The Temple of Heaven, Bejing China

 

(This blog has an update below)

My first question that I cannot answer is why a Chinese stamp would have a 50 cent denomination written in English?   The answer is likely more complex than my simple brain can process.  It involves to some degree a deeper study in China history, Japanese involvement, (it is possible that this stamp is a japanese issue while provisionally governing China?---again more research)

The exact etiology is a mystery.  The stamp depicts the Temple of  Heaven in Bejing.  There was an identical issue in 1909 which mentions a 50c denomination, but I could find no picture, no verification.  There was a similar issue of revenue stamps in 1940-41 called Nanjing Revenue Stamps, but again, no visual verification of this stamps.  Various deeper dives into web sites specializing in Chinese postal history gave me popsicle brain.  So, we leave it a mystery....one to pass on to the mysterious future auctioneer.

 From Wikipedia I learn, The Tempe of Heaven is an imperial complex of religious buildings situated in the southeastern part of central Beijing. The complex was visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for a good harvest. The Temple of Heaven was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998 and was described as "a masterpiece of architecture and landscape design which simply and graphically illustrates a cosmogony of great importance for the evolution of one of the world's great civilizations..." as the "symbolic layout and design of the Temple of Heaven had a profound influence on architecture and planning in the Far East over many centuries."^[1]

So it is a very historic building that  I  likely will never see in person.  I am still very mystified as to why I have a (seemingly Chinese) stamp with a value of 50 cents.   We live in a mysterious world......sounds like words that might be found in a popular song.

 UPDATE     (Later that day)  So with the help from a friend at the Spellman Museum site, and via postalwiki.cn, I learn this was a tax stamp issue in 1940 by a provisional (and puppet Japanese) government.  It is one in a series of ten with the largest 2 denominations most rare. I have not been able to determine whether this has any real value.  It was a tough and tedious research, so that makes this final determination  worthy.