China: How To Identify Originals/Reprints C9 30th Anniversary Communist Party

The C9-set from 1951, 30th Anniversary of Communist Party of China, Scott 105-07, is one of those that can drive you mad. It's a nice set with a rather grumpy looking Mao, coloured brown (400), green (500) and red (800).
Originals will sell for some 30 dollar mint and 20 dollar used, reprints for some 10-15 dollar mint and just 3 used.

There are no real differences in the design to differentiate between originals and reprints: All features are somewhat more sharply defined in originals, more blurry in reprints. I would not bet on this difference. Maybe someone can spot a clear difference that I have missed?

Paper: Reprints are supposed to have somewhat thinner and whiter paper. Hard to see or feel, and toning will often obscure the differences.

Size: Now we're talking! There are definitely two variants: one is 42,2 mm high, the other 42,5 mm. And when comparing the whole stamp side by side, you can see one is somewhat higher (48,5 mm vs. 48,2 mm) The 'small' one is said to be the reprint, the larger one the original. I used my own device to measure my stamps...

I have a bunch of these stamps, and a big minority of those came out as originals. That was not to be expected, so this made me apprehensive. There were also used ones, with a light CTO-like cancellation: not what you expect. Look at these genuine, used originals: big, black, horrendous cancellations! The used stamps in this image are indeed larger than the middle one: Could be proof originals really are larger.



So is measuring the size of these stamps a decisive way to identify originals vs. reprints? I hold my case and am curious what other collectors/traders go by when offering this set.


Mint original (left) and used reprint (right): I presume...
You can see the slight difference in height: the original is somewhat larger


The backside of those two stamps. Can you spot the reprint?


A reprint: 42,2 mm high, some mm short off the 42.5 mm bar


An original: 42.5 mm high, just up to the 42.5 mm bar


Positioned side by side, you can see the original stamps are larger than the reprints.

I really enjoy reading your posts Tigre584 - I collect China stamps as well and for some time now I have been dreading the part where I have to study and learn about them in order to identify them. But when I read your posts you seem to make it little easier and more enjoyable to understand and I learn a heck of a lot. I guess that's why people always say 'get a study partner when you are learning a new topic'. Regards and thanks for your continued lessons on China reprints.

The Journal of Chinese Philately III-1, june 1955, confirms this:

Reprints are:
a little whiter
a trifle shorter

Ed Boer, a specialist, says the size difference may be due to shrinkage of the paper, and has nothing to do with the originals/reprints-issue. This would explain why I find way too many originals in my collection, and even originals with CTO-cancellation: those are for more than 99.9 % always postally used. What remains is the difference in colour. A difficult set, indeed, and be very alert when originals sets are for sale somewhere.

This is one of the difficult issue to separate the reprints from the original. S1, C5, C9, C8 are all difficult. The subtle difference is on the paper and the color.

This is the kind of information I may need in the future but never find it.