Have you ever seen anything like this? Asian paper

I got this at my LCS today. Neither I nor the employee had any idea what it was but I thought it looked like some kind of crude Chinese or Japanese paper money and I thought I'd take a chance and maybe it was something good. When I got home and took it out of the holder, I realized it actually is an envelope and one of the sides is open. I don't know what to make of this so I'm throwing it out there to see if anyone has any ideas.

 

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If its an envelope and one side is open.... the obvious question is what is inside?

As far as paper money is concerned.... did localities issue money like US cities did? Because that doesn't look like any official money I've ever seen. But I can't say I'm an expert on the subject.

 

Research it first. The red stamping means something. If I find something I’ll let you know. Mystery!

 

Art stamping… not sure if it’s Chinese or Japanese but might be interesting to find out what it says or means. If I figure anything out I’ll let you know.

 

Definitely the single stamp is a stamp representing who sent it. Not sure if you knew anyone from China. Water color printing and the stamping I would say worth maybe someone can translate to you. https://www.google.com/search?q=chinese seal identification&tbm=isch&hl=en-us&client=safari&prmd=isvn&sa=X&ved=0CBgQtI8BKAJqFwoTCIjg297qqPsCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAN&biw=375&bih=628&dpr=2
I would ask the member mlov43. He may see this post but I think he knows the language. Sorry for all the posting but I’m curious too lol.

 

Google Translate from photos is a modern-day miracle, but apparently it's not up to handwritten Chinese [?] yet, at least on my phone. I got suggestions of "people" or "population" and "pay", but I'm not having much luck getting further.

Maybe edit your title to ask for Chinese readers/speakers to help?

 

Pretty sure Mlov specializes in Korean. I’m half Chinese but a functional illiterate. I can see if I can ask my mom

 

Maybe Mlov43

That would be nice. Let Hiddendragon know you find out anything.

 

It looks like a Chinese stampless cover. I'm a philatelist but I know nothing about these. Perhaps someone fluent in Chinese can help.

 

Thanks for your interest in this. @Parthicus you've helped me with Chinese coins before. Do you know anything about this?

 

I dabble in stamps a little and I've heard the term "cover" but I thought it was just something made for collectors today. What exactly does the term mean?

 

As I understand, “cover” refers to an envelope that was sent with postage (or not, apparently), to someone else

 

I asked my mom and all she told me was “it’s an envelope sent to someone. Nothing special”

some of the characters she didn’t recognize.

thanks, mom!

 

Thanks for checking!

 

@Hiddendragon : This doesn't look like any official money or other document I'm familiar with. It does appear to be handwritten, which supports the "envelope sent to someone, nothing special" theory of @hotwheelsearl . Sorry, that's about all I can say. If anyone recognizes something special, I'd be eager to hear it.

 

No problem, thanks for the reply.

 

Basically that's it. In the old days, before postage stamps and even afterwards for a time, letters were folded and sealed because the rates were based on the number of pages of paper. An envelope was considered an extra page. And the recipient had to pay the postage. It got to the point where people were putting secret marks on the outside so that the recipient knew what the message was without opening the letter, and the letter was refused and given back to the postman without being paid for. In 1840 the Brits changed all this and were credited as being the first country to introduce postage stamps (although a few other areas experimented with stamps earlier). In the US, we issued our first stamps in 1847.

 

Early 20th Century Chinese Red Band Stampless Cover-local delivery. I have seen similar Red Band w/black ink priced at $5-$7, for the time period.
Possibly Sino.
If it had a British Indemnity Stamp, with CTO date, it would be a 2 Benjamin+ value.
If it was a red envelope, it would have of course been a Greeting Cash Gift envelope, and would be VERY doubtful it was a philatelic item.
It is very light, but is close to Peking Chop.
It is not Korean, although many of the Koreans of the time period could write in Chinese, read in Chinese, and speak Chinese...sort of Mandarin dialect mix.

I know stuff.

 

Thank you for "knowing stuff"! I really wanted to know what this was and I was afraid I was never going to know. It's not what I thought it was but it's still kind of neat, and since I paid $5 for it, it seems like that's about what it's worth so that's fair.

 

YW.