Heilongjiang Province (黑龍江省) Local Issue, Mudanjiang (牡丹江)

Mudanjiang (牡丹江) – Date of Liberation: 14 August 1945, first magistrate: Li Jingwei (李荊璞)

[huge_it_maps id=”36″]
This map only gives rough impression about area and location.

1st stamp issue (Kerr 147.1-2):

Provisional Issue:	Stamps Overprinted "Chinese Post Temporarily Used for (Mu)" and Surcharged
Issued:	March 1946
Issued by:	Mudanjiang Postal Administration (牡丹江郵政管理局)
Overprint	"Chinese Post Temporarily Used for (Mu)" and Surcharged ("中華郵政 暫作 (牡)" 改值郵票)
Overprint method:	Hand-overprinted with types
Currency:	Northeast Currency (東北幣)
All stamps of this issue shown here.

All stamps of this issue shown here.

Overprint varieties:

Covers:

Trade Prices 2019 (USD)			(★)	⊙	Kerr Cat. No.	Remarks
5 角 / 1 分 ●	carmine brown	K13	0,50	20,00	147.1
●			10,00	--,--	--	misplaced / shifted overprint
2 元 / 2 分 ●	blackish yellow green	K13	0,50	15,00	147.2
●			5,00	--,--	--	misplaced / shifted overprint
●			50,00	--,--	147.2a	inverted overprint
●			80,00	--,--	--	double overprint
Set of 2 (without varieties)			1,00	35,00

Stamps with missing “中華郵政” overprint I state at the moment as forged. To be a shifted / misplaced overprint a character need to be placed outside of the stamp area.

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2nd stamp issue (Kerr 147.3-4):

Provisional Issue:	Stamps Overprinted "Chinese Post Double 10 Commemoration (Mu)" and Surcharged
Issued:	May 1946
Issued by:	Mudanjiang Postal Administration (牡丹江郵政管理局)
Overprint	"Chinese Post Double 10 Commemoration (Mu)" and Surcharged ("中華郵政 雙十國慶 (牡)" 改值郵票)
Overprint method:	Hand-overprinted with wooden chop
Currency:	Northeast Currency (東北幣)
All stamps of this issue shown here.

Because for this stamp issue different overprint chops were used I need to explain in detail what exactly are the differences. Kerr listed in his catalog three different types of the overprint (Type A-C and explained Type B wrongly), but in fact four overprint types existing. I said on purpose ‘existing’, because I think two types were not official released and were made up later just for collectors. In the following scan I add all four types together:

A commercial use can only confirm for Type I and IV. For Type II + III were up to today never any used copy found, on top Type III can be found with varieties like inverted overprint. As long a commercial use of Type II + III can’t be confirmed I will not list them.

Used examples:

Possible bogus / unissed stamps:

Larger units:

Trade Prices 2019 (USD)			(★)	⊙	Kerr Cat. No.	Remarks
5 角 / 2 分 ●	blackish yellowish green	K13	5,00	--,--	147.3a	Type I
●			40,00	--,--	147.3b	Type IV
5 角 / 2 分 ●	blackish yellow green	K13	5,00	30,00	147.4a	Type I
●			10,00	70,00	147.4b	Type IV
Set of 4 (both types)			60,00	--,--

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3rd stamp issue (Kerr 147.5):

Provisional Issue:	Stamps Overprinted "Commemorating 1st Anniversary of Recovering Northeast on August 15 (Sui You)" and Surcharged
Issued:	15 August 1946
Issued by:	Suining Postal Administration (綏寧郵政管理局)
Overprint	"Commemorating 1st Anniversary of Recovering Northeast on 15 August (Sui You)" and Surcharged ("东北光复八一五周纪 暫作 (绥邮)" 改值郵票)
Overprint method:	Hand-overprinted with wooden chop
Currency:	Northeast Currency (東北幣)
All stamps of this issue shown here.

Cover:

This stamp (Kerr 147.5) is listed in most Liberated Area catalogs (for example Mizuhara JPS, No. DB333). Why only this stamp from Mudanjiang and not the others are listed in these catalogs is one of many mysteries nobody can explain to me. Especially as the Suining Postal Administration (綏寧郵政管理局) was founded on 10 April 1946 and the 2nd issue of Mudanjiang (牡丹江) was issued in May 1946 (by theory) under the jurisdiction of the Suining Postal Administration (綏寧郵政管理局).

Trade Prices 2019 (USD)			(★)	⊙	Kerr Cat. No.	Remarks
5 元 / 6 分 ●	blackish orange red	K13	80,00	120,00	147.5	engraved
Set of 1			80,00	120,00

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Remarks:
– All shown sets exists (at least some stamps of each set) genuine used on domestic covers.