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Chinese Officially Sealed Labels with Provisional Overprints In 1932 when the Japanese seized Manchukuo, Post Offices used existing stocks of blue/green 1916, 1923 and 1928 Chinese "Officially Sealed" labels. The seals were used on letters or parcels that were received unsealed at the post office, damaged in transit, or opened in error. The earlier labels have the words "CHINESE POST OFFICE" at the bottom, in later labels this was modified to simply read "POST OFFICE".
1916-1922 1922-1929 1928-1932 A range of provisional overprints exist, these include chops with three, four or six characters' no bars, one bar, two bars, four bars or five bars and sometimes the overprints are applied sideways or twice on a label. These overprints appear either in vermillion, mauve or black and the chops were probably made locally. Most feature the three characters "Man-Chou-Kou" "國洲滿". The labels are associated with the towns of Harbin and Mukden and also Kirin Province. The overprints occur only on the above three types. |
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Above are two examples of the Harbin overprint on 1928 labels. Beware Forgeries Genuine examples of the provisional labels are hard to find and expensive. Forgeries occur frequently on internet auction sites, of particular concern is a dealer in Beijing trading with at least two user names from the same premises. A sample of these forgeries can be seen here. It is hard to tell the real item from the many fakes so always deal with someone you trust.
This example is typical, in this case the Harbin chop has been applied to a Yellow Green Seal. Take a close look. There is no record of this seal having been overprinted and the above is a fake. |
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Manchukuo Officially Sealed Labels Manchukuo started printing its own "Officially Sealed" labels in 1933. These labels read Officially Sealed and Manchoukou Post Office in both Chinese and English. Much of the identification is based upon Schumann but in some instances differences occur in perforation and size details based upon examples measured in this collection. Issues from 1933 to 1936 were printed by the Central Bank of Manchukuo Printing Bureau in Hsinking, the 1937, 1938 and 1940 issues by the Manchukuo Government Supplies Division, Hsinking. All issues were printed on various types of un-watermarked white paper in sheets of 50. Imperf copies in black and the normal carmine colour, printed on thin native laid paper are known to exist and these very rare items are thought to be proofs. Remarkably each issue seems to be of a slightly different design, sizes and perforations also vary. A 1936 issue (Perf 9½ to 10 on thick paper) is the hardest to find possibly due to the use of a "fugitive" ink. This ink is designed to run or change colour when exposed to water. Normally "fugitive" ink is is used to stop customers from soaking off and re-using stamps, depriving the Post Office of revenue. However as these labels had no retail value, it must be assumed that the use in this instance was due to an accident or a shortage of the correct ink, and their rarity indicates that a low number was printed.
1933 Manchukuo Officially Sealed Labels Labels printed in
sheets of 50 be the Central bank of Manchukuo Printing Office in
Hsinking.
Officially Sealed stamp, background lightly dotted, 1933 design with a small "r" to read "OFFIOrALLY", these also appeared with the correct spelling and with "OFFIOIALLY" instead of Officially.
1934 Manchukuo Officially Sealed Labels Labels printed in
sheets of 50 be the Central bank of Manchukuo Printing Office in
Hsinking.
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Stamps at the edge of the sheet are imperforate as shown in the above example.
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Variety - Printed as "OFFIOIALLY SEALED" see the bottom left character; very different to the others shown.
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Officially Sealed Block of 4 with the bottom row showing the closing up of the "C" to read "OFFIOIALLY"
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1936 Manchukuo Officially Sealed Labels Labels printed in
sheets of 50 by the Central bank of Manchukuo Printing Office in
Hsinking.
1937 Manchukuo Officially Sealed Labels Labels printed in
sheets of 50 by the Central bank of Manchukuo Government Supplies
Division, Hsinking. These seals are easy to recognise due to the smudged background between the "O" in Manchukuo and the "E" in Office.
There are eight different varieties of this label shown below based upon differences in the square "Kuo" character in the bottom right hand star. It is very likely that more exist. As you can see from the block below, the sheet appears to have been made up of different dies, if this is the case there could be 50 variations.
Variety "a" Variety "b" Variety "c"
Variety "d" Variety "e" Variety "f"
Variety "f" Variety "g" Variety "a" Variety "h"
1938 Manchukuo Officially Sealed Labels Labels printed in
sheets of 50 by the Manchukuo Government Supplies Division, Hsinking.
Unclassified Manchukuo Officially Sealed Label Size 44mm x 30mm, Rough Perf 10½. Thin paper. Similar, but not identical to, the example shown above; notice the cellular look of the background.
Unclassified Manchukuo Officially Sealed Label Size 44.5mm x 29.5mm, Perf 11. Thin smooth paper. This is a well printed example, probably dating to around 1934 to 1936 and as you will see below it featured a short top stroke to the "K" in Manchoukuo which is quite distinctive. The size is also unique. Does anyone know about these?
Unclassified Manchukuo Officially Sealed Labels
Size 44.5mm x 30mm, Rouletted. Thin smooth paper. Pale Carmine or Carmine, probably dating to around 1940 and reading "OFFICIALLY SBALED" it also has a " in front of OFFICE. Does anyone know about these? |
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| Private Seals | ||||||
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The above recorded delivery First Day Cover was sent from Mukden on 15th September 1942 with the special cancel (Zirkle 73 - see 1942) to TsingTao in China and has an arrival postmark dated 19th September 1942. The most interesting thing about this cover is that it has two green seals featuring an eagle carrying a letter. These seals were produced privately by a stamp shop owner in Mukden, Jing-Kwang. The red cancel used is also privately produced; it has nothing to do with the Post Office and was probably added to make the cover more attractive to foreign buyers. Form (D.- 5), the remains of which are seen above the postmark, is a Chinese label glued to registered, express or insured mail and acted as a record of receipt. Once the customer had signed for the letter or parcel the form was torn off and retained by Post Office as proof of delivery. It is quite usual to see remnants of this form adhering to covers from this period. |
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Manchukuo Wartime Censor Tape Bilingual (Chinese/Japanese) Tape, width 30mm with a pattern repeat of 83mm. No gum. |
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The Blue and White wartime censor tape meant that a letter had been intercepted by the Manchukuo Government Censor. The end of the envelope was slit, the contents examined and if necessary censored and then the envelope was resealed using this tape. Translated the Chinese characters read... 检开讫 (Jian Kai Qi) =
Checked-opened Complete,. This was the only tape used by the Government of Manchukuo. Some letters from Manchukuo were censored in Japan (particularly those from the KLT) and these may be found with red and white Japanese censor tape. Japanese censorship started in October 1941 and it is possible that censorship in Manchukuo began at about the same time. This cover was sent from Harbin in Manchukuo to Shanghai in China. It is unusual because the tape is intact and is tied to the envelope with a postmark. Japanese Wartime Censor Tape
This is an example of a letter sent by airmail from a stamp dealer in Harbin to a collector or dealer in Tokyo. The cancel is smudged and the stamps are missing but by looking at all three (rather dubious) cancels it is possible to make out a date of 10th February 1944. There is no arrival postmark - to see the reverse click here. The censor tape would probably have been applied in Japan. Much mail from Manchukuo to Japan went uncensored, this letter was probably selected for inspection because the origin of the sender and recipient were of Russian extraction.
The tape measures 27mm wide (imperf) and is printed on slightly textured, light brown paper which appears to have not had a coating of gum. The design which measures 64.5mm x 22mm reads, top line; 検閲?, Censored (first character unknown). Second Line; 大日本帝国通信省 Great Japanese Empire Communications Office. The characters read from right to left. Other version of this tape have been reported with rouletted edges and also printed upon a white (or whiter) paper. There are different versions known for the KLT, Taiwan and other parts of the Japanese conquered territories. Mail from Manchukuo with Egyptian Wartime Censor Tape
This cover is interesting because it shows that a letter posted on 30th May 1940 to a bicycle dealer in Paris travelled from Harbin via Suez an unusual route. The postage is correct at 20f. The reverse side of the letter which can be seen here, shows that it was intercepted in Egypt and sent to Cairo to be censored. A transit postmark for Cairo is dated 8th November 1940 almost six months after leaving Harbin. The letter appears to have reached Paris but a note in pencil "non St Etienne" shows that the Company had moved. There is no arrival postmark for Paris so the total transit time is unknown. |
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Small Packets Labels |
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| Unused sheet of labels for Small Packets Labels No's 831 to 840, as used in Manchukuo. The label size is 60mm x 35mm and they are printed on a thin coarse paper. Rouletting. No Gum
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Part sheet of Manchukuo Small Packets Labels No's 831 to 840. |
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| Telegram Seals | ||||||
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| The Manchurian Telegraph and Telephone Company (满洲电信电话株式会社) used an olive coloured seal on telegrams, an example is shown above with an inset of a reconstructed label. | ||||||
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