45th Anniv of Sino-Cambodian Diplomatic Ties (II)

(Continue from Part 1)

The 2003 "45th Anniversary of Sino-Cambodian Diplomatic Ties" issue is not only about 2 stamps and a commemorative cover. There is some fun with the postmark too.

The following shows the standard commemorative postmark of Cambodia:

Surprising enough, not all the 50,000 covers produced are with this standard postmark. There is a variation found:

This postmark type II has an edge ring formed by two concentric circular lines. Both CNPC and Cambodia did not explain why an alternative postmark exists, but from the previous similar cases in the diplomatic series, it may be a sudden and hurry alteration during production which causes such variety.

It is unclear how many covers bear this postmark type II, to my observation the number is very small. It is scarce and rare.

Just as the standard postmark, postmark type II features on 3 different franking covers, the Angkor Wat stamp cover, the Great Wall stamp cover, and the full stamp set cover.







The rarest of all is the full stamp set with type II cancellation. I have only come across it twice.

Postmark Type II covers are included in the 50,000 production, they all have print run serial number. Those 6,000 (or 4,000, please see part 1 of this article series) sent to Cambodia are only cancelled by the standard postmark.

All "45th Anniv of Sino-Cambodian Diplomatic Ties" commemorative covers are ready made. There was no hand-back datestamping service in China and Cambodia for this.


Appendix

Philatelist Graham Shaw has a well written article titled "45th Anniversary of Cambodia-China Diplomatic ties: Joint Commemorative Issue, July 19, 2003", please click here to read.