In the early 1960's I was impressed by the quality
of the stamps of Japan printed in multicolour photogravure.
The Japan Government Printing Works produced stamps
not only for Japan but also the Ryukyu Islands and the
United Nations.
I bought some of the Stamp Week and Letter Writing Week
issues because I really liked the design and the
multicolour printing which was still fairly new for stamps
in those days.
Yes that's hard to believe compared to nowadays when almost
every stamp of any country is printed multicoloured ofset/litho
and very rare to see any issued in monochrome.
I even sent away to the Japan Philatelic Department in 1964
and bought what current commemoratives were available.
The amazing thing is that the majority of these Japanese
stamps have such a low catalog value and if I were younger I would
easily acquire a complete post WWII collection for probably
a very reasonable price.
The interesting thing for me is the quality and type of
photogravure printing by the Japan Government Printing Works
compared to lets say Harrison & Sons and Courvoisier.
Scott 757 1962
Look at the fine screening.
Scott 828 1964
The green and orange colours look unscreened photogravure.
The blue screening is at 90° whereas the purple is at 45°
Posted 04/11/2015 6:12 pm
