German post offices in China

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The German Post Offices Abroad were a network of post offices in foreign countries established by Germany to provide mail service where the local services were deemed unsafe or unreliable. They were generally set up in cities with some sort of German commercial interest. In the earliest period when such offices were open, stamps used there can only be identified by their cancellations. Such stamps are known as "Vorläufer" (forerunner) stamps.[1] Later stamps issued for use at a post office abroad can generally be identified by overprints even when not postally used. Germany began issuing distinctive stamps for use overseas beginning in the late 19th century, and the number and variety of issues reached its heyday at the beginning of the 20th century. All German Post Offices Abroad were closed down during or shortly after World War I.

It was not unusual for countries to maintain such offices and Austria-Hungary, China, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Poland, Romania, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States all did so. In the latter part of the 19th century and into the 20th century, having extraterritorial post offices was one indication of a nation's international power.[2]

Stamps from German post offices abroad are popular with collectors and some are quite valuable. In a 2006 auction, a 40 Pfennig Germania hand-stamped "China" (Tientsin issue) stamp from 1900 realized 100,152 Euros.[3]

History

China, 1905 issue

German post offices in

mark and pfennig values, and replaced them with equivalent face values in Chinese dollars and cents. All German post offices in China closed after China declared war on Germany on 16 March 1917 if they were still operating on that date.[4]
Some had closed prior to this.

Post offices opening year

Post offices operated in these towns from the listed dates:[5]

1886

  • Schanghai (Spelled "Shanghai" in pre-1906 cancels)

1893

1900

  • Tschifu
  • Futschau
  • Hankau—located in what is now the city of Wuhan
  • Itschang—post office in operation until September 1908
  • Peking
  • Tongku
    —post office in operation until April 1906

1901

  • Shanhaikwan
    —post office in operation until October 1902
  • Tschinkiang
  • Tschinwangtau—post office in operation until March 1906

1902

  • Amoy
1 cent (issue 1906) cancelled AMOY DEUTSCHE POST
  • Kanton (spelled "Canton" in pre-1913 cancels)
  • Weihsien—post office in operation until September 1914

1903

  • Nanking
  • Tschingtschoufu—post office in operation until December 1905
  • Tschonsun—post office in operation until January 1904

1904

During the Boxer rebellion

In addition, during the

Kiautschou being used at these military offices as well as at the German post offices open to civilians. Such uses occurred primarily, but not exclusively, at Peking, Tientsin, and Shanghai. The unoverprinted German and Kiautschou stamps used at any of these offices are referred to collectively as "Petschili" issues.[6]

Kiautschou territory

Stamps printed for use in the German post offices in China but with a bilingual cancel reading "TSINGTAU-KIAUTSCHOU" or "

TSINTAU CHINA" in the period 1898-1901 are actually forerunners of Kiautschou Pachtgebiet,[7]
which did not issue distinctive stamps of its own until early 1901.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ German Colonies Collectors Group[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ Miller, Rick (11 August 2003). "Ottoman decay led to offices abroad stamps". Linn's Stamp News. Amos Press. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 6 December 2008.
  3. ^ "WAP latest". Archived from the original on 2012-02-19. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
  4. ^ Michel 2007: p. 257.
  5. ^ ARGE2009: pp. 17-21.
  6. ^ Michel 2007: p. 252-253.
  7. ^ Michel Briefmarken-Katalog Deutschland 1993/94, Deutsche Kolonien.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stamps of Deutsche Post in China.
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