Japan Empress Jingu New Values Help

floortrader, thank you for the very nice image. This is the Y5 value of the "Old High Values" with the empress Jingu with Taisho wmk on granite paper. The unwatermarked issue is on white paper. It also occurs with a "Shina" overprint listed in Japan Offices in China (these are pricey). You can see that, in addition to the bells, it has the chrysanthemum crest signifying the emperor (which was eliminated in all post WWII stamps), and cherry blossoms (which often signify the fleeting transientness of corporal life).
BTW, for the New High Values with Taisho wmk on granite paper, the mint stamps are listed with different prices for those with gum arabic (A) versus dextrose gum (D) in the catalog images I posted yesterday.

I found and just now purchased this Scott #254, of 1937; the seller's image...

The "Taisho emperor" did not quite make it to a 15th year of his reign, 14 years and 5 months rather, therefore I believe this to be a #254, and postmarked during the 15th year of the reign of the "Showa" emperor, November 18, 1940, if I'm correct.

I agree with you StampGuy64. The paper looks like white paper (not granite), which corresponds to the issue in Showa 12 (1937)

Thanks dandow. I just got in what was supposed to be the 1908 Jingu 5y & 10y set, but it's that of 1914 actually, the 5y at least.. Still, the 5y is a much better copy than the one I had posted previously.

Yes, the stamp advertised as Japan, Scott #254 is indeed that...

1937, 10y dull violet, and postmarked on November 18, 1940...

Also, the paper is non-granite, ordinary...

I was able to just tease out the watermark. It isn't prominent at all...


It's a shame that the cancellation obscured the portraiture to that extent, but it is what it is. If only it had been stamped a little over towards the right.

Yes stampguy. the Showa wmk is often hard to see even with wmk fluid or a nice light table....

I had the stamp under water, against a glossy-black background, which did the trick.

I finally got round to processing the scans...


The 5y green benefitted most.

The watermark of 10y is a bit difficult to see...

I didn't notice this until I processed the scans: within the ribbons and flowers at the top of both, surrounding the chrysanthemums, the ribbons form the numerals of the values...

Not a bad buy at all.