by Richard Gurevitch
The circumstances leading to the production and issuance of 10 Cents green stamps in the mid-1880’s is described in some detail in Chapter 20 of the publication Hong Kong: Queen Victoria Postal Adhesives. In essence, in 1883 Hong Kong’s Postmaster-General ordered that new supplies of the 10 Cents stamp be printed in green to the shade of the then obsolete
24 Cents stamp. However, the resultant printing was provided in a dark blue-green colour that the Postmaster-General thought would be confused with the 4 Cents grey stamp, and hence a new printing of the stamp was ordered in the originally requested green colour. In the meantime, the 10 Cents mauve stamp continued to be issued until early 1884 when it was replaced with the stamp in a green colour. The 10 Cents dark blue-green was not destroyed but kept in stock at the GPO. It was eventually issued for general use in late 1885.
The assessed date of issue for the 10 Cents green stamp was about February 1884, but recently an item postmarked
26 January 1884 has appeared which would indicate a late-January 1884 issue date. A scan of the item is shown below:
The stamp is cancelled ‘62B’ which probably denotes its use being authorized by a
supervising postal clerk in that the stamp had been issued in a new colour.
Stocks of the 10 Cents deep blue-green stamp remained unused until October 1895 when the Postmaster-General wrote to the Assistant Colonial Secretary stating that there were no longer any objections to their embargo and that they would be on issue. Records of stamp usage on cover shows the 10 Cents Deep blue-green stamp’s use on 3 November 1885 and its general use intermingled with the value in green in subsequent years until both stamps were replaced in 1891 with the
10 Cents stamp in mauve on red paper. In 1891 some surplus stocks of the 10 Cents green stamp were overprinted 7 Cents to meet the need of that new value when postage to Empire countries was reduced.
However, recently there appeared an item that alters the previous understanding for the issue date for the
10 Cents deep blue-green stamp. The item in question is dated 21 February 1884 and a scan of the item is shown below. Interesting it too is addressed to Miss Hannah Nye in Massachusetts, USA.
The stamp is cancelled ‘62B’ which probably denotes its use being authorized by a
supervising postal clerk in that the stamp had been issued in a new colour.
It is thought that a sheet or more of the 10 Cents deep blue-green stamps may have inadvertently been taken from stock at about the time the 10 cents green stamp was placed on issue, resulting in the premature use of the stamp. No other such usage is recorded.
Shown below is 3 November 1885 cover which accords with the authorized earliest usage of the 10 Cents deep blue-green stamp.
