at the rate of 1 Gold Yuan for 3,000,000 CNC dollars. This gave rise to a confusing number of overprinted stamps of the previous issues. By the time the new stamps appeared on the first day of 1949 inflation was still rampant, and three versions of this stamp were soon produced in Shanghai. The stamps engraved by the Dah Tung Co. came in nine values from $1.00 to $1000.00. This was followed by a $10.00 and a $20.00 engraved value from Central Trust. Since lithographed stamps could be produced more quickly, a set of 12 lithographed stamps from the Dah Tung Co. with values from $50.00 to $100,000 soon appeared, as did a fourth lithographed product from the Hwa Nan Printing Press of Chongqing with eight values from $50.00 to $500,000. In April 1949 The Gold Yuan in turn collapsed and was replaced by the Silver Yuan. This resulted in a new lithographed printing from the Hwa Nan Press in Chongqing with nine values from 1 cent to 500 cents. This set was the last Sun Yat-sen stamp issued before the division of China. The Gibbons catalogue treats this second issue as the fourteenth Issue. Provincial Issues In addition to the national issues and the wide range of overprints two additional original issues were produced with limited regional validity. Northeastern Provinces An issue of five stamps was made in February 1946. They are similar to the third issue except that the area around the head is unshaded and they were litho printed. In addition the stamps are overprinted with new values and characters which mean 'limited for use in the North East'. Normally such stamps would be classed in the overprinted issues but as the non-overprinted stamps were never issued these stamps may be treated as a separate issue. The stamps are mono-coloured and have values of 50c, 50c, $1.00, $2.00, $4.00. A new issue was produced for the North Eastern Provinces (mostly the former puppet republic of Manchukuo) by the Central Printing Works in Beijing in July 1946. This issued may be easily recognized by the column of small circles in the side panels. The stamps were engraved, perforated 14, and issued without gum. It was issued in two printings. The first included fourteen values from 5 cents to $50.00. The second printing in June 1947 was required because of inflation, and had ten values between $4.00 and $1,000.00.