The First Issue - Watermarked Multiple CA Varieties

I strongly recommend that, if you wish to learn more about the varieties of both the 'China' overprints and the regular Hong Kong issues, that you buy a copy of Mr. Halewood and Mr. Antscherl's book 'A Study Of Hong Kong Definitives: King Edward VII and King George V'

A total of 6 shipments of the first issue on watermarked multiple CA paper were sent to the agencies. From examination of the different requisition numbers, individual stamps can be identified by the shades of ink used as it appears that the initial requisition was printed in bright colors and succeeding issues became more muted and dull. The first shipment of stamps to the Agencies did not have a requisition letter printed upon them by Somerset House and are referred to as the Nil Requisition. The five succeeding requisitions were numbered A through E respectively but, what is interesting is that for some reason some denominations of some issues were not printed with Requisition numbers or Sheet Numbers. The 1c to 10c denominations were printed on ordinary paper, whereas the 12c to $10 denominations were printed on chalky paper. In addition, the 50c denomination of the F Requisition, which was the first of the issues printed on Watermarked Multiple Script CA paper, was still printed on the regular Multiple CA paper even though it was printed and shipped at the time of the first requisition on the second issue.

First Issue Paper Varieties

A number of watermark varieties have been reported over the years. The 1 cent has been reported with a watermark appearing sideways and another has been reported with the watermark inverted.

The pair of the sideways watermark shown below are dated May 21, 1919 from Tientsin. I believe that only one sheet of this exists as, so far, all examples have been reported as used with Tientsin cancels and, indeed, I believe that this pair was originally from a block of at least 4 (probably 6) as a second block of two with what appears to be the lower part of the Tientsin cancel was offered for sale by Stanley Gibbons in 2010.

In addition, the 10c value has been reported with the watermark inverted and reversed (but only one used example is known to exist).

An unreported variety of the 2 cent green with an inverted watermark has also just been discovered. A couple of examples exist, both of which appear to have been cancelled in Shanghai

First Issue Printing Varieties

Although some printing varieties appear on both the regular and Hong Kong overprinted issues, due to their being some Requisitions where only stamps to be overprinted were printed, most varieties are unique to the CHINA overprinted issues. The most complete study of varieties of the Hong Kong issues was conducted by Halewood and Antscherl in their book and the listings below combine their classifications along with those varieties listed by Webb and others. It is unknown at this time if these varieties even appear on the 'China' overprints but it is possible that they do and so are listed for research purposes. Varieties of the stamps can be categorized by the following tables:

Large Multiples of the Stamps

The following links will show you large multiples of the stamps. These images are huge and take a long time to load but, if saved and opened in a program such as Photoshop, the close ups will clearly show varieties.
Block of 56 of the 1c (MCCA)
Requisition A 25c SW Section Full
Nearly full sheet of the 25c (Huge file size)
Another nearly full sheet of the 25c (unknown watermark)

Defects of the Crown

The Broken Crown

The most well known error of printing on the first issues is known as the 'Broken Crown' which occurs at position SE 9-2. Previously this error was thought to only appear on the Nil requisition and had been repaired by the time of the D requisition. The two examples below not only prove the position but also show that the error still appeared at the time of Requisition A in November 1917, which was previously unknown. The error had been retouched by the time of Requisition D and was later repaired. This variety, which appeared on both Hong Kong and China Overprinted stamps, makes a fascinating tale. Although the stamps had been printed for some time, and indeed there had been two requisitions of these stamps sent to the Agencies (the Nil and the 'A' requisition), it was not until the 2nd February 1920 that Postmaster of the British Post Office at Shanghai brought the matter to the attention of the authorities. He pointed out that errors were being bought locally as 'philatelic curiousities' and asked whether the Hong Kong PMG had been made aware of the error as he assumed that this was appearing on the Hong Kong issues as well and asked whether the unissued sheets would be withdrawn or if the defective plates would be discarded or corrected for future issues. The Crown Agents forwarded this complaint on February 3rd 1920 to De La Rue.

On the 10th February, 1920, De La Rue responded that the plate in question was satisfactory and that in printing 'a sheet of paper may have sustained a particle of hard substance which damaged the overlay'

H&A #	Webb #	Position	Image		Notes
	6	NW 2-3			HK M Printing Left side of orb defective. Bar below orb shortened on left. Dot on right eighth scallop usually also present
HAG8	14	SW 5-1			HK M to E* Printing Second right pearl defective or absent. Also left extremity of diadem often thinned or showing break Found on: Req. A 25c
HAG14	20	SE 6-2			HK M Printing Gap in center of right arch
HAG11	25	SW 6-6			HK ? to E* Printing Diagonal cut on second right pearl sometimes involving adjacent diadem (a small defect with a long life) Not found on: Req. A 25c
HAG12	26	SW 7-1			Entire First Issue Fourth pearl right side damaged Found on: Req. A 25c
HAG12a	26	SW 7-1			Entire First Issue Fourth pearl right side missing
HAG15	31	SE 9-2			Nil and A Requisitions - 1 cent only The Broken Crown
HAG15a	32	SE 9-2			D Requisition - 1 cent only Broken Crown Repaired
	37	SW 10-4			HK M to E* Printing White horizontal scratch on flower above right side of circlet. Usually also a white fleck to left of forehead Not found on: Req. A 25c
HAG17					Broken circlet right base
HAG19					Defective right arch
HAG20					2 states - damaged crown top

Defects of the Portrait

H&A #	Webb #	Position	Image		Notes
HAG54	40	SW 5-3			HK M Printing Defect on tip of nose. Varies a great deal
	41	SW 6-4			HK M Printing Small white patch above center of hair parting Not found on: Req. A 25c
HAG104	42	SW 6-6			Previously only reported around 1923-24 The Cigarette Flaw
		SW 6-6			Cigarette Flaw precursor 50c $1
HAG53	43	NW 8-6			All printings 2 mm cut on scalp from above head downwards towards left
HAG55	44	SW 8-6			All printings The White Dot Flaw. Blank area at root of nose which on well marked specimens encroaches on eyebrow and gives a plain background to left. Retouched, possibly in two states, for a smaller flaw appeared for a time.
		SW 8-6			White dot inside medallion level with eyebrow Interestingly found on the following without the White Dot Flaw (above) being noted: Req. A 25c
HAG50	45	SW 7-3			All printings? 6c and 25c sheets badly printed Wooly mark about the tip of the nose Found on: Req. A 25c
HAG51		NW 5-1			Broken shading on face
HAG56					White eyelid
HAG57					White cheekbone
HAG58					White temple
HAG59					White forehead
HAG60					White cheek and dot on eye
HAG61					White mustache
HAG63					Eyebrow nicked
HAG64					White spot on neck
					Circle between eye and ear 1st issue 4c
		N? 10-?			Missing nose

Defects of the Medallion

H&A #	Webb #	Position	Image		Notes
	49	SE 4-6			All printings? Thickened marginal line in NE section. Constant for many years and never corrected. Varies in degree.
HAG105	53	SE 7-3			Unknown A small cut or fleck on medallion at center foot. An early defect later corrected. Seen on 1c, 25c
	55	NW 8-3			All printings? Cut from inside medallion through scallop 17L.
HAG175	69	SW 1-1			L21 Scallop.
HAG156	71	SE 1-3			R6 Scallop. (Not previously reported on the China overprints)
HAG177	88	NE 6-1			L20 and L21 Scallop.
HAG186	90	NW 7-1			L17 Scallop.
HAG186a	90	NW 7-1			L17 Scallop State 2
HAG189	94	SW 10-6			L16 Scallop Proved position on full sheet of 25c Requisition A
HAG100		NW 5-2			Dot level with mouth.
HAG101		NW 1-1			Dot above head.
HAG102		SW 2-6			Dot on coupe line.
HAG107					Two white dots at 9 o'clock (also found with HAG61.
HAG108					Crack in plate at 9 o'clock.
HAG109					Dot on medallion line at 3 o'clock.
HAG111					Defect on medallion line at 5:30 (HAG64 on same).
HAG155		SE 1-1			R5-R6 damaged.
HAG162					Break between R11-R12.
HAG163					R14 damaged.
		SW 5-6			R15 damaged Found on: Req. A 25c
HAG164		NW 9-2			Break between R15-R16.
HAG166					R17 damaged.
HAG172		NW 6-1			R19 damaged.
HAG173					R19 damaged.
HAG174					R20 damaged
HAG176					L21 damaged.
HAG178					Break between L20 - L21. Found on 4c Nil Requisition
					L20 damaged
HAG179		SW 2-5			L19 - L21 damaged.
HAG180					L19 damaged.
HAG181		NW 8-3			L18 L21 damaged.
HAG182					L18 L21 damaged.
HAG183		NE 1-6			L18 damaged.
					Break between L117 and L18
HAG187					L16-L20 damaged.
HAG188					L16-L17, L19 damaged.
HAG193					L6 damaged.
HAG194					L3-L4 damaged.
HAG195		?E ?-1			L3 - L4 damaged.
HAG196		SW 6-4			R6 - R13 damaged.
HAG197		NW 5-2			R11, R15-R22, L15-L21 damaged
HAG199		NW 7-5			R17-R22, L19-L21 damaged.
HAG201		NW 6-2			R18-R22, L17-L21 damaged.
HAG202					R19-R20, L18-L19 damaged.
HAG203		NW 8-1			R19-R21, K17-L19 damaged.
HAG206		NW 6-5			R13-R22, L18-L21 damaged.
HAG208		NW 5-3			R16-R19, R21-R22, L14-L21 damaged.
HAG209		NW 6-3			R16-R22, L15-L21 damaged.
HAG210		NW 6-4			R16-R22, L15-L21 damaged.
					L20 damaged

Defects of the Duty Plate

H&A #	Webb #	Position	Image		Notes
		NW 2-1			DISCOVERY COPY - only 1 reported so far. 1 cent Joined sin (lower left) only seen on Requisition Nil so far
	60	NE 3-6			20 cents NE floral ornament, circle at base broken
	64	All			25 cents Left upper chinese character, short stroke across foot of diagonal.
HAG251					1 cent Blob below Character 'cent'
HAG264					2 cents Nick on outside of inner left frame line just belo character 'Two' and break in top of character 'Cents'
		NE 2-6			Outer Frame Line Repaired Shown A damaged frameline has previously been reported on the 5c regular Hong Kong issues in three states ranging on Hong Kong requisitions G, P and Q. This 2c overprint appears to have had the frameline thickened and repaired at some point.
					4 cents Broken swastika
HAG310					6 cents Two blobs below character 'Cents'
HAG310a					6 cents Two spots below character 'Cents'
HAG310b					6 cents Two small spots below character 'Cents'
HAG311					6 cents One small spot above character 'Cents'
HAG312					6 cents One blob below character 'Cents'
					Broken Ornament
HAG350					12 cents State 1 - damage to top inner frame line above left flower
HAG350a					12 cents State 2 - damage to top inner frame line and left flower
HAG350b					12 cents State 3 - damage to top inner frame line above left flower
HAG362					20 cents Damage to bottom inner frame line above 'cents'
HAG400					$1 Break in vertical ornament at bottom right
					Badly printed left ornament and flower HKSC Jn 358/27 Ms. Susan Crewe