help with China

[JanetC]

These were the only 2 out of all of China that I had a problem trying to locate in Scotts.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[rayb]

The overprint on the 1942 5th issue Sun Yat Sen is to convert it to a Savings Stamp. They were originally voluntary; you bought them in POs and stuck them on a card or somesuch; when it was full you could get your money back. Unfortunately by the end of the war inflation was so bad that a cardfull would now only buy you a single fortune cookie. So instead they made it, in effect, a kind of tax: when you bought certain luxury items the shopkeeper had to sell you one of the stamps. You could still claim the money back for a full card if you thought it was worth it; but unless you were rich enough to buy a lot of luxury goods in a very short time, there was little point. And if you were rich enough to do that, you wouldn't be bothered about getting a few dollars back anyway. Aren't governments clever?

I should perhaps say that the overprints were put on locally in a number of places across China. A real China nerd will be able to tell you precisely where yours were issued by measuring exactly how many millimeters apart they are.

I think the other one is a revenue issued by the Japanese during the WW2 occupation of China.

[khj]

Left stamp is postage stamp converted to postal savings stamp by the overprint.

Right stamp is revenue stamp.

Neither will be listed in Scott.

[JanetC]

Thank you both very much. I'll just slip them into the back of the China pages.

[khj]

Different provinces had different overprint fonts. Don't hold me to it, but the postal savings stamp looks like Chekiang (modern ==> Zhejiang) overprint.