Questions on modern Chinese stamps

When sorting a few modern (1990s/2000s) definitives from
the PR China, I noticed that some of them were overprinted
in fluorescent ink with a series of numbers (varying from
stamp to stamp) followed by a letter, while other stamps
of the same design were not. Judging from the postmarks,
it seemed to me that the stamps without the overprint were
from earlier print runs.

What is the story behind these overprints? What is their
purpose, and when were they introduced?

My other question refers to the colour of the postmarks:
Some "Great Wall" definitives were cancelled in red instead
of the usual black. Is there a special significance to the
colour of the postmark?

Curious,
Jan-Martin

On Jan 1, 4:36*pm, Jan-Martin Hertzsch wrote:
When sorting a few modern (1990s/2000s) definitives from
the PR China, I noticed that some of them were overprinted
in fluorescent ink with a series of numbers (varying from
stamp to stamp) followed by a letter, while other stamps
of the same design were not. Judging from the postmarks,
it seemed to me that the stamps without the overprint were
from earlier print runs.

What is the story behind these overprints? What is their
purpose, and when were they introduced?

My other question refers to the colour of the postmarks:
Some "Great Wall" definitives were cancelled in red instead
of the usual black. Is there a special significance to the
colour of the postmark?

Curious,
Jan-Martin

could you please post a scan of these onkine for us to examine?

On Jan 1, 4:36*pm, Jan-Martin Hertzsch wrote:
When sorting a few modern (1990s/2000s) definitives from
the PR China, I noticed that some of them were overprinted
in fluorescent ink with a series of numbers (varying from
stamp to stamp) followed by a letter, while other stamps
of the same design were not. Judging from the postmarks,
it seemed to me that the stamps without the overprint were
from earlier print runs.

What is the story behind these overprints? What is their
purpose, and when were they introduced?

My other question refers to the colour of the postmarks:
Some "Great Wall" definitives were cancelled in red instead
of the usual black. Is there a special significance to the
colour of the postmark?

Curious,
Jan-Martin

could you please post a scan online, for us to examine?

On 03/01/11 11:42, Blair (TC) wrote:

could you please post a scan online, for us to examine?

You mean, of the stamps with the figures and letters?
It might take a while until I get hold of a scanner, and
I doubt they will show sufficiently clearly - you need
long-wave UV light for them to stand out really well.
In normal light they are rather pale.

For what it's worth, the characters look like they were
produced by a dot-matrix printer. Their size is about
the one of a typewriter character, or a little less,
and there are six or seven figures and a letter. On the
"Birds" issue they run sideways, on the "Protecting the
common homeland of mankind" issue they run horizontally.

Jan-Martin

They are automatic dot matrix cancellers
when going through the sorting route.

US Australia have similar, some in barcodes, some in date code formats.

quite common.

"Jan-Martin Hertzsch" wrote in message
...
On 03/01/11 11:42, Blair (TC) wrote:

could you please post a scan online, for us to examine?

You mean, of the stamps with the figures and letters?
It might take a while until I get hold of a scanner, and
I doubt they will show sufficiently clearly - you need
long-wave UV light for them to stand out really well.
In normal light they are rather pale.

For what it's worth, the characters look like they were
produced by a dot-matrix printer. Their size is about
the one of a typewriter character, or a little less,
and there are six or seven figures and a letter. On the
"Birds" issue they run sideways, on the "Protecting the
common homeland of mankind" issue they run horizontally.

Jan-Martin

On 03/01/11 23:58, rod allan wrote:

(regarding numbers and letters on Chinese stamps)

They are automatic dot matrix cancellers
when going through the sorting route.

No, I am fairly certain that they are not cancels.

These "overprints" (for lack of a better word) are
almost white (which is why they are hard to see in
daylight or lamp light), fluorescent, and always in
approximately the same position for each issue of
stamps, always close to the centre of the stamp, and
nothing more than a single line of characters such
as "0123456A".

As for cancellations, the stamps bear the usual
black round postmarks with town name and date.

Jan-Martin

PS: Nevertheless thanks for the interesting images
of cancellations, Blair.

On Jan 7, 3:08*pm, Jan-Martin Hertzsch wrote:
On 03/01/11 23:58, rod allan wrote:

(regarding numbers and letters on Chinese stamps)

They are automatic dot matrix cancellers
when going through the sorting route.

No, I am fairly certain that they are not cancels.

These "overprints" (for lack of a better word) are
almost white (which is why they are hard to see in
daylight or lamp light), fluorescent, and always in
approximately the same position for each issue of
stamps, always close to the centre of the stamp, and
nothing more than a single line of characters such
as "0123456A".

As for cancellations, the stamps bear the usual
black round postmarks with town name and date.

Jan-Martin

PS: Nevertheless thanks for the interesting images
of cancellations, Blair.

Perhaps they are "control" marks used in the printing
process or for accounting purposes. this would be similar
to the printing of control numbers on the back of many
Spanish stamps.

http://www342.pair.com/elerner/stamp...7-dk14748b.jpg

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:L...1930_backs.jpg

Blair

On Jan 9, 11:31*am, "Pierre COURTIADE" wrote:
Blair (TC) wrote :

............
Perhaps they are "control" marks used in the printing
process or for accounting purposes. *this would be similar
to the printing of control numbers on the back of many
Spanish stamps.

http://www342.pair.com/elerner/stamp...spax517-dk1474...

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:L...//i860.photobu....


The UV numbers that appear on Chinese stamps are identical for all the
stamps on the sheet. According to some Chinese websites, these numbers
serve
as an anti - fraud measure.

Richard

On 10/01/11 13:30, Richard wrote:

The UV numbers that appear on Chinese stamps are identical for all the
stamps on the sheet. According to some Chinese websites, these numbers
serve as an anti - fraud measure.

Makes sense to me. Do you remember the addresses of the websites so
that you could let me (us?) know?

Thanks a lot!

Jan-Martin

PS: Does anybody know why sometimes Chinese stamps were cancelled in
red? Unfortunately, the ones (Great Wall issue) I have are off-paper,
thus I cannot say anything about the letters they were used on.

On Jan 16, 4:46*am, Jan-Martin Hertzsch wrote:
On 10/01/11 13:30, Richard wrote:

The UV numbers that appear on Chinese stamps are identical for all the
stamps on the sheet. According to some Chinese websites, these numbers
serve as an anti - fraud measure.

Makes sense to me. Do you remember the addresses of the websites so
that you could let me (us?) know?

Thanks a lot!

Jan-Martin

PS: Does anybody know why sometimes Chinese stamps were cancelled in
red? Unfortunately, the ones (Great Wall issue) I have are off-paper,
thus I cannot say anything about the letters they were used on.

Try this one : http://www.hbjy88.com/Article/ShowAr...?ArticleID=158
The article says that the UV numbers were devised as a control
measure.
The numbers were NOT printed by the stamp printers but handled
seperately by another company - Zhong Hong Security Printers in
Beijing.

Some other points:
1. Initially, only the 15th and 16th stamp of the sheet received the
UV overprinting. After it was discovered that dealers were selling the
overprinted stamps at higher prices, undistributed stamp sheets were
sent to the security printers so that all the stamps on the sheet can
be overprinted with the UV numbers. To prevent confusion to auditors,
stamp sheets which already had the previous 2 stamps overprinted
received overprints which were INVERTED when compared with the
aforementioned two stamps. Stamps 15 and 16 on the sheet now has TWO
overprints - You can see the picture on the webpage for an example.
2. Additionally, the UV code on some early batches of overprinted
stamps covers TWO stamps, so each stamp only received half the code.
With these early examples, you will need to get a pair to see the
complete code.
2. The UV code consists of a string of numbers followed by an alphabet
(eg. 08108230A). Stamps that show an alphabet BEFORE the code (eg. A
08108230A) come from sheets which were shifted during the printing
process. The first alphabet was supposed to be printed on the
selvedge.

Red cancellations
These are not very common. Can you post a scan for us to see? I maybe
able to read the postmark. I do have a postcard that I posted from
Shigatse post office in Tibet which received a red wavy line machine
cancellation. Other than that, airmail canchets are in red as well.

Richard