Manchukuo Stamps, Manchurian Judicial Revenue Stamps.

These stamps were produced for use on court documents and are sometimes referred to as "Documentary Tax Stamps". The stamps show a picture of a one horned sheep that is said to have existed by drinking only of the morning dew, it was also, as the legend has it, able to recognise both truth and lies. The sheep is sometimes called the "sheep prodigy" and the single horn resembled the hat worn by judges at this time.

The sheep prodigy stamps first appeared in 1913 (Type 1) in a set of eight values 1c, 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c. $1, $5, $10, in 1917 (Type 2) this set was overprinted with the red Jiahe seal in the form of a wreath encircling the central sheep motif. At about this time a vertical row of four characters 司法印花 reading "Judicial Stamp" were added. The stamps were reprinted again in 1922 and all of these issues were used in Manchuria.

Local issues appear for Kirin (below), Heilungkiang (below), Antung, Fengtian and Shenyang.

In Manchukuo, general revenue issues were used in place of special judicial revenue stamps on court documents. These were subject to distinctive court cancels.

Kirin

10c

Harbin cancel

1Yuan

5Yuan

10Yuan

Control Chop - Machine Overprint 吉林 Kirin on the 1913 issue. It is not known how much of this set had the overprint, it is possible this applied to the full set.

20c

5Yuan

10Yuan

Control Chop - Machine Overprint 吉林 Kirin on the 1917 issue. It is not known how much of this set had the overprint, it is possible this applied to the full set.

Hielungkiang

10c

20c

5Yuan

10Yuan

Control Chop - Machine Overprint 黑龍江 Heilungkiang on the 1913 issue. It is not known how much of this set had the overprint, it is possible this applied to the full set.

1924 North East China - Local Issue

These stamps appeared in 1924 issued by the North East Government Administration Committee. Printed by the North East Printing House, Fengtian. Similar printings appear for Kirin and Hielongkiang.

Note that the circular court date-stamp shown on the pair of 10$ stamps is almost identical to the version used in Manchukuo in 1932. It appears that the only change made was to replace 中華民國 Chinese Republic with 大滿州國 Great Manchukuo. The courts of Manchukuo later these were replaced with an undated roller cancel.

1922 Republic of China Sheep Prodigy Judicial Tax Issue

This set was printed by the Central Printing Works at Beijing and used from 1st August 1922.

Size 19.7mm x 24.6mm, Perf 14.

1927 Republic of China Sheep Prodigy Judicial Tax Stamps Printed in Fengtian.

10c

20c

10Y

This set is attributed to the North East Printing House in Fengtian for general judicial use. There was a second issue in 1929.

Size 19.7mm x 24.6mm, Perf 10.75.

North China

The machine overprint 用借暫 Temporary Use appears on the 1922 issue printed by the Nationalist Government. The overprint was applied in 1938 by the North China Government Administration Committee controlled by the Japanese.

. These were used in North China and probably did not appear in Manchuria. This issue was however overprinted with Fengtian, Antung (Andong) and Shenyang control chops and these were for Manchurian use.

The above have been identified by reference to The Judicial Stamp Catalogue of China. Editor. Yang Gongzi. Published by The Central Archives of the People's Republic of China State archives Bureau.