Possible Japan Revenue -- Identification Assistance Requested

Just purchased a large selection of Japanese revenue stamps. The stamp pictured above was included in the packet.

Stamp is not in great condition. But have never seen a stamp like this before. Have you?

Am awaiting delivery of Barefoot's South East Asia Revenues catalogue.


TIA

Jim

Are you sure this is a Japanese stamp? The characters look more dense and square-like than Japanese characters generally do, which would lead me to believe this might be a China stamp of some kind. Would love to know for sure what it is when you find out. I'm commenting in hopes that it will bump your post up and someone more knowledgeable will answer.

Thank you for your post. Simply put, am not certain of the country of origin. Current thinking is stamp should be rotated 90 degrees CCW.

After many years as a WW collector recently decided to focus on a few Asian countries. Including Japanese revenues. To support this new interest have purchased several specialist books/publications.

Eagerly await the arrival of South East Asia Revenues catalogue, which I hope will reveal the answer. If it does, will share with the Forum.

You are correct that the stamp needs to be reoriented counterclockwise.

I'm pretty sure that this is from Japan or China. I'm thinking Japan, because I think I've seen them before, but I can't say that authoritatively. It is written in Chinese characters ('kanji' in Japanese).

However, if it is Japan or China, I don't believe it'll be covered by the Barefoot Southeast catalog. I can't seem to access their site at the moment to confirm (it times out), but Japan and China, among others, are typically considered East Asia. Southeast Asia is usually Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and the other neighbors down there.

I think this has to do with a Communications Ministry in Japan, but I've asked on a specialty site and will let you know what I find it.

Just happened to find the right page in the Shimomura Japanese revenues catalog.

Yes, it's from the Japanese Communications Ministry. There are 3 listings that it could be (and I'd have to get out the Japanese dictionary to find out the difference among them), but they're all low-value unused or used (30-100 yen), and were issued 1941-1946.

I'll add to this answer if I get a more in-depth response.

Nice one Philatarium, had me stumped.

Hi,

This looks like a copy of Japan OS10. It is one of a series of post office seals for domestic mail, from the Ministry of Communications in Japan.

It is on page 276 from my book Official Seals of the World; an excerpt is shown below.

Jim

John Barefoot's South East Asia Revenues catalogue covers a very wide geographical area including Japan.

These stamps are not listed although many national and prefecture issues are.

There is a general note in the introduction saying the catalogue generally excludes "tax paid" revenues which have no face value.

I had guessed these would fall into that category until I read James' post just now.

Nigel, I'm surprised that it does. Does it also include China, Korea, Mongolia?

Here's the listing from the 2003 edition of Shimomura. (Not the most current edition, but the latest I have.)

Here are the contents:

The catalogue explicitly excludes mainland China.

Thanks, Nigel! That's very interesting.

Honestly, the title should say something like Revenues of East Asia & Southeast Asia (finessing the mainland China exception somehow), as these are distinctions that are meaningful to people with some familiarity of the region. I fear he may be missing some sales.

(Sorry, I'm an old East Asia history major. I also double-checked several sources online before I made my first post, just in case the "rules" had changed since I was a student. This distinction still exists.)

Jim, that's a very impressive reference! And in English, no less!

And thanks, Rodney! Although it looks like it was only minutes away from being answered by several others, even more authoritatively!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to help identify this stamp for me. Much appreciated.

As previously stated, am awaiting delivery of several Japanese philatelic reference items. An attempt to build a knowledge base quickly.