Stamps Museum

Large Dragon Issue

G. Detring, the Customs Commissioner of Tianjin on 15th. June, 1878 advised Shanghai Customs Statistical Department to print the Large Dragons.
The Large Dragons were in the values of three and five candarins, 100,000 stamps each were printed.
The stamps were shipped to Tianjin in July 1878.
Additional 100,000 stamps of one candarin Large Dragons were printed.
The design of the first Customs issue, commonly known as Large Dragon Issue, a dragon over the kingdom printed on unwatermarked paper.
The stamps were printed from the plate which was made up of copper dies engraved piece by piece.
The Large Dragons on Thin Paper were printed on thin and semi-transparent paper with 2.5 mm interval between the stamps.
Additional stamps were printed in 1882 with 4.5 mm interval between the stamps. These stamps were commonly known as Large Dragon with Wide Margin.
From 1883, initially the stamps were printed on thick paper and had clean-cut perforations, these stamps were known as Large Dragon on Thick Paper with Clean-cut Perforation.
Later the perforations become rough, these stamps were known as Large Dragon on Thick Paper with Rough Perforation.