Hong Kong: Revenues

For many many years, Hong Kong revenue (fiscal) stamps were very much 'back of the book' curiosities for most collectors. Over more recent times, as with other countries, these have become ever more sought after.

One influencing factor in the rise in popularity, has been the publication of the British Commonwealth Revenues catalogue by John Barefoot Ltd.

Another factor, in my opinion, is the high quality printing and design of these issues.

The scarcity factor is also a key to their popularity; some issue's denominations are as rare, if not more so, than many high valued regular postage definitives of the colony.

There are numerous types of Hong Kong revenues: Stamp Duty, Bill of Exchange, Contract Note and Receipt etc.

Many of the earlier Stamp Duty types from the reigns of Queen Victoria, Edward VII and George V, are quite stunning; and like collecting regular postal history, finding these on piece or on a complete document, is the ultimate aim for many.

Generally, revenue stamps have survived far better condition wise, than regular postal definitives. This is undoubtedly due to the function they performed.They didn't undergo the rigours of the postal system but were generally attached to legal documents. These of course were filed away in cabinets for very long periods, rarely seeing the light of day. Consequently they weren't fiddled with by collectors. When eventually they appeared on the market, most ended up at the back of the album because they were not 'de rigueur'.

The following gives an indication of the merits of such revenues:


In October 2013, a very rare Hong Kong Revenue stamp sold for £4,901 (US$7,887) on eBay ($6,148 at today's exchange rate).

The stamp is a KEVII 1903 wmk. Crown CC, P14. 1 cent 'Stamp Duty' revenue.



It has no catalogue entry, as Barefoot records this as Proof status; with no used copies having been reported. If it were to be listed in the next edition, it would probably be assigned number 50.

It was claimed by the eBay seller that this was actually the second one sold; the first being in 2002. This however must have slipped under the radar. Although it would be difficult to place this in a Commonwealth revenue league of 'highest price paid', this will be close to the top. A South Australian 1 penny revenue holds the all time sale record at $11,650 but this was for an 'inverted centre' variety and not a regular issue.

At the very top of the stamp shown, is the distinctive bottom edge of the 'orange lozenge' 'embossed style' cancellation, in thick almost wax-like ink. Normally, a larger proportion of the lozenge is visible which gives the date the transaction was executed; the day, month, year each in a roundel shown in relief. For example: 15th January 1906:

Anping , thank you very much for the note about fugitive purple ink on this issue (Hong Kong, Scott #56, I think). Scott makes no note about fugitive ink for this issue.

The only note I could find in Scott referring to fugitive ink on HK Victorian issues is for Scott #47 and 47a, which are 30-cent gray green (1891) and yellow green (1882), respectively. The note states "No. 47 has fugitive ink. Both colours will turn dull green upon soaking."

Sad to say, I don't have any Hong Kong revenues in my collection, so the best I can do is to post a photo from a recent issue of Linn's Stamp News (27-Mar-2017) which describes a major rarity, which has now presumably been sold at auction earlier this month.  I see that it is originally a revenue stamp which was also used postally (HK, Scott #26, 1874), and then was overprinted and surcharged (HK, Scott #67, 1897).  The rarity shown in the photo is HK, Scott #67b with Diagonal Chinese surcharge omitted, and it is valued at US $29,500 (!) in the Scott 2017 Classic Specialized Catalogue.

It is undoubtedly a beautiful stamp, but one which I could never afford.  This is as close as I will get!

I actually found an image of a mis-perfed $1 on $2 copy in my very bloated reference folder:

I know nothing about this, as I have never seen one before. I spotted this on eBay about a month ago. It is an embossed 10 cent indicia, applied by the Stamp Office. Dated 17th December 1890, it has been prepared for use as a parcel ticket. What that is I don't rightly know. Looking at the partial name on the 'ticket', this may be Norddeutscher Lloyd; a cruise liner company.

This may be one to refer to the Hong Kong Study Circle.

 

Thank you for reminding me about this 'monograph'. I had seen it before when looking at the revenue adhesives but had totally ignored the embossed types (I didn't own one then).

So, my copy is a 27mm Format 'A' type (the words STAMP OFFICE in the upper segment). But, the outer circle decor, although resembling type 'a', appears different on mine. This however might be deceiving as the illustrating image is very small.

Regrettably, there is no explanation about the usage of these, particularly with reference to a 'parcel ticket'.


tomiseksj, I'm curious as to how you knew about the article.

Thanks for finding that and for your interpretation of the decor type. I'll accept this as a type 'a'.

What I can't get my head around is the mechanism of a Stamp Office charge for booking carriage for parcels. Who did it, why was it necessary, why was there a charge etc. etc?  

I can certainly understand land registration charges etc., but parcel tickets? There must be a more convoluted reason, oh fount of all knowledge. 

This probably sounds a bit unusual, but I don't recall ever having soaked anything off piece that was worth more than a penny or two. Many HK collectors seem to avoid soaking anything that has a remnant of paper, as sometimes there is a part cancel or other marking which adds 'value' to it.

If I was to give any advice, I would certainly try a sweat box. It is not something I have had cause to try so far, even though I have one of these - A very kind, fellow member of another forum sent me a brand new one from the States last year (we can't get them in the UK), at horrendous postal costs. So I'm rather looking forward to giving it a spin.

One way to test it at little risk to your pocket, is to get hold of a decent QV 4 cent purple on red [remember it's doubly fugitive too] - (even if it hasn't got any backing paper; a hinge might be a bonus though) and just leave it in the sweat box and monitor it. If it emerges unscathed, you have your answer.

Does anyone know the size of the revenue Hong Kong stamps (in mm)



I'm making album pages and need to know the size

Not a revenue, but I need to know the size here to

Thanks a lot. This is very helpful. Now i I can finish those pages.