Unidentified Coiled Dragon With Overprint

I have been unable to identify this early China stamp. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

This may or may not be a genuine republic local overprint c.1912. It was announced by the national government that old stamps would be overprinted and some postmasters thought that to mean that they should do it themselves and did. I know of no reference for these except old auction catalogs with local overprints on cover.

You might have to find a (genuine) cover with this overprint to be considered genuine. There are many different styles and, of course, bogus overprints. The absolutely smudged cancel does not give me a lot of confidence this is genuine. Perhaps someone else has info on this overprint. Otherwise, China Stamp Society might be able to expertize this; whether it is worth it for this stamp is a good question.

Looks dodgy to me. (Hardly fits on the stamp)
China 1912
Opts 38,39,40 = Republic of China"
Source Stanley Gibbons Part3 Asia 1969

Suggestion:
If I am marrying the image (and reading the catalogue correctly)
It looks like Type 38
However Type 38 was only overprinted in Red. (On the 3c blue green)
Happy to be corrected.

It sure looks like 38 to me, too. There seem to be two possibilities, assuming the catalog is correct. Either the stamp is a just-now-discovered one-of-a-kind overprint error with the wrong color (worth millions, no doubt!) or it's a forgery.

Thank you for your thoughtful insights.

The images given are the same for any catalog, the official national overprints that are much smaller than the on the stamp shown. Sizes are not given here. 38 is also in vertical format as shown.

This is the Maritime Customs type overprint, SG type 38.

38 is the right basic style, but definitely not a match. Compare the last character guo/kuo as a start. On the stamp, the "box" is clearly wider than it is tall as just one feature -- different typefaces, in other words. There are other differences in that and other characters.

The identification expert at the China Stamp Society provided the following information on the stamp:

It is a Local Republic Overprint of 1911.

They preceded Scott 134-177.

Some are listed in Chan.

This is RLKS.1A.4 from Hwangtu, Kiangsu.

It is the most common, worth about $20.

local overprint lot

Nice work bird dogging that all the way to an answer.

johnconn:Now that you have the answer ask if you can change the title of your post too; China 1911 Local "China Republic" overprints.
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