Sale #46 - Northeastern Provinces of China Cancellations and Hung Hsien Empire

China, the selection of envelopes (6) and postal stationery cards (2) depicting a fine range of "One Year" c.d.s. used during the Hung Hsien Empire period, including 1916 (22 Feb.) large registered censored envelope to the Netherlands via Kalgan and Peking bearing Junk 5c. (6) and 2c. paying the 32 cents registered international double letter rate and cancelled by Chihli Namhoushu (now Inner Mongolia) "One Year" c.d.s. with matching bilingual registration h.s., carried on the Peking-Moukden Railway and then the Trans-Siberian Railway to its destination and having been censored at Petrograd, representing the only known cover to date with the "One Year" c.d.s. which travelled on the Kalgan-Peking and Peking-Moukden Railways, the undoubted highlight of this fine group (8 items).
Estimate HK$ 200,000 - 250,000
In China, whenever an Emperor was succeeded by another, an abbreviation of the new Emperor's reign was used and the inaugural year was customarily referred as Yuan Nian, which had the hidden meaning of an auspicious beginning. On the other hand, "One Year" can also be interpreted as the "first year".