The Hong Kong 'China' Overprints British Offices In China 1917 - 1930

Swatow, now known as Shantou, is on the eastern coast of the Guangdong province. The Swatow Treaty Port opened in 1860 as a result of the Treaty of Tientsin, and it became a city in 1919. The Treaty Port closed on November 30, 1922.

The British Consulate in Swatow opened on the Kakchich bank of the Han river on 7 July 1860. The British Post office was established there in 1866, with a second branch being added later on in the main trading area of Swatow on the other side of the river. ¹

There were 4 subtypes of the Registration handstamp, 3 of which were used with the ‘China’ overprints, and the Type I has two distinct subtypes; Ii and Iii, the Ii type has shorter sidebands than the Iii type.²

As with some of the other agencies, many varieties of the cancels from Swatow have only been discovered and reported in the last few years so ERD and LRD information may change with the addition of new examples.