Tientsin China 1940 Busy Cover Censored In Hong Kong

From my collection, I showed this "busy" China cover on another post, which has interesting postal markings from Macau and Hong Kong. Opened by censors in Hong Kong, it ended up in the Returned Letter Office in Hong Kong on 23 August 1940.

The cover is addressed to Mrs. Heinrich Moors. From Wikipedia, I learned that Heinrich Moors was a Dutch-German sculptor born 11 September 1873 in Roermond, Netherlands. He married a lady from Germany, Henriette Josefine Joachims (1872-1965) and obtained German citizenship. They settled in western Germany in the town of Kevelaer, and he worked as an independent sculptor there. Heinrich Moors died in Kevelaer on 11 October, 1940, not long after this letter was mailed.

Your comments & additional info are welcome,

Linus

Fantastic modern domestic postal history item -- love the combination application of domestic and international mail cancels, auxiliary marks & censoring to this piece. Thanks for posting item!

My pleasure, Hal. Thanks for the kind words. The top was badly crushed down, and I had to do a little work on it to make it presentable at all.

The "RETOUR" marking was applied in Hong Kong, and listed in Webb.

I assume the marking below was applied in Macau, and partially says "INCONNU NOT KNOWN"? Is that correct?





I also wondered what the letters say in the top half of the the Macau cancel shown below. I see the word "CENTRAL" in there. Anyone know what the rest of it would be?

Thanks, Linus

Linus,
CORREIOS E TELEGRAFOS
ESTACAO (with a tilde over the second A)
CENTRAL
(i.e., Central Station)

Pretty standard top inscription for Portuguese colonies cancels of the time.

Here's essentially the same style cancel but still being used 16 years later:

Thank you very much hy-brasil, I see it now. I am new to Portugese Colonies cancels, but I am learning. I will make a note with this info.

Linus

It is Proud type D172 (state 2) datestamp, recorded used from Dec 30,1938 to Nov 26,1941.



It is Proud type D14 (state 2) datestamp, recorded used in first phase from May 15,1938 to Dec 8,1941.



This circular K14 mark is Proud type PB24 delivery beat mark/postman's chop of Gaulung PO.



A sharper scan of this mark (KE14?) may help to identify the Gaulung PO beat mark.



It is Proud type D139 datestamp, recorded used in first phase from Aug 4,1928 to Sep 18,1941.

Linus





This Proud type I32 INCONNU/NOT KNOWN rectangular cachet (recorded used from Sep 17,1929 to Oct 24,1941) was actually applied by Heunggong GPO.



It is Proud type D5 Heunggong Returned Letter Office datestamp, recorded used from Feb 2,1933 to Nov 26,1941.



This oblong RETOUR cachet is Proud type I48 mark, recorded used from Jul 26,1926 to Mar 11,1941. It was applied by Heunggong GPO after the cover was directed from the RLO to send it back to the sender in Tianjin.

Resealing Label: The OPENED BY CENSOR (inscription length: 7.6cm) resealing label is Morenweiser/CCSG type 3A which is recorded used from May 5 to Oct 22,1940.

It was applied at the Heunggong Censor Station after it was redirected from Oumun, before handing over the cover to Heunggong GPO.

Postal Rate: The surface rate from Tianjin to Oumun was calculated on the domestic mail rate which was 5c per 20gm from May 20,1932 to Sep 19,1940.

Ref. 1. The Postal History of Hong Kong 1841–1997
Edward Wilfrid Baxby Proud .
Proud-Bailey Company Limited, Heathfield, England 2004 2nd Ed.
Chapter IV: Hong Kong–Post Offices and Postmarks
Hong Kong General Post Office
Datestamp; pp.314, 318
Instructional Marks; pp.424-5
Hong Kong DLO; p.460
Kowloon
Datestamp; p.657
Postman's Beat; p.675

2. British Empire Civil Censorship Devices World War II (Section 4: British Asia)
Konrad Morenweiser .
The Civil Censorship Study Group, Caversham, England 2011 6th Ed.
Hong Kong
Listing of Resealing Labels; p.114

Thank you, Joy, for the detailed information.

I was unsure about the "INCONNU NOT FOUND" marking because it was not listed in my reference book, "The Philatelic and Postal History of Hong Kong and the Treaty Ports of China and Japan," by F. W. Webb. I think your ref #1 by Edward Proud is much more detailed and updated than my Webb reference book.

This marking you asked about below looks like "HE14" to me, but I am open to interpretation as much of it is missing. Webb does not even list these kinds of marks as Proud does.

Linus