Unknown Gouran-Nasai Tokio Japanese Stamp

What is this stamp Gouran-Nasai Tokio?

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Thanks.

I'm thinking this might be a trade association-type stamp. I can say for sure it's not a regular postage stamp, so that's why you won't be able to find it in a regular stamp catalog.

I'll see if I can find something more in my references.

-- Dave

Except for the Roman characters in a circle around the middle (and I acknowledge that's a big "except"), it looks very similar to a stamp on the 2nd row of this page:

http://eng.ssjp.dk/rev/eng/rev/tax1898.html

which is a general revenue stamp. I'm still thinking that it may either be either a local consortium or a trade association. Googling those 3 names didn't reveal anything helpful to me.

Sorry I can't be more helpful. Hopefully someone will chime in who know more.

-- Dave

Thank you

You bet!

Hi e-rock-in and welcome to the forum. Could you do me a favor and try to describe your item better in the Topic Title? A topic title of "Japan" is just way too general. If you want some help identifying something, please use something like: "Unknown Gouran-Nasai Tokio Japanese Stamp". Thanks.

Ok, thanks! But, still unknown :)

Dear all, this is indeed a mysterious stamp!

As Philatarrium has mentiined, the design does resemble the general revenue stamp series, but with different colour and the rather curious Roman characeters in the middle.

The Roman characters, "Gouran nasai" could be translated as "have a look" (in a polite way of saying). It does not sound as a name of a company or some association, which we often find on private seals.

The surrounding Kanji caharacters are "Nihon Seifu Shu-nyu In-Shi", meaning "Japanese Government Revenue Stamp". I also believe that the usage of chrysanthemum flower design, which was the symbol of the emperor (and thus the empire) was quite strictly controlled to official use. Thus this stamp could not be any private issued seal or whatever.

Unlike the classic postage stamps such as dragon and cherrry blossom series, these general revenue stamps are abundant on the market have very low market price, so definetely no need to make forgeries as space fillers. The design and colour is totally different so the stamp could not be a forgery for fraud usage (noone would make such easily-detectable copy, and of such low face value!)

So, not a private issued stamp, not an regular government issue, not a forgery....

Could this be an essay or test printing for the regular issue, having different design with Roman characters in the centre ? if so, this could be a really interesting item...

-- Hironobu

Thank you. I'd love to know what it was ...

Dear Hironobu,
What mean the symbols around?

First of all, I have to defer to Unechan on this stamp. I know nothing of Japanese stamps, let alone revenues - I'm just a translator.

However, the Romanisation in the oval around the centre baffles me. The GOURAN NASAI makes no sense, as Romanisation. It would have to be



Now, if the 'U' was omitted, it would be



which is indeed 'Please have a look'.

The 'TOKIO' is also odd. The proper Romanisation in this system would have been TOUKYOU. From memory, the (mis-)spelling of Tokyo as 'TOKIO' dates from the 1920s and 1930s, and was usually found in Western countries. I think I might have seen it once or twice from Japan, in that time period, though.

I can't help wondering if the stamp is bogus - just a fantasy creation - by someone with a limited knowledge of Japanese.

Thank you!
Does anyone know any philatelists from Japan? Very much like to know the history of this stamp!

Hello tonymacg, many thanks for your interesting observation.

I do agree with the odd usage of "U" in "GOURAN", and this also is confusing me. I thought is was by a Japanese person with limited knowledge of Romanization; I believe that very limited people in Japan at that time (mid of Meiji era) have had good knowledge on that.

However, I just noticed that the number of the petals of chrysanthemum crest is 13, whereas the correct number should be 16. This would be a fatal mistake for a Japanese designer or engravor, so I changed my mind that this stamp may be made by non-Japanese person...

About "TOKIO", the spelling matches with the one used in (postage) cancellations at that time. The earlier cancellations (Early Large Circle datestamps: Dec.1877 - Mar. 1880) used "TOKEI", and from April 1880, "TOKIO" was used until around 1945. It is after the second WW that "TOKYO" appears in cancellations (note: very limited exceptions of "TOKYO" cancellations exists in 1910-1911).

So, the mystery still remains...

And can it be withdrawn from circulation stamp just because 13 petals chrysanthemum. Error in design or something like that?

Hello e-rock-in, let us summarize what we have observed so far;

- This stamp is definitely not a legal postage stamp or revenue stamp from all aspects that we have been discussing.

- We also can withdraw the possibility of philatelic reproduction or illegal forgery as the design is totally different from the 2 sen general revenue stamp issued in 1898, which is printed in green.



[Note:] In the general revenue stamp series of 1898, 1 sen, 2 sen, 3 sen, 5 sen and 10 sen have the same design as shown below (from left to right). Listed as Japan General Revenues, general duty 1898, No. 27 to No. 31 in Barefoot catalogue, 2006, p.88.



- We also can withdraw the possibility of private company seals or cinderellas as the design bears "Japanese Government Revenue Stamp" and chrysanthemum crest. Also, the "GOURAN-NASAI" does make no sence to be a name of a company or any association.

- The rather poor quality in design, including the wrong chrysanthemum crest petals and the rather incorrect Kanji characters may suggest that this stamp is not made by Japanese person.

Hope this helps you.

Hello again e-rock-in,

The Kanji characters of the 2 sen revenue (and also in your mysterious stamp) could be read like this ;



The "Reisho" font is used, which is rather different from the currently used fonts. In a modern font, they should look like this. Please note that they should be read from top to bottom, from right to left.