World: British Commonwealth: Hong Kong Treaty Ports Cancellations
Scott numbers have been used unless otherwise mentioned. All items are guaranteed to be as described and may be viewed on approval. Payment plans are available.
Hong Kong Stamps Used at Chinese Treaty Ports: Starting in 1842, by treaty between the British and Chinese governments, the British postal system was allowed to operate postal services in certain Chinese cities. Initially letters were simply bagged in these cities and carried to Hong Kong for onward transmission. From 1862 onward, the postage stamps of Hong Kong were used at the treaty port cities, but canceled with British-system postmarks of each respective Chinese city -- these postmarks are listed in the Scott Classic Catalogue immediately following the listings of Hong Kong stamps. The Scott cancellation numbering uses a distinct three-letter prefix for each city, plus a number (the number is NOT always the same as the plain Hong Kong Scott Catalogue number). In my listings, to help with identification, I also refer to the plain Hong Kong Scott number of the underlying stamp. This system continued through 1916, after which Hong Kong stamps were overprinted "CHINA" -- the overprinted stamps are listed in the Scott Catalogues after Great Britain, under British Offices in China.
To be considered a collectible treaty port cancellation, the specific city of the cancellation must be identifiable by some means (some of the cancels use letter/number codes and some are simply the city name). Hong Kong stamps with treaty port cancellations are valued by Scott as having city-identifiable cancellations; examples that also show at least a year date command some premium; examples of complete and/or well-centered cancellations often command a significant premium, especially from the scarcer cities. The Scott numbering or pricing does not take into account the different types and styles of postmarks that could potentially be found on each specific underlying stamp -- some types and styles of postmarks can have significant value premiums; specialists also seek the different postmark types and styles.