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

Chefoo is in the center of the northeast coast of the Shantung Peninsula, 50 miles west of Wei Hai Wei and central to the silk industry. Chefoo became a Treaty Port under the Treaty of Tientsin of 1858, ratified by the Treaty of Peking in 1860. It closed on 30 November 1922.

Ordinarily, the index letter A on a circular date stamp would signify that the mark was made by the Postmaster, but the index letter A was not used with the Chefoo cancels on the ‘China’ Overprints. This is possibly because the British Post Office in Chefoo did not have an official postmaster and was instead managed by the local trading firm, Curtis Brothers.1s

1. Frank Drake & David Drake, HKPSJ 14