50th Auction Anniversary Auction - Day 8

China - Ganzsachen: 1912, the unique early express system usage of stationery card: square dragon 1
1912, the unique early express system usage of stationery card: square dragon 1 C light green. overprinted "China Republic" (issued March, 1912) postmarked boxed bilingual dater "NANKING CITY 1.9.12" (Sept. 12, 1912) to Shanghai with same day arrival and red octogonal messenger mark on reverse, then fwd. "SHANGHAI 1.9.13" to Hankow. Boxed bilingual "EXPRESS No." of Nanking.
This appears to be the first recorded express usage of a China stationery card from the 1906/16 early period, when the express postage was covered by the green express stamps kept extra and not pasted to the mails, and no postage stamps used.
Senders dateline on reverse is "Nanking, 12/9 1912, the private message in german language requests addressee to get price quotes for medical pills and certain goods like coffee at the "Schroeder & Voelkel" shop. Card shows gum and paper traces of removed postal forwarding resp. paper slips to be signed, which were integral part of the commercial usage.
- A new find, top grade exhibition item.