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PROVISIONAL NEUTRALITY OVERPRINTS
The Republic of China was founded after the Wuchang Revolution of October 1911. As the postal authorities did not
have time to prepare new regular stamps, they ordered the Statistical Department of Customs at Shanghai to overprint
horizontally four Chinese characters meaning "Provisional Neutrality" on the existing Imperial China coiling dragon
issue. However the Republican government later criticized this wording and ordered that all stamps with such overprint
be suspended from sale and returned to the Shanghai general post office. Official records state that some stamps of 3
cents (6000), $1 (96), $2 (96) and $5 (280) denominations had already been sold at Foochow post offices for a few
days in early February 1912.
It was then ordered that the "Provisional Neutrality" overprints be deleted and replaced by another four characters
meaning "Republic of China". The Statistical Department did not respect this order and just overprinted the stamps
with an additional vertical overprint. Again an order to withhold the stamps from sale was given but according to
official records some 1 cent, (2339), 3 cents (2818), 7 cents (492), 16 cents (200), 50 cents (87), $1(156), $2 (93) and
$5 (52) denominations had already been sold at the Nanking, Hankow and Changsha post offices in March 1912.
Additionally some Imperial China postage due stamps were also overprinted "Provisional Neutrality" and withdrawn
from sale.
In light of their limited availability, these stamps are therefore very rare. The following section comes mostly from a
single collector who has diligently collected these stamps over the past 20 years and represents the largest ever offering
and probably an important proportion of all surviving stamps of this issue. It is a rare opportunity for collectors of this
period to acquire and study this issue further.
595
1912 Opt. 'Provisional Neutrality' on Coiling Dragon 3c to $5 complete set of 4, no gum and each with pencil signature on back,
fresh surface colour, with Alexandre Roumet cert. 2007. Chan 140-3.
Provenance: Cherrystone Sept 2007
. Photo
HK$ 90,000 - 100,000
596
1912 "Provisional Neutrality" overprint in red on CIP Coiling Dragon, unwatermarked, 3c blue green interpanneau block of 21
(3 x 3 + 4 x 3) with vertical gutter margin between and bottom margin, mint, full original gum. With Experts & Consultants cert.
2012. Chan 140. Photo
HK$ 50,000 - 60,000
595
596