Japan Definitive Scott 748 Question

Here are two examples of Japan's 30y Shari-den of Engakuji definitive stamp (1962), Scott 748. Scott says this stamp is violet black, printed by photogravure, perf. 13. Incidentally, my two measure 13x13-1/2, but that's not why I'm posting this query. If you compare the two stamps, you can see they have some differences.



The details on the stamp on the left are not as clear as the details on the right stamp, especially along the front of the building. Also, the characters and numerals are outlined in white on the right stamp. The image below shows these differences clearly.



Scott only has one listing for this stamp, no varieties other than a perf. 13 (horiz.) coil stamp (Scott 755). So, was this stamp printed by two different methods? Was it reworked for a new printing? Does anybody have access to a Japan specialized catalog and can check this issue out for me? All responses will be greatly appreciated.

Regards, Robert

I have a Japan Philatelic Society specialized catalogue (JSCA), but no skills at reading the blasted thing. In my piles of books, I have various kanji dictionaries but everything's buried in boxes right now - I don't even know where to start looking for them ...

Be that as it may, there is a listing in the JCSA that is somewhat cryptic for this stamp. 375 a says "260, 250, 230" followed by a Japanese character and "45°", 375 b says "180" followed by the same character and "45°". I'd make a guess that these are photogravure screen densities, how tightly the dots are packed. The higher density screen is the original issue, released June 15 1962, and the coarser screen has a release date of Dec 12 1962. Both are minimum value used.

I tried Google Translate and attempted translations of "screen", "mesh", "web", "lattice", "dots", etc - nothing matched the character seen in my catalogue, oh well. So it's just a guess.

Michel and JSCA both show this stamp as perf 13 x 13-1/2.

OK, after fiddling around for half an hour, I think it's this character.



If not exactly this one, it's very, very similar - the upper left radical looks a bit different in my catalogue, but maybe that's just a font design issue. Among the translations are wire and thread, kind of like screen or mesh. Maybe.

Ryan

edit - forgot to mention, both varieties are minimum value.

Wow! Thanks for the info. I agree, the numbers may be related to screen density, especially when "45°" is part of the description. I'll have to do some dot counting and measuring tonight. I have a little experience with checking photogravure screen density with my Machin collection.

Cheers, Robert

I examined the screen on each stamp. The right stamp has nice distinct dots, making it easy to count the dots in a measured line. The left stamp has distinct dots in only a few places. Each stamp has a screen of 10 dots/mm in both directions. This equates to 180 dots/18mm, 200 dots/20mm or 254 dots/inch. I calculated the angle as 43 degrees (probably is 45 degrees with measurement error).

The 254 dots/inch falls in the range "260, 250, 230", if those numbers refer to screen density. But, I think, a screen density of 180 dots/inch would make for a very coarse looking design.

I'll try to dig up some more duplicates to examine. Maybe examining more will shed some light.

Regards, Robert

Ryan, if you can post a good big, clear scan of the relevant Japanese text, I should be able to sort it out for you.

If you often need to try to guess at Japanese, you might find this site http://ejje.weblio.jp/content more helpful than Google.

Too busy with work, not much time to check in on SCF for the time being. Oh well.

My scanner is part of an all-in-one with a dead printer, so it isn't hooked up at the moment. Rather than bother with that, I just took a photo and cropped that. It should be clear enough for Tony to figure it out. Did I get the right kanji character?

Ryan

You got it right Ryan. Congratulations! That only leaves another 1849 characters to go, and you'll have mastered all those that Japanese high school students are expected to know by the end of their schooling.

The Japanese reads
375 30 Yen a. 230, 250 , 260 lines, 45 degrees, PVA gum/plate [some unknown abbreviation], [same unknown abbreviation] ring (15 June 1962)
b. 180 lines, 45 degrees, PVA gum/plate [some unknown abbreviation] (7 December 1962)

Taking a wild stab at the unknown abbreviation, it might be '[photo]gravure'. It's probably some English word beginning with 'g'.

The 'lines' presumably refers to the photogravure screen, with b. being noticeably coarser. I have no idea what the 45 degrees is all about.