Hong Kong ‘B62’ Cancellations

Until the Philippines joined the Universal Postal Union (UPU) on May 1, 1877, the use of Spanish-Philippine stamps was not accepted on mail to foreign countries outside the Spanish empire. Very few overseas covers from the 1850s through 1877 to countries outside the Spanish empire were sent through the Manila Post Office.

To enable correspondence to be sent to non-Spanish empire countries, stock of British Asian stamps from India, Straits Settlements and Hong Kong were maintained by local merchants for use on foreign mail. The British Asian stamps were applied to overseas covers, which were then hand-carried to a departing ship en-route to a British Port, where they entered into the postal system and were accordingly cancelled. The postal rates for the British Asian stamps applied in Manila were calculated from the British port to its final destination.

For letters travelling through the port of Hong Kong, the British Asian stamps were typically cancelled with a black, oval ‘B62’ cancel.

Interestingly, a few Spanish-Philippine stamps from the 1870s have been found with the Hong Kong ‘B62’ cancel, indicating that these stamps were used on overseas mail instead of the British Asian stamps. This is contrary to the ruling of not allowing covers addressed to non-Spanish empire countries to be sent using Spanish-Philippine stamps until after May 1, 1877. All overseas correspondence from May 1, 1877, regardless of destination, were to be affixed with Spanish-Philippine stamps and cancelled at Philippine Post Offices.

One possible explanation for the presence of the Hong Kong ‘B62’ cancels on the 1870s issues is that Philippine merchants may have run short of British Asian stamps and instead used the available Spanish-Philippine stamps on mail bound for non-Spanish empire countries. All known examples, (with one known exception), do not show any Spanish-Philippine cancellations, indicating that they most likely did not go through a Philippine Post Office, but were instead delivered directly to an awaiting ship. It is assumed that the Hong Kong Post Office accepted these covers and cancelled them with the ‘B62’ cancel, providing postal validity for these covers.

The occurrence of the Hong Kong ‘B62’ cancel on Spanish-Philippine stamps issued prior to May 1, 1877 is very scarce. The ‘B62’ cancel also exists on other King Alfonso XII stamps issued after May 1, 1877, but as to why or how these stamps obtained this cancellation is not clear. No covers are known with this cancel

List of Known Stamps with ‘B62’ Cancel

(Click on Scott # to view picture of stamps where available)

Stamps Issued Prior to May 1, 1877

Scott #	Value	Date of Issue	Notes
40	10c Green	March 1, 1871
49	25c Ultramarine	1874
52	2c Rose	August 1875	Note 1
56	12c Lilac	January 1876	Note 1

Note 1: Copies in the Gooding collection shows a partial Rhomboid cancel in addition to the ‘B62’ cancel, indicating that the cover was cancelled at the Manila Post Office most probably after May 1, 1877.

Stamps Issued After May 1, 1877

Scott #	Value	Date of Issue	Notes
55	10c Blue	August 1877
67	100m Yellow Green	1879
73	8c on 100m Carmine	September 1879
76	2c Carmine	April 19, 1880
79	2-4/8c (First Retouch)	November 1883
83	8c Yellow-Brown	April 19, 1880	On Piece with #76
98	1r on 5c (Green Surch)	February 22, 1883
101	1c on 2-4/8c Ultramarine	September 11, 1886
106	8c on 2-4/8c Ultramarine	December 3, 1887
P1	1/8c Green	January 1, 1886

Expanded from an article by Don Peterson:
“Spanish Period Corner - Hong Kong “B62” Cancels on Early 1870s Philippine Stamps”
Philippine Philatelic Journal, Volume XXVIII, Number 3, Third Quarter 2006 (Pages 23-24)

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