Hong Kong Study Circle Wilde Cup for new discoveries.

Last Updated: 1 Sept. 2007

Wilde Cup Entries 2007

Five members have submitted their best new finds for the year 2006-7, to be voted on at the AGM in Repton in September. For those who do not expect to attend, you are encouraged to vote by mail or electronically; address votes to the Journal Editor. Electronic ballots will be taken into account. To vote, send an email, by 29 August 2007, to John Wilson and mention your name, the number and title of the item of your choice. John's email address is:

The identities of those submitting are no longer kept secret prior to the meeting. This year, the submissions, in order, are from Malcolm Hammersley, John Wilson, Dr. Andrew Cheung, Harmon Fine, and Peter Richardson.

No. 1: French Accountancy Marking

By Malcolm Hammersley FRPSL (Hong Kong)
Entry 1

1F26c rate effective from 1 January 1866. This type with 'F' and 2 dots under is not previously known on HK mail. Salles records markings on mail from Japan.Scarce, only a few known covers with 1F26c. This would be on the first ship carrying mail at the new rate. From Japan, carried privately on the Child of the Ocean, which arrived Hong Kong 22 December. The first available ship would be the French MS Tigre but HK Post Office Notice had stipulated that for Post to go via French Mail the item should be marked accordingly. The next available ship was the P & O MS Ottawa departing 1 January 1866, which is consistent with the Suez arrival.

No. 2: Early date for Kowloon Triangular Taxe MarkBy John Wilson (Canada)

Entry 2

This postcard to Germany was mailed by a steward aboard the H.A.L. Saxonia while berthed at Kowloon Dock on July 29, 1906. Incorrectly franked with a two-cent stamp, it should properly have borne four cents in postage and the clerk alertly spotted this. This cancel much pre-dates the previous early known usage of 28.3.11 as reported in Proud. It also disproves the theory advanced in Jn. 333/8 that the temporary office at the Star Ferry Pier had no stamps available and used its K.B. chop only to indicate prepayment of postage.

No. 3 Earliest recorded Shanghae type Bi on postal stationery card
By Dr. Andrew Cheung FRPSL (Hong Kong)

This 1c/4c postcard was (partly) written on 26 December 1881 from Peking and carried privately to Shanghai and re-mailed back to the Netherland Legation, Peking. Peking was not a port and mail had to be carried to the nearest seaport for onward transmission and Shanghai was the port of choice at this time. The sender could have been a member of the Legation or a forwarding agent employed by the Legation since the message on the card concerned mailing of letters from Shanghai to Holland and Batavia. Following completion of shipping details, the postcard was sent back to Peking via the Shanghai Customs Post on 12 January 1882; the sender must be a subscriber/registered postal account holder, and thus pre-franking with Chinese stamp was unnecessary. The 'A55' written at top left corner could be the account number. 1c was the local postcard rate at the time and was accepted by the British Shanghai Post Office. The Shanghae cancel on the imprinted stamp also dated 'JA 12 82' is Webb type Bi, it is believed to be the earliest recorded usage of this datestamp as a cancel on a postcard.

No. 4: BRANCH POST OFFICE - PING SHAN
By Harmon Fine (U.S.A.)

The first type of Ping Shan branch Post Office cancel catalogued by Wellsted is of an intaglio seal recorded as Type Ai, and was used in 1934 (Proud type D5). Type A, but dated earlier (7 August 1925), is the type with HONG KONG around the top and PING SHAN around the bottom of a double line circular date stamp (Proud type D3: stated to be back-dated philatelic strikes). There are examples of double line circular date stamps that have the name at the top, thin killer bars on the side and 'X' in the bottom center of the cancel between the double circular lines (Cheung Chau type B, Sha Tin type A, and Sheung Shui type B). Although Ping Shan with these thin killer bars and an 'X' in the bottom appears as Webb/Wellsted type B only in 1934, Proud records this in use from 1913 (type D2).

Earlier or the first occurrence of examples of the cancels with the thicker side bar include Aberdeen (25 January 1924), Au Tau (17 January 1920), Cheung Chau (25 August 1918), and Tai O (10 January 1914). The difference is a narrower killer bar in the 1930's markings versus the thicker killer bar in the earlier or first occurence of the markings. In other words, when an 'X' type cancel is the first for a branch office, the killer bars appear to be thick (Sha Tin type A, Aberdeen type A). The Ping Shan type B having the thin killer bars would leave the opening for an earlier type with the thick killer bars such as the new discovery described below. Finally the Ping Shan cancel below is in the same time frame as the earlier set of cancels with thick bars. This then is the only recorded example of a previously unrecorded marking, and the earliest known cancel from Ping Shan (however, Proud's type D2 ERD of 28.12.13 may actually be an example of the thicker side bar type).

Type Aii ' 26 ½ / 17 ½ mm dimensions, no index letters or time slug

Click the image to see it much larger.

Only recorded date: November 24, 1912Reproduced at 200 %

This Ping Shan cancel is the only recorded example of a previously unrecorded marking and the earliest known cancel from Ping Shan.

No. 5: 1941 30-Cent Foreign Rate By Peter Richardson (U.K.)

To vote, send an email, by 29 August 2007, to John Wilson and mention your name, the number and title of the item of your choice. John's email address is: