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Night view from Kowloon
The view is of Hong Kong Island, entirely Central District just skirting Admiralty. Unused Tourists Cards 041, measures 5-1/2″ x 7″. Grade: 1
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Kowloon, Mongkok, Nathan Road
Quite a colourful and congested area of town, still. Card mailed in 1995, with one stamp and full postmark and slightly abraded tri-lingual blue airmail sticker attached. Grade: 2
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Panoramic view from the peak
Dating from roughly the very early 2000s. We are typing this from one of the buildings in the photo … Unused Tourists Cards 042, measures 5-1/2″ x 7″. Grade: 1
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Panoramic view from the Peak
Unused Tourists Cards 049, measures 5-1/2″ x 7″. Grade: 1
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Night view from the Peak
Variations on the same theme … Unused “Tourists Cards” 067, measures 5-1/2″ x 7″. Grade: 1
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Fire Cracker Night of Victoria Harbour
Unused Tourists Cards 069, measures 5-1/2″ x 7″. Grade: 1
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Panoramic view of Hong Kong at Evening
Unused Tourists Cards 072, measures 5-1/2″ x 7″. Grade: 1
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Firework show during the Chinese New Year
Unused “Tourists Cards” 073, measures 5-1/2″ x 7″. Grade: 1
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Peak Tram Tower towards Victoria Harbour
Perhaps, but you’re actually seeing an earlier generation of the tram and not the tower itself. Unused Tourists Cards 085, measures 5-1/2″ x 7″. Grade: 1
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Hong Kong, Multiple views
Unused Tourists Cards 113, exceptionally not captioned at all, measures 5-1/2″ x 7″. But we can identify all this for you. Clockwise from upper left: Hopewell Centre in Wanchai; the Big Buddha on Lantau Island; a Chinese “junk” of a type no longer seen; and an older view from Victoria Peak area of Central, Admiralty, and Wanchai … much changed now. Grade: 1
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Three views
Unused Tourists Cards 117, measures 5-1/2″ x 7″. Grade: 1
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Hong Kong as China saw it (folio)
What makes this 1990s folio of ten unused cards particularly interesting is that it was bought in Beijing, and on sale for domestic consumption there. At the time, ordinary Chinese could not travel freely to Hong Kong. Not to say they only got their clues from postcards, but here you are. The folio is wrapped in cardboard (pictured) and all cards are unused and in excellent shape. Grade: 1
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Panoramic view of Hong Kong at Evening
Unused Tourists Card 004, measuring 5-1/2″ x 7″. Grade: 1
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Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel
Cards from the hotels near this park can be surprisingly hard to find, including anything from the park itself. This has not always been the case, but selfies and smartphones have taken over, making postcards like these even more desirable. Unused, 5″ x 6-3/4″. Grade: 1
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Disney Hollywood Hotel, Donald Duck
Even Donald would admit this is a modest card, but it has its own story: it was only available in one place — the Disney gift shop at that hotel — and priced far higher than other cards had been before, because as the sales person said, it’s a “special promotional item”. We normally associate Special Promotional Items with lower prices, not higher ones; but this unused card is still in its original cello-wrap, with price and proof of sale stickers, so you can see for yourself. Grade: 1
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Hong Kong Disneyland 15
As we’ve commented a few times already, it is now extraordinarily difficult to find postcards of anything other than the most generic global Disney images in any of Hong Kong Disneyland’s own shops or hotels, or its airport outlet, where there are — right now — none at all. The story of what we went through to get this one would fill your screen, so we’ll spare you. But this is an unused card commemorating the Park’s 15th anniversary. There cannot be too many of these floating around. Grade: 1
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Hong Kong-style Milk Tea Making Technique (set of 4)
Although issued by Hongkong Post in 2023 under the umbrella of “Intangible Cultural Heritage” (seems quite tangible to us), these sets were not made available to the general public, at least not yet. To get the set, customers needed to place a stamp order above a certain price for the upcoming Local Standing Order Service. We did that and we got — one set. Here it is. Unused. Grade: 1
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Night view from the Peak
Unused Tourists card 055, 5-1/2″ x 7″. Grade: 1
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Star Ferry in front of Wanchai
Unused Tourists card 095, 5-1/2″ x 7″. It might have been better to say “across the harbour from” Wanchai. Grade: 1
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Star Ferry in front of Wanchai 075
Unused Tourists card 075, 5-1/2″ x 7″. Once again, it might have been better to say “across the harbour from” Wanchai. Grade: 1
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Cultural Landmarks in Hong Kong (set of 6)
Issued by Hongkong Post in 2023, unusually without any reference number of their own, this is a set of six cards showing, of course, cultural landmarks: the Cultural Centre, Xiqu Centre, City Hall, the Palace Museum, the Museum of Art, and another exhibition venue, M+. We have two sets. One is normal, unstamped and unused postcards (Grade: 1, $16) and the other has the same cards prepared in almost perfect maximum-card style where the stamps are close enough to the cards’ designs and the cancellations identical for all cards (Grade: 1, $24).
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Hong Kong Landscape: Mountains (set of 8)
Postage Prepaid Picture Card Series No. 72, with coloured pre-printed global airmail, and special philatelic postmarks from the October 2023 date of issue. This is a set of eight cards of various “mountains” in Hong Kong, including what you see here on just one of the cards, Pyramid Hill and Wan Kuk Shan. Grade: 1
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Hongkong Post Headquarters (set of 5)
Hongkong Post celebrates itself in this set of five postal-themed cards showing old and new artwork, issued in 2023. We have two unused sets available, in their original Cello-wrap: one of just the five cards (Grade: 1, $9) and another of five maximum cards as appears in our scan (Grade: 1, $16).
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Development of Railway Services in Hong Kong (set of 8)
Issued by Hongkong Post in November 2023 as “Postage Prepaid Picture Card Series No. 73”, this brilliant and definitive set of eight unused railroad-themed postcards is in its original Cello-wrap and each card has a multi-coloured cancellation. Grade: 1
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Panoramic View of Hong Kong and Kowloon
As best we can tell, this card was mailed in 1965. The stamp is there, along with the (mostly) legible postmark. What fun it is to trace the skylines’ changes since then. Grade: 1
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Des Voeux Road, Central District
Probably a late ’50s or early ’60s view on a card mailed from Singapore (not Hong Kong!) with a Singapore stamp but no postmark. The caption devotes itself to reclaimed land. Grade: 4
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Grand View of Hongkong’s City Proper from Midlevel
People living in heavily congested Midlevels might argue that they were also part of the City Proper. The stamp is there; the photo is most definitely mid-century, and the postmark is partly legible. The card looks as if it was mailed in the mid-1960s. Grade: 1
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Hong Kong 1997
As many people know, 1997 was a watershed year for Hong Kong, when its (presumed) status as a British colony expired and PR China resumed control. The postcard itself looks to have been mailed in the earlier part of that year: stamp is there, and postmark over the blue airmail label. The message itself is so politically incorrect that we could never repeat it here. Grade: 1
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Sha Tau Kok, Bay and Homes
To many of you, “Sha Tau Kok” is an unknown name. To Hong Kong residents, it’s a mysterious, restricted area in the far northern New Territories, anchored by something called Chung Ying Street — PR China on one side, Hong Kong on the other side, and unless you actually live there or are closely related to someone who does, you cannot go. So who wouldn’t want to? As of 1st January 2024, the door to Sha Tau Kok (STK) opened just a little bit, and people could get permits to enter the town, though not yet Chung Ying Street. And Hongkong Post issued this announcement, which we’ve only slightly abridged:
“Six postcards designed by the Security Bureau featuring winning entries of the STK Photo and Video Competition will be available at the STK Post Office … In addition, two new cachets designed by the Security Bureau will also be put into use. The above-mentioned postcards and cachets will only be provided at STK Post Office. Members of public interested in visiting STK Post Office are required to apply for the Tourism Closed Area Permit of Sha Tau Kok Frontier Closed Area (except Chung Ying Street) through the online platform launched by Hong Kong Police Force …”
So that’s the background. We were allowed in, got our quota of cards, and saw the tail end of Chung Ying Street through a glass barrier behind some mops and buckets stored by a small restaurant.
This card is captioned in Chinese as the Gold Award Winner, by Xu Youda. Unique among other cards, it does say Sha Tau Kok in Roman letters. Grade: 1
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Sha Tau Kok – Small Boat between Two Shores
See our complete explanation for entry 203081066. This unused card is captioned, in Chinese only, as “Returning” and was a Bronze Award winner in the competition. Grade: 1
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Sha Tau Kok – Typhoon Shelter
See our explanation for entry 203081066 — you will need that. This card is captioned, only in Chinese, as “typhoon shelter”. We have one otherwise unused card with both of those rubber-stamped cachets on the reverse (Grade: 1, $14), and another without the markings (Grade: 1, $9).
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Sha Tau Kok – Bridge
See our description for entry 203081066. This unused card is another Bronze award winner, by Ho Man Fung, and the Chinese-only caption somewhat unhelpfully calls it “untitled”. We have one card with the two cachet chops (Grade: 1, $14) and another without (Grade: 1, $9).
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Hong Kong and Kowloon
One nice thing about these cards is that with a little bit of local knowledge they can be put in chronological order easily. This photo, and card, are likely from the 1970s. Unused Cheng Ho-Choy card 925, just somewhat fingerprinted. Grade: 2
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Sha Tau Kok – Day and Night
See our description for entry 203081066. This is another Bronze award winner, with a long Chinese-only caption that completely defeats both us and Google Translate. Yet the photo is striking. One of these unused cards has the two cachet imprints (Grade: 1, $14) and another does not (Grade: 1, $9).
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Sha Tau Kok – Dragon Boat Race
See our description for entry 203081066. This terrific representation of the annual dragon boat race was a Silver award winner. Captioned in Chinese only. One card has the two cachet imprints (Grade: 1, $15) and another does not (Grade: 1, $10).
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Sha Tau Kok – Colourful Clouds
See our description for entry 203081066. This nicely atmospheric shot was a Gold award winner, and when we double-checked our translation of the Chinese caption using Google Translate, we got some (honestly) amusing variations, including “to win the lottery, you have to wait for the server in Sha Tau Kok”. One card has the two cachet imprints (Grade: 1, $12) and another does not (Grade: 1, $9). We might add that this card manages to make Sha Tau Kok look like Hong Kong Island but without most of the buildings.
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50th Anniversary of the Founding of the PR China (Set of 4)
This is Hongkong Post’s Postage Prepaid Picture Card Series No. 10, four unused cards with pre-printed coloured postage and issued in 1999. A nice little historical artifact. Grade: 1
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Merry Christmas 1990
From the Philatelic Bureau of the General Post Office, this unused card with two different stamps and two large postmarks, and a bilingual caption whose English version we repeat here: “First day of issue: 8 November 1990, At the end of 1989 the Post Office organised an open competition for designs for the 1990 Christmas stamp issue. One of the entries is reproduced on this postcard.” (Sorry, but we hope it didn’t win.) The card is showing its age. Grade: 2
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Lunar New Year 2010 – Year of the Tiger (Maximum Card)
Unused, and in full Maximum Card style. Grade: 1
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Charming Chinese Lanterns
No mistaking the clarity or purpose of this unused Hongkong Post maximum card from 2006. Grade: 1