Japanese Occupation Of Hong Kong?

Am I correct in identifying these as Japanese Occupation Of Hong Kong stamps, Scott# N2 & N3?
These are two stamps that are in the World Wide Collection I am auctioning off. No worries, they are going back into the bag for the auction. Just trying to ID the two since I seen them in the picture I posted on ebay. Third picture

http://www.ebay.com/itm/330783832507

Until April 1945, ordinary Japanese stamps were used in Hong Kong, which had surrendered December 25, 1941. On April 16, three stamps were surcharged with 9 or 10 Japanese characters (including the two you show above). Prior to these issues, used Japanese occupation stamps could only be identified by postmarks, and mint stamps could not be differentiated at all.

Looking at the stamp on the right, you can see part of a star. Wasn't this part of the hong kong cancel?

These stamps were commonly used in Japan and, I'm afraid, of minimum value.

The Scott listing in Hong Kong *is* a little confusing (at least in the 2007 I have handy, maybe they've fixed it in later editions). From the description, it does look the stamps themselves, without the overprint, are N2 and N3, but they're just trying to show the design type. In order for them to be N2 & N3, they have to have that 9-character overprint. I think you have Japan 259 & 331, both at minimum catalog value for used. I don't know enough about their use in Hong Kong to comment on the possible star cancellation, but the stamps themselves are not N2 & N3 with their high cv.

So you can rest easy that you're not letting something expensive slip through your fingers in that worldwide lot.

-- Dave

Gibbons numbers (2011) for the 9/10 character overprints are:
J1 - 1.50 yen on 1 sen brown, £35 mint, £29 used.
J2 - 3 yen on 2 sen scarlet, £12 mint, £25 used.
J3 - 5 yen on 5 sen claret, £900 mint, £150 used.
Issue date, 16 April 1945.

I would agree with Philatrium on these. I'm afraid I don't see the overprints that Doug is referring to, or understand what makes you think these are Hong Kong occupation.

597, do you have a link or a scan for the Hong Kong cancels that you referenced? I'd like to see some complete examples (or at least larger fragments). Thanks.

If you look below the George VI definitives on this link, there is an illustration of a Japanese definitive stamp used in Hong Kong. You can see a few stars around the bottom of the cancellation. Perhaps this is what the OP was talking about. Of course it might be something else on the cancellation that made it clear it was used in Hong Kong.

http://www.cpa-hk.net/eng2/kccheung-e.htm

Thanks for the link, 22crows.

I seen a cover with the similar Hong Kong cancel at this link,
http://www.philasearch.com/en_5paj5....UEGKz4l5mc0

Does this change any one's opinions?

Nice cover but it has a different postmark. It has a single circle rim and the stars are orientated differently.

These stamps were also used in the occupied Dutch East Indies. Cancels there also can look like the ones above, with stars in the bottom half

Either way they are about to sell in less then 8 minutes

I am happy to announce an SCF member won this!!

As it has been already written here, there were no special issues for Hongkong during the japanese occupation except 3 stamps issued in 16/04 1945 during the inflation. Those were japanese definitive issue overprinted ���`'�"•{�@Žb'#65533;(numeral value)š¢. ���`'�"•{/Hongkong Soutokufu, literally meaning "governor administration of Hongkong", Žb'#65533;/zantei is "provisional" and š¢is Yen.

As for the postmarks, Hongkong central post office used the postmark ���`/Hongkong. Please note that pre-WW2 japanese postmarks was read from right to left so in the actual postmark it will appear �`��.


There were several other post offices, the most common ones are ‹ã—´�é/Kowlong city (and again it will appear �é—´‹ã) and ‹ã—´"#65533;/Kowlong Tong ("�E´‹ã)

Welcome, Prahanoaki -- over time, I am sure I will have a LOT of questions about Japanese stamps.