1897 France to French Legation, Peking, f.w. French 25c, tied by Fourmies cds. Transit Shanghai French PO (16 Jan), In combination with
1897 France to French Legation, Peking, f.w. French 25c, tied by Fourmies cds. Transit Shanghai French PO (16 Jan), In combination with Empress Dowager surch small figure 4c/4ca for domestic rate, tied by Customs Shanghai (18 Jan) cds. Arrived I.G. Customs of Peking (7 Feb). Incoming usage prior to the 2 February 1897 inauguration of the Imperial Post Office. The surcharged stamps were not officially on sale to the public until 2 February 1897. There are, however, a few instances when these stamps were used in January 1897, on either domestic or incoming foreign mail, all from the Customs Post Office in Shanghai. There are less than fifteen such covers known in total, most of which are from the Berteaux correspondence. All of these covers originating from overseas to the northern Chinese ports were subject to domestic rate when utilizing the winter route. This charge was not abolished until 17 February 1897.An exceptionally rare and alluring pre-issue usage of the New Currency surcharged stamps.Provenance:Sir Percival David, Robson Lowe.(London), (Oct) 1974, lot 1312. “Ming”, Corinphila (Zurich), (Mar) 1987, lot 4862. Jane and Dan Sten Olsson, Interasia (Hong Kong), (Jan) 2010, lot 219. References: Major Richard Pratt, Imperial China. History of the Post 1897.(London, 1998), pp. 64-65. Tony.To-Wah.Kwan,.ed., Covers and Cards of Empress Dowager Jubilee and its Surcharged Issues. Volume Two: Surcharged Issues Covers and Cards - 1897.(Hong Kong, 2011),.p. 506. Jeffrey S Schneider,.“Census of New.Currency Surcharges on Covers and Fronts Used Between 7 January and 1 February 1897”, The Asian Philatelist,.Vol..13.(2022). 1897年法國寄法國駐北京公使館，貼法國票生丁，銷Fourmies日戳。1.16上海法局落地。加貼慈壽加蓋小字4分蓋4分銀付國內郵資，銷上海海關日戳。2.7抵北京海關。為1897年2月2日大清郵政開幕前之進口例子。以洋銀為面值的慈壽改值票要到2月2日才發售，但發現有數件超前使用例子，均出自上海海關以付國內郵資，存世不足十五件，大多為Berteaux書信。出色之超前貼用例子。源流﹕大維德爵士舊藏（1974年10月倫敦Robson Lowe，拍品號1312）。“Ming”集藏（1987年3月蘇黎世Corinphila，拍品號4862）。Jan and Dan Sten Olsson舊藏（2010年1月Interasia，拍品號219）。參考﹕Major Richard Pratt《Imperial China. History of the Post 1897》第64-65頁。關道華《慈禧壽辰票暨其加蓋票信封圖鑑》中冊第506頁原件。Jeffrey SChneider《Census of New.Currency Surcharges on Covers and Fronts Used Between 7 January and 1 February 1897》《亞洲郵學家2022》第85至88頁。
