Issued on March 24, 1912, this overprinted ½ Chinese cent stamp belongs to the iconic "Coiling Dragon" series, repurposed during the establishment of the Republic of China. Originally engraved in deep brown and printed without watermark, the stamp features a curled imperial dragon encircled by the bilingual inscription "CHINESE IMPERIAL POST." The present block of four shows the vertical redrawn Sung-style overprint in black, reading "Republic of China" (中華民國), applied shortly after the Qing Dynasty’s fall to assert the authority of the new republican government. This example bears a complete Shanghai circular datestamp, consistent with treaty port usage. The stamps were printed by the Custom Statistical Department, Shanghai, in collaboration with Waterlow & Sons Ltd., and exhibit mixed line perforation ranging from 12 to 16. Catalogued as Michel CN-IM 94, Scott CN-IM 146, Yvert et Tellier CN-IM 83, Stanley Gibbons CN-IM 192, and China Stamp Society CN-IM 184a, this multiple remains a strong historical emblem of China’s early republican transition, combining imperial iconography with revolutionary typography. Estimate "$180 – 250"