Lot 40673 – 1918 (May 6) envelope sent from Beijing franked with 25 cent blue with double local overprint

1918 (May 6) envelope sent from Beijing franked with five stamps of 1901-08 Savoy eagle 1 cent brown (3) and 2 cent red brown, with overprint “PECHINO” (Sass. n. 8, 9) and one King Vittorio Emanuele III 25 cent blue with double local overprint “PECHINO/4 CENTS” at the top and “PECHINO/6 CENTS” at the bottom, registration label below, very fine and rare; cert. G. Avanzo (2021).

Note: The 25 cent stamp with double overprint is part of a very small number of examples, which were at the time overprinted with the same characters used to overprint the regularly issued stamps (Sass. Beijing 1-7), but whose use, however, was not officially authorized.