Security Markings

The members of the Hong Kong Study Circle have built and expanded upon the previous research of Col. Webb and the monographs of Harvey Tilles.

An extraordinary website with a wealth of information exists at http://rodsell.com/hksmsic/hksmsic for security markings and http://rodsell.com/hkperfins/hkperfin.html for perfins. This data has all been gathered by Mr. Rod Sell and members of the Hong Kong Study Circle.

The information below refers solely to those security markings and perfins associated with the China overprints. No markings have been reported from Chefoo.

Perfins

Pefins on the CHINA overprints are rare and, like many of the cancellations used at the time, have not been extensively studied with respect to the overprints (although there has been much study of security markings used on the unoverprinted Hong Kong stamps.) Consequently it is difficult to know if recorded perfin varieties have actually been seen on the overprinted stamps. For instance, H&S/BC perfin is noted as being used in Shanghai, Amoy, Canton, Foochow and Swatow but I believe that this perfin was not used on China overprints as the only recorderd dates appear to be prior to the introduction of the overprinted stamps.

Interestingly, the use of perfins in other places was primarily to prevent employee theft of postage. In China, the use of security chops, markings and perfins was also due to the lack of security of the mailboxes themselves. In fact, the Hong Kong Post Office stated “Boxholders are at liberty to mark their postage stamps on the back or face or by perforation so as to prevent them from being stolen”. The use of perfins on the CHINA overprints has been recorded from the following locations and with the following markings (Harvey Tilles numbering used for convenience)

Number	Port	Marking	Company	Note
B-2		B.A.T./CoLd	British American Tobacco	Only one reported
B-2a	Shanghai	D.A.T.	British American Tobacco	Speculation by Sell that this is damaged B.A.T. /CoLtd
B-8		BM/&Co	Behn Meyer & Co
B-13	Shanghai	BW/&CO	Burroughs Welcome & Co	LKU 1918
D-2	Foochow	D.O.C.	Det Oversishe Compagnes
H-5	Amoy	HS/BC	Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank	Crossbar of “B” slopes downward 1917-1920
H-6	Shanghai	H S/B C	Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank
H-9	Canton	H.S/B.C	Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank	Reported on Eii Index B
H-9	Shanghai	H.S/B.C	Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank	Unlisted from Shanghai
H-9	Swatow	H.S/B.C	Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank
R-2	Shanghai	R & C (o)	Russell & Co	Previously Unlisted on ‘China’ overprint
T-3		TC/&S.	Thomas Cook & Sons

H-9 6mm high, Pins 11+1+11/13+1+8 = 45
H-6 11mm wide, 6mm high, Pins 43

As the stamps were perforated privately, in many cases the quality control was not a rigorous as that of the governmental printing agencies. Consequently, many perforating pins would be bent or missing and this makes accurate identification difficult in some cases.

Number	Port	Denomination	Image
B2	Shanghai	Cover 23 Jun 1919 2c, 4 x 6c
B2a	Shanghai	Cover 23 Oct 1918 2c, 10c and 50c
B2a	Shanghai	Cover 11 May 1918 10c
B2a	Shanghai	Cover 7 Oct 1918 6c and 10c
B2a	Shanghai	Cover 14 Sep 1918 10c
B2a	Shanghai	Cover 26 May 1919 2c, 4 x 6c
B2a	Shanghai	Cover Apr 11 1921 4c, 6c	Apr 11 1921
B2a	Unknown	1c Sideways
B2a	Shanghai	6c Sideways
B2a	Shanghai	10c Sideways
B2a	Shanghai	30c Sideways
B2a	Shanghai	$1 Sideways
B13	Shanghai	10c Ultra Inverted and Normal
H5	Amoy	Cover 25 Sep 1920 4c Inverse
H-9	Canton	Cover 28 May 1919 4c Sideways 6c Sideways 10c Sideways
R-2	Shanghai	10c

Even more rare than the perfins is the use of handstamps.

Handstamps and Company Markings

Number	Port	Company	Denomination	Notes	Image
6m	Swatow	Bradley & Co.	1st issue 4c	Not previously reported on 4c

An apprently unlisted marking "P. Heath & Co/Shanghai" has just been reported stamped on the backflap of a cover from Shanghai to Canada dated Aug 7, 1919. Not much is known at present about this handstamp.

Finally there is an overprint on another 4c red containing a part stamping “…signees”, possibly the word “Consignees” but unknown as to use or meaning at this time. Update Sep 18, 2017 - solved - A consignee letter was simply a letter containing shipping documents. It was sent with the cargo on the ship on which it travelled, and the recipient of the cargo also was the recipient of the letter. Consignee letters normally were given to the ship’s master immediately before departure. To show to the postal authorities that such mail, being delivered without going through the postal system, was not to deceive or avoid payment of stamp postage fees, some of these consignee letters would have the correct postage stamp amount be adhered to the cover and for such stamps to be then franked by the sender with the firm’s security marking as an indication that the postal requirements were being complied with.