Tony To-Wah Kwan Empress Dowager Jubilee & Surcharged Issues: International Large Gold Medal Collection

For many collectors, the name of Tony Kwan has become synonymous with the collecting of the Empress Dowager Jubilee issues and their surcharges. With the guidance of War- ren Lu, the well-known stamp dealer, he was introduced to classic Chinese stamps. Eventually, it was the Empress Dowager Jubilee issue and its surcharges that became his all-consuming philatelic passion. With its complexity of printing and surcharge plates, Tony found a challenging subject for his philatelic interests. Coupled with this was its rich and unique postal history, as the 1894-97 issues spanned two distinct postal systems: the Customs Post and the National (Imperial) Post periods.Later, Warren Lu introduced Tony to another leading Dowager collector, Chen Shih-Jen of Taiwan. In the ensuing years, a small group of serious Dowager collectors, including Chen Chung-Ching, were brought together at important China auctions held in Hong Kong, where Tony had participated since 1992. He was encouraged to exhibit his then modest collection for the first time at the Hong Kong Stampex in 1996, where he received a Large Silver medal. It was at the auctions of the Anna-Lisa and Sven-Eric Beckeman collection in 1997-98 and the Quintin Tan Kok Tin collection in 2007 that Tony was fortunate to acquire important stamps and postal history. Although there are too many rare stamps and postal history to single out here, among the numerous important items in Tony’s collection are the small figures 10c on 9ca double surcharge (Huang Ming-Fuang, 2003), the “Golden Dragon” (Wilson Te, 2006), “Red Ruby” (ex “Ming”), and the iconic January 1897 usage of the small figures surcharge 4c on 4ca on an incoming cover from France (Jane and Dan Sten Olsson, January 2010).The collection draws liberally on the critical studies and works by Tony To-Wah Kwan, as well as the works of such eminent specialists as Dr. Chang Min-Sheng, Dr. Chan Shiu-Hon, Chen Shih- Jen, Chen Chung-Ching, and Neill Granger.Awards for the exhibit include:2016 Philataipei 2016 World Stamp Championship Exhibition (FIP)............... Gold (SP)2017 Hong Kong Stampex 2017.............................................................................. Gold2018 World Stamp Championship Israel 2018 (FIP)........................................ Gold (SP)2018 Thailand 2018 World Stamp Exhibition (FIP)................................................... Gold2018 Macao 2018 (31st Asian International Stamp Exhibition).......................Large Gold2022 INDONESIA 2022 World Stamp Exhibition (FIP)................................... Large GoldThis is an extraordinary collection, and the auction catalog is a valuable reference. Read more