Lot 20507 – Card from the « Elba »; the only known Chinese Imperial Post mixed franking directly related to the San Mun Bay Quarrel

1899 (April 30) CIP 1c postal stationery card to Bologna sent by an official of the « R. N. Elba » torpedo boat, posted at the Chefoo Chinese P.O., with previous application of China 1898 1c & 2c to pay the internal postage to Shanghai, tied by Large Dollar cds’s on dispatch, Shanghai bilingual transit at top on 2 May, entering the British P.O. in Hong Kong with 1884 2c pair paying the foreign rate, tied by rare framed « I.P.O. » hs and small Shanghai cds (6 May), with arrival cds tying part of the franking; very interesting contents including « …we need to show the teeth to this Chinese filths, who by love or by force will ceed San Mun (…) in a few hours together with the Marco Polo we will head for Shanghai leaving this harbour »; usual corner imperfections. The only known Chinese Imperial Post mixed franking directly related to the San Mun Bay Quarrel.

Note: As a result of the diplomatic involvement of some Great Powers in the 1894-95 Sino-Japanese War, China was forced to pay back with some « concessions ». In 1898 Italy tried to get involved in this process by claiming the jurisdiction of the San Mun Bay for commercial purposes, but it was rejected by the Chinese as Italy had not been involved in the Sino-Japanese diplomatic negotiations. The Italian Government sent an ultimatum to China which was not taken into consideration, and Italy reacted by sending the « Marco Polo » and « Elba » battleships to occupy the Bay in an attempt to force the Chinese Government to cede this area. Despite the pressure, China did not change its position. All this occurred only between March and April 1899, and the extremely rare existing correspondence was entrusted to local or foreign post offices.