China Postal History

Postcards with different mark post Office in China!

Nice!

That looks cool, very nice.

Chefoo was officially designated an international trading port by China in 1861. Seventeen nations, established consulates in Chefoo. Among them are France, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, Japan, Russia, Sweden and the United States. This postcard appears to be a philatellic creation that was taken around to the various legations that had postal branches in Chefoo at that time, and then stamps were affixed and canceled. Local Chinese mail at the time was not as reliable as the expatriots of those countries would have liked and so their countries extablished these post office branches there. There are examples of these kinds of "offices abraod" in other places around the world. Just two additional examples are that Great Britain had additional offices abroad in several other Chinese cities where Hong Kong stamps were used. Or France and Great Britain had offices abroad in Morocco. One can collect stamps and covers from such offices abroad though they are usually much more costly than stamps used in the country which issued them. For example, a Hong Kong stamp with a Hong Kong cancellation is what you see valued in the normal catalogs. However, a Hong Kong stamp with a cancel from a British post office abroad such as Chefoo, Amoy, Canton, Shanghai, Hankow, etc. etc. will be worth double or more.