We are introducing a spot for articles written by our customers which might be of interest and entertainment to others. For starters here is an article written by one of our regulars and we welcome contributions from all which should be of similar length, hopefully entertaining and perhaps informative. We reserve the right to edit/amend articles, and the initials of each contributor will appear at the end.
THE HUNT GOES ON
I had accumulated enough revenue stamps to make an investment in a Barefoot catalogue worthwhile and when it arrived I was sorting through my Hong Kong collection to move it to a larger stockbook. The perfect place to start!
Oldest first, so there was that 3cent Queen Victoria Stamp Duty which SG seemed to have overlooked, and then a couple of $2 examples of the 1867 series. Then something which was much more interesting – a $1 surcharge on a $2 (in both English and Chinese). This was where the Barefoot catalogue came into its own, with a lovely illustration of the stamp in question, and a detailed listing of the possible variants. But wait a minute! Was that an illustration of the basic stamp, or of the variant listed as no. 31a ‘diagonal overprint inverted’?! Only a small difference in the listed prices: £75 or £10,000!!!!!
I checked everything I could, using the two 1867 stamps for comparison of colour and perforations but it all depended on the diagonal Chinese overprint. Was it inverted or not? I had exhausted my resources but Tony has a book for every occasion and produced another illustration of the same surcharge straight away the right way up which was just like mine.
All was not lost. Those two 1867 series had good Treaty Port cancels from Amoy and Hoihow which SG listed separately so they are well worth their place in the album!
W.H. R.