Postage stamps and postal history of Hong Kong, Part Two
HF: Stamps were not popularly used even after the appearance of the first stamps. At the time, customarily, the receiver rather the sender was responsible for the postage fee. Therefore, senders were apprehensive of paying the postage before mailing. Nonetheless, the use of local stamps became compulsory by law in 1864. Following the release of the first stamps, a large variety of values and surcharges were introduced in the colony, mostly due to the difficulty and time of communication between the colony and UK.
Post Office building Hong Kong 1890-1925 Location not known Source: Alamy
In 1877, Hong Kong joined the Universal Postal Union.
In 1891, the first commemorative stamp was issued to celebrate Hong Kong’s 50th anniversary as a British colony. It was a limited edition of the 1883 two-cent carmine Queen’s head, overprinted with ”1841 HONG KONG JUBILEE 1891”. Only 50,000 of the stamp were printed, with a stated on-sale period of only three days. The stamp was the world’s first overprinted commemorative stamp. It was also Hong Kong’s first first day cover, postmarked with the issuing date but with no specific designs on the cover.
Hong Kong’s first first day cover 1891, Source: Spink & Son
The first day of sale, 22 January 1891, saw a large crowd of stamp collectors attracted by the stamp’s rarity. At 7a.m., on the opening of the sales, each person was only allowed to purchase 25 of the commemorative stamp. By 8a.m. each was only allowed 20. Chaos during the sales saw the death of two Portuguese, crushed by the mob. and one Dutch sailor who was stabbed to death.
Between 1891 and 1941, only three other sets of commemorative stamps were issued, perhaps because of the bloodshed from the sale of the Jubilee stamp. These included the Silver Jubilee of King George V (1935), Coronation of King George V1 (1937) and the centenary of British rule (1941). The 1941 centenary stamps, featuring local sights and scenes, marked the first time local features were incorporated into the stamp designs.
Source: Wikipedia
This article was first posted on 9th December 2024.
Related Industrial articles:
We have almost no articles about the history of stamps and post offices and the history of the first mail deliveries by aircraft in Hong Kong and would be grateful to be sent information regarding them.