Lot# 9028

airmail cover sent from Tientsin to Bath, England, franked with six R series issues, totaling 26,200 yuan (RMB), tied by “Tientsin 15.8.1950” cds. The cover bears postal clerk manuscript notations “12 gm” indicating weight and “26200” showing the total postage paid. Posted during the Fourth Postal Tariff Period (15 July to 15 August 1950), this short-lived rate period lasted only 32 days, making it one of the briefest in the unified RMB postal system. It was also the final period in which airmail to Western Europe was charged at a single, unified rate, before rates began to differ according to the chosen delivery route. At that time, mail to Western Europe could be sent either via Hong Kong, handled by Pan American Airways (PAA) or British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) through Southeast Asia to Europe, a faster but costlier route, or via Prague, through the Soviet and Eastern European connections, which offered a lower-cost alternative. During this period, both routes were charged under the same postal rate; however, from the following tariff period onward, they were officially differentiated by route. The postage of 26,200 yuan was correctly paid according to the tariff: 2,800 yuan for the first 20 grams of international surface postage plus an airmail surcharge of 11,700 yuan per 10 grams for “Other Countries,” totaling 26,200 yuan. Sent on the final day of the postal period, this cover is accurately franked and well-marked, demonstrating the precise postal accounting and efficient routing of early PRC international airmail. It stands as a rare and important example of early RMB-period airmail to Western Europe, reflecting the transition of China’s postal system and the resumption of international communications in the early years of the People’s Republic, an outstanding item of high postal history and exhibition value.