Mar 06 2008
The block of four
This is THE stamp of China, forwarded to me by David.
Each country has its own holy grail of stamp, this one is for China - a block of four $1 Small Character Surcharge on 3 Red Revenue Stamp 红印花加盖小字当一元 四方连, the block of four 四方连 for short, for those in the know. Perhaps the Inverted Jenny is for the US philate.
This picture was sent to Mr. Ren-Long Zhao by Mr. Lam Man Yin in 1983. Lam got the block of four in Feb. 1982. Mr. Zhao is a well known researcher on Red Revenue stamp, he is 90 years old now.
The provenance of a stamp, like any important work of art, assumes great importance. Given the holy grail status of this particular block of four and the prominence of Ma’s Illustrated Catalogue of the Stamps of China, I was shocked by the discrepancies between its Chinese and English versions in the catalog’s various editions[1][23] that Chow’s acquisition date from de Villard was 1920 in English and 1924 in Chinese. Is there a reason for this apparent contradiction? L. Y. Woo who specialized in red revenues had written a book in 1983, he too indicated the year as 1924[2][24].
It was originally owned by R. A de Villard 费拉尔 who took it directly from the printing.
1927 by M.D. Chow 周今觉
1947 by Allen Gokson 郭植芳
1982 by Lam Manyin 林文琰.
Too well known for needing a provenance? There is a small army force out there research and discuss Hong study 红学: for literature is it the 红楼梦 A Dream of Red Mansions, and for scrapy paper, it’s the red revenue stamps, block of four in particular.
[1][23] I did not see all Ma’s editions. Few pages of photocopy from 1947, 1988, 1995 and 1998 editions’ English contents which use 1920 as the year[2][24] C.L. Woo, Revenue Surcharges (Taipei, 1983), 18.