Manchurian Local Overprints 1945 - 1947

Modern

Mu dan jiang

City Established on 1st July 1937 (provincial capital). Fisher

Mou tan kiang

A very common hard black, machine printed, overprint, the four top characters read 中國郵政 Chinese Post, left is the surcharge and to the right 暫作 Temporary Use., each stamp is surcharged (50f temporary use) and has a "Mu" character in brackets at the bottom. This is a set of two and these stamps are some of the most common.

The overprint can sometimes be found inverted, misplaced horizontally or vertically, with the top line of characters missing, double overprinted or even mirror offset on the reverse side of the stamp (See below).

Double Overprint on 2f Block of 8 (Image courtesy of Steve Jensen)

Mirror offset on 2f block of 4

10-10 commemorative in bright red with a 50f surcharge, still showing the "Mu" character bottom centre.

There appear to have been three separate chops used, all slightly different. Examples are shown above.

These stamps have been identified by using Volume II of the Stamp Catalogue of China by Shui-Hon Chan and the four booklet guide The Local Overprinted Stamps of Manchuria 1945-7 by Allen D Kerr (published 1978 and now out of print). Both works are essential for anyone delving seriously into this subject.