Lot# 9058

bearing thirteen Dr. SYS Gold Yuan stamps and additionally franked with one Shanghai postage meter label (Hu Type 4), tied by Shanghai cds. The total postage of Gold Yuan 189 conforms to the contemporary international airmail registered rate, comprising basic postage, registration with return receipt, and airmail fees. Dispatched one day after the PLA’s successful crossing of the Yangtze River on Apr 21, 1949, this cover originates from a period of rapid Gold Yuan hyperinflation and sharply rising postal rates. Owing to a shortage of postage stamps, the Shanghai Post Office supplemented franking with postage meter labels. The meter label was produced by the only operational franking machine in Shanghai at the time, designated “Hu (4),” representing a genuine mixed franking usage of Gold Yuan stamps and a postage meter label. Such covers vividly reflect the financial turmoil and adaptive postal practices of the period, and rank among the latest recorded examples of mixed Gold Yuan stamp and postage meter label usage. Of significant importance for the study of Shanghai postal operations in 1949 and the early application of postage meter systems, with strong postal history and exhibition value.