Note: If I read between the lines correctly,
the stamp was designed on toilet paper.
July 1946
Mr. W. E. Jones, of Warragul, Vic., writes:—
"Having read the references in the 'A.S.M.' about the new Hong Kong Peace or Victory stamps, I
thought possibly the following information might be of interest to you.
"The design for these stamps was prepared in one of the prison camps in Hong Kong, during 1944, and had to be
kept out of sight of the Japs. The Postmaster-General, who was in the
same camp as I was, approached me one day (I suppose because the Centenary stamps had been prepared from
designs that I had done) and said, 'What about doing a design for a Victory stamp and using the phoenix as
symbolising the revival of Hong Kong ?'
The enclosed sketch is the one we decided on; I am sorry it is so rough, but the paper, on the rare occasions the Japs, issued it, was intended for an entirely different purpose!
The final drawing
the P.M.G- took to England with him, and I am looking forward to seeing what the printers' artist has done by way
of improvement. The characters, roughly trans-later, read: Right Side, 'The Phoenix revives, great prosperity'; Left
Side, 'China and England, great good fortune.' Possibly the last two characters will be altered to 'Great peace.' They
have to be submitted to a Chinese scholar to get the right Chinese idea of balance, sound and correct four pairs of
characters, which is most important to them."
Mr. Jones' design is reproduced herewith. We shall publish an illustration of the issued stamp as soon as possible.
Our correspondent, who* was a member of the Hong Kong Philatelic Society, will be returning to Hong Kong
shortly, and we wish him "bon voyage."
THE FINISHED STAMP
(scan courtesy of Collin cjd)
Posted 08/15/2010 03:32 am
