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

A total of 5 separate requisitions lettered from F to J were made for the second issue. They were printed on watermarked multiple script CA paper. The first series, Requisition F, was issued around March 1922 and used at the Treaty Ports until their closure on November 30, 1922 and at the Crown Colony of Wei Hai Wei until its closure on September 30 1930. Like the first issue, most of the requisitions can be identified by the shades of color used. Also like the first issue, the 1c to 10c denominations were printed on regular paper and the higher values were printed on chalky paper.

F Requisition 50c – Proved from the Crown Agents records #110/21

F Requisition – Crown Agents Records proved that the order was placed on 16 Nov 1921. #110/21 Combined with Hong Kong 105/21 but possibly a special printing

G Requisition – Crown Agents Records prove that the order was placed on 29 Aug 1923. #3070

H Requisition - Crown Agents Records proves that the order was placed on 9 Feb 1927. #4127

I Requisition – Crown Agents Records prove that the order was placed on 28 Sep 1927. #4284

J Requisition – Crown Agents Records prove that the order was placed on 1 Mar 1929. #4690

The 'F' Requisition - DLR 110/21

Requisition F is still confusing. On 3rd October 1921, the Crown Agents placed an order for the 'F' requisition (A regular Hong Kong requisition had been placed on 1st September 1921 on 79/21 but a letter dated 22nd July 1921 appears to also refer to this requisition). They asked that it be executed in conjunction with the regular Hong Kong requisition number 105/21 but then asked that the order for the 6c and 8c be placed on hold until the question of the colors could be resolved. On the 21st October 1921, the Crown Agents confirmed that the 6c and 8c should be printed in their previous colors and instructed

De La Rue to continue with production. On the 10th November 1921, the Crown Agents followed up on the status of the 6c and the 8c, noting that they were urgently required, to which De La Rue responded that they had been supplied to Somerset House on the 9th November (which is interesting as their daybook shows that the 6c, 8c, 25c and $1 were dispatched on the 12th.)

The 2c and 20c values were provided on October 27th 1921, the 6c, 8c, 25c, and $1 values were provided on November 12th, 1921, the registration envelopes on November 22nd, 1921, and the 4c, 50c, and $2 on December 8th 1921.

We believe that the 6c was drawn from both a special printing and a regular Hong Kong printing but there is little information on the rest of the printings. The leg flaw on the duty plate of the 6c only appears on one of the three registration sheets held by the British National Archives and the British Library. It is unclear how this happened, but possible that some were taken from the Hong Kong printing and additional sheets were printed to make up the quantity required for overprinting, but the exact cause is still unknown.

Another recent discovery concerns the "Broken Kong" flaw, which only appeared on the Requisition F 4c stamp. A sheet with requisition F number 4892 shows the Broken Kong repaired, as listed in Webb. This may mean that the plate was repaired in the middle of the production run, but once again the exact cause of the inconsistency is unclear.

The "G" Requisition

The "G" Requisition was placed by the crown agents on order 3070.

Perrin reports that 205 sheets were supplied1, but personal observation of the Internal Revenue Archive at the British Library in June 2010 shows that only 200 sheets were supplied.

The Crown Agent records state that this requisition did not require that the sheets be numbered.

The "H" Requisition

The "H" Requisition was sent by De La Rue to Somerset House on 9th February 1927 from the Crown Agents on their order 4127.

The 50c and $2 values are newly discovered by cross referencing data obtained from the above note and checking the colors listed to the Hong Kong requisitions by Halewood and Antscherl. Additionally, 30 sheets of the 50c were retained for Specimens and other uses.

Observation of the Internal Revenue archive at the British Library shows that Requisition H was drawn from stocks printed for Hong Kong Requisition W. Curiously, Halewood and Antscherl do not show a $1 denomination under the Hong Kong Requisition W. It is possible that the $1 sheets were only printed for overprinting, but again currently unknown.

The "I" Requisition

The "I" Requisition was ordered by the Crown Agents on order 4284 and shipped from De La Rue to Somerset House on 9th November 1927. It is still unclear why a sheet of each value was overprinted "Specimen" (See Second Issue Varieties).

The "J" Requisition

The "J" Requisition was placed by the Crown Agents on order 4690.

Observation of the Internal Revenue archive at the British Library proves that Requisition J was drawn from stocks printed for Hong Kong Requisition Y, 4673.

1 – Perrin p. 40