle Index B MM/DD	Cover	12 Nov 1919 HKSC 265/5		"Image Back	21-Sep-17	$0.22	Denmark
				"Image Back	28-Nov-17	$0.10	GB
				"Image Back	7-Sep-18	$0.01	USA
				"Image Back	1-Oct-19	$0.24?	USA
Hiii 25 mm Single Circle Index C DD/MM	6 Jul 1918	3 Jan 1921 (4c)		"Image Back	28-Feb-19	$0.10	GB
				"Image Back	9-Mar-20	$0.06	GB
				"Image Back	23-Jun-20	$0.22	Canada
Hiii 25 mm Single Circle Index C MM/DD				"Image Back	18-Jan-19	$0.10
				"Image Back	6-Apr-20	$0.16	Canada
I 26 mm Double Circle Index Unknown				"Image Back	16-Jul-21	$0.02	Germany
				"Image Back	22 J? 1921	$0.74	Canada
I 26 mm Double Circle Index A Month before Day	Feb 1 1917 HKSC K. W. Lau			"Image Back	Feb 14 1919	$0.10	USA
				"Image Back	Apr 3 1919	$0.10	USA
				"Image Back	Aug 21 1919	$0.20	Philippines
				"Image Back	Apr 22 1922	$0.04?	USA
I 26 mm Double Circle Index B Day before Month	3 Jun 1918 HKSC K. W. Lau			"Image Back	6-Oct-19	$0.10	USA
				"Image Back	31-Jul-20	$0.26	Denmark
I 26 mm Double Circle Index B Month before Day	Feb 14 1918 HKSC 265/5 ??			"Image Back	20-Mar-20	$0.38	GB
I 26 mm Double Circle Index ?B- Day before Month	Aug 1 1917?? Proud			"Image Back	25-Mar-19	$0.22	Tientsin (AR)
				"Image Back	14-Oct-21	$0.20	Germany
				"Image Back	23-Dec-21	$0.27	Germany
				"Image Back	11-Feb-22	$0.10	Germany
				"Image Back	14-Jul-22	$0.26	GB
				"Image Back	1-Sep-22	$0.30	GB
				"Image Back	25-Oct-22	$0.25	Germany
I 26 mm Double Circle Index ?B- Month before Day	Mar 29 1921 HKSC K. W. Lau	Mar 13 1922		"Image Back	3-Feb-21	$0.45	Austria
I 26 mm Double Circle Index C Day before Month		23 Nov 1921 HKSC K. W. Lau		"Image Back	Oct 15 1921	$0.20	Germany
				"Image Back	24-Nov-22	$0.02	Germany
I 26 mm Double Circle Index C Month before Day	Jan 15 1921 HKSC Jean Paul Beck		"Image Front	"Image Back
I 26 mm Double Circle Index D Day before Month		3 May 1921 HKSC K. W. Lau	"Image Front	"Image Back
I 26 mm Double Circle Index D Month before Day	Mar 19 1921 HKSC		"Image Front	"Image Back
I 26 mm Double Circle Index ?D- Day before Month		9 Jun 1922 HKSC K. W. Lau 2		"Image Back	10-Jan-22	$0.34	GB
				"Image Back	8-Feb-22	$0.26	Germany
				"Image Back	15-Jul-22	$0.45	GB
I 26 mm Double Circle Index ?D- Month before Day	Cover	Sep 4 1922		"Image Back	15-May-22	$0.50	GB
				"Image Back	22-May-22	$0.35	GB
I 26 mm Double Circle Index D Reversed Day before Month	10 May 1921 HKSCJ 265/5	18 May 1921 HKSC K. W. Lau	"Image Front	"Image Back
I 26 mm Double Circle Index Timestamp	21 Nov 1918 HKSC K. W. Lau	Aug 7 1922 HKSC Jean Paul Beck	"Image Front	"Image Back
I 26 mm Double Circle No Index Month before Day	7 Jul 1922 HKSC K. W. Lau	Oct 20 1922 HKSC Jean Paul Beck		"Image Back	May 22 1922	$0.10	Austria
Box Riv No Black Type 2 Cross of R slopes up to left	N/A	N/A	"Image Front	"Image Back	7 May 1918 (HKSC 297/13)
			"Image Front	"Image Back	Oct 22 1918 (HKSC 297/13)
				"Image Back	15 Oct 192
Box Riv No Black Type 3 Cross of R level				"Image Back	21-Sep-17
			"Image Front	"Image Back	3 22 1918 (HKSC 297/13)
			"Image Front	"Image Back	5 10 1918 (HKSC 297/13)
				"Image Back	25-Mar-19
				"Image Back	Aug 21 1919
				"Image Back	1-Oct-19
				"Image Back	31-Jul-20
				"Image Back	14-Oct-21
				"Image Back	23-Dec-21
				"Image Back	10-Jan-22
				"Image Back	8-Feb-22
			"Image Front	"Image Back	Apr 18 1922 (HKSC 297/13)
				"Image Back	22-May-22
				"Image Back	14-Jul-22
				"Image Back	1-Sep-22
Box Riv No Black Type 4 Cross of R slopes down to left				"Image Back	3 Feb 1921 (HKSC 297/13)
AR Handstamp				"Image Back	25-Mar-19
				"Image Back	Aug 21 1919
				"Image Back	1-Sep-22

1. [?]
2. Dr. A. M. T. Cheung, A.M.T., Hong Kong Study Circle Journal 297, 3.

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The Hong Kong 'China' Overprints British Offices In China 1917 - 1930

Swatow