Lot# 9059

bearing fourteen Shanghai postage meter labels (Hu Type 4), tied by Shanghai cds, paying a total of Gold Yuan 12,180,000, equivalent to 300 Silver Yuan fen, correctly fulfilling the 90g international registered airmail rate (comprising basic postage, registration, and airmail fees). Posted one day after the introduction of the Silver Yuan postal system, during a period of extreme Gold Yuan hyperinflation and rapidly escalating postal rates, when postage meter labels were employed to meet high franking requirements amid stamp shortages. All meter labels were produced by the only operational franking machine in Shanghai at the time, “Hu (4),” forming an impressive example of large-scale multiple meter label usage This high-value usage vividly illustrates the transitional phase of monetary reform and postal operations in 1949, combining a clearly defined heavy weight step (90g) with an international registered airmail route (Shanghai to London). An important and visually striking postal history item for the study of the transition from Gold Yuan to Silver Yuan rates, the practical use of postage meters, and the effects of hyperinflation on postal systems, of considerable exhibition and research significance.