What To Do With My Japanese Stamps?

Hello everyone,

I have a load of Japanese stamps, bought in lots from ebay.
Now I am sorting them on year in my Japan-album.

Now comes the story:

I always looked and sorted my Japanese stamps via Stampworld.com.
But sometimes it takes literally hours to sort that one stamp.
Today I was sorting again a Japanese stamp, and I got angry because I could not find it on Stampworld.

I get very often angry about the Japanese stamps, because it is so difficult to find the right one on Stampworld.

Can you guys (and girls too) help me to get those Japanese stamps sorted out, but quicker?

I have three options (as far my knowledge goes):

• Buying a Michel catalogue for ± 85 euros...


• Searching forever on Stampworld...


• Get everyday mad at my stamps...

Please people help me...
Maybe is somewhere an other good free/paid catalogue-site like Stampworld?

I hope that you'll can help me, getting my stamps faster sorted out.

Greetings from a fresh Holland,

Rik
PS. I have Autism and a panic disorder, so maybe I can react a little odd.


*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

rikdegraaff...I know your frustration..I am NO Japanese stamp expert and hope some one can rescue you...Hey, but the Canadians did rescue Holland in WW2...haha..But not his time......good luck.

I have no idea what these stamps are worth, but the real issue here is how much do you value your time? How much time would you save if you have the Michel catalog? If this is an important collection to you, and you spend a lot of time on it, and would save a lot of time with the catalog, you might consider the catalog well worth the money you spend to purchase it.

I would also just ask: is the price you quoted for the catalog "new," and is there a good aftermarket for used catalogs? Here in the US, we can often cut the price of a Scott's catalog considerably by buying one that is a year or two out of date. Is that a possibility for you?

Basil

@wert: You guys in did a great job in WW2, that's for sure.
And thanks for your message.

@blcjr:

Hi Basil,
The price quoted, is indeed for a brand new 2013 Japan Michel catalogue.
But I can't find a second-hand one here in Holland...

And I am thinking, is buying a (new or second-hand) catalogue time saving...?
I love the stamps from Japan, but I cannot search for hours for one stamp.
That's making me mad.

A lot of it is just experience. My wife, who collects Japan, can just look at a stamp and instantly know where in the catalog it appears and it takes only a few minutes to find it. She's been doing it for years, she uses the Sakura catalog (which is a lot cheaper than Michel, at least here in the U.S.) and she knows Japanese stamps very well. It just takes time to get to that level of experience.

But if you're getting frustrated with the stamps, something tells me you have the wrong hobby. This is supposed to be relaxing, not stressful. These things take as long as they take. If you insist that everything goes fast, I fear you're always going to be disappointed.

Another possibility, which may be not only the least expensive, but also the best, would be to buy a Sakura catalog, produced in Japan. Every stamp is pictured in color. This is particularly helpful on the prefectural stamps and on a lot of more recent stamps, where there were 10 or 20 different designs on 1 sheet.

It shouldn't be very expensive, although if you don't shop around, you could end up paying more than you ought to. (The 2013 edition, the most recent I have, was 800 yen, so maybe US $9.00, but the price is often 1.5 to 2 times that, to allow for shipping, currency conversion, etc. -- But I do see sellers trying to offer it for US $30-50, so beware.)

I'm not recommending this seller, but they are in the UK, so perhaps shipping would not be as onerous to you as to the US.

http://japanphilatelic.com/catalog/...ducts_id=807

Note that they also offer the 2014 edition for considerably less:
http://japanphilatelic.com/catalog/...ducts_id=798

You may well be able to find these for less in the Netherlands.

Hope this is helpful! Please don't hesitate to ask more questions.

-- Dave

Edit for clarity: I was composing my post when Cephus posted his.

I agree with Cephus. Save getting mad for work, public transport and football. Why not put the straightfrward material in your album(s), and leave the tricky stuff until you have the time and inclination. When I returned to stamp collecting, I had no intention of worrying about perforations, watermarks etc. Gradually, I got drawn in, and now get innocent pleasure from assembling complex groups of classic era stamps. But I have certain blocs of stuff - eg late-19th century Romania - that is really going to have to wait until I'm in the right frame of mind.

You could try searching topic or theme on ebay, not for catalogue value but for year and sometimes catalogue number, depending on the catalogue used by the seller. Also Delcampe dot net.

You may, of course, post images here or on another topic you start, for us to look at and help out with. I know little , others probably know more.

Used stamps have dated cancels / postmarks, and some searching on Google may turn up stamps by theme or topic also.

I am not sure of another catalog at this time, search on SCF for info perhaps. I do not use the one you mention usually myself so don't know it well.

I use a Scott catalog and I run into the same problem, especially on recent issues. I like Japanese stamps a lot, but they issue so many of them and 80Y was the rate for so long that trying to find one specific 80Y stamp in the catalog is exremely frustrating. It's slightly easier for older issues and prefectures, but it can still take a very long time to find a stamp. My unmounted Japanese stamps keep piling up because all I can think about is the aggravation it will cause to try and find the right space in my Steiner album. Usually I'll get through about 10 or 20% of them in one sitting and then swear it off again for another couple months. I might just have to stop my Japanese collection at the switch from 62Y to 80Y to save myself some headaches. If they just would have put micro-printed dates on them in Arabic numerals, that would have made it soooooo much easier. How dare those Japanese not cater to us Western collectors illiterate in Japanese! :)

Edited to add: this is where a smartphone app that auto-catalogs your stamps would be incredibly convenient. Most of the time spening a minute or two finding a stamp in the catalog is fine. In fact I somewhat enjoy it. Spending 10 minutes looking at every listing in excruciating detail and still not finding it is aggravating. If I could take a picture with my phone and have it ID'd for me, that would be great. That app will never happen, but it would be great all the same. Maybe the Japanese postal administration should help develop one!

You can always post the tough ones right here. I enjoy a stamp ID challenge.

Robert

Rik, you have a PM.

@Philatarium

Sure you were, we believe that! :)

But no, it's good advice and you don't even need to get a new Sakura catalog unless you're working with the latest stamps. You should be able to get an older volume much cheaper. I just went and looked and the last one we have is 2012, the one before that was 1995.

Hi to all

Talk about relaxing, a Judge here in Australia made a comment "Who on earth would want to collect stamps, stamp collectors are just hoarders"
It was in relaxation to a collection that had had stamps illegally removed and sold by the perpetrator.
Obviously the Judge needs a hobby.

I can spend hours examining all the stamps I have, and it always amazes me what interesting varieties turn up, especially in the KGV Australian stamps.
Horamakhet.

There is also Reverse Image search on Tin Eye or Google or such.

Or Google Image Search for say J'japan 80y stamp' , etc.

Hi,

The Japan Post has an archive of the stamps issued from 1997. Although the entire menu is in Japanese, it might be useful to search for recent issues, where they started releasing many different design in a single issue.

For commemorative issues;

http://www.post.japanpost.jp/kitte_...ichiran.html

For "Furusato" (hometown) series;

http://www.post.japanpost.jp/kitte_...ichiran.html

You can narrow down your search by using the "Select stamps by theme/topic" menu on the same Web page (see attached image for instructions); should work to find some specific isuues, such as the Amine (cartoon) series.




Hope this helps you.

Regards,
unechan