Need Help Identifying 3 Rows Of 22 Japanese Stamps. And +

Well... hello.
I'm new, and I'm pretty illiterate in terms of stamps/ collecting.
I found in an old book, a paper.
The paper when opened was noticeably in 3 single parts.
3, same size, vertical strips, with a fold on the top.
It's French. (I presume) "Collection De Timbres."
Al of the 22 stamps are stamped/marked.
The 3 other "stamps" have handwriting on them.
The first one (red) has neat, uniform letters.
The second (beige) handwriting is kinda slurry.
And the third one, the blue.
It must be a Japanese doctor. :D

They also have writing in the back, I could see it when I shone a light behind the paper.


I don't even "know" if it's Japanese :P

I'll upload a picture.

I'm pretty sure that this what is called a Japanese tourist sheet. Just like the name implies, they were sold to tourists visiting Japan, especially dock-side at the port of Yokohama.

Probably the best summary of them is in this article from Michael Rogers that was published in Linn's several years ago:

http://www.michaelrogersinc.com/Mic...ticle-1.html

Despite the condition, I would leave everything as is, and not try to remove the stamps or postal cards.

As the article says, intact tourist sheets are collectible in their own right, although, as you can see, this one has major condition issues.

Wow. Thanks.
Do you think I should do something with it?
In terms of selling.
And is this 'sellable?

It is a Japanese Tourist Sheet -- in pretty bad condition. It appears to have its normal share of low-value Japanese definitives, spattered with revenues, postal cards, etc. Some sheets have some scarcer early Japanese issues, but it is hard to tell by the scan o this sheet. Some sheets were produced by the great Japanese forgers like Kamigata (sp), Kuriowa, Wada and others, and have some extremely deceptive early Japanese reference pieces.

Unfortunately, over the years, collectors destroyed these sheets, just to get the stamps and today too few sheets remain intact. Intact, clean sheets and bring some nice money in the Japanese market, depending on the stamps and cancellations on the sheet.

While the sheet is less than desirable, I agree with Philatarium, I would leave the sheet as is, as the stamps off the sheet are worth "zilch" and any attempt to remove the cards would destroy them.

And in terms of saleable? It would have to be shown to a knowledgeable Japanese Collector or sent to someone like Michael Rogers as there is "NO ONE" -- and I mean "NO ONE" who can just look at a picture of early Japanese stamps and give you an opinion of value. If they say they can -- run as fast as you can the other way.


P.S. Also, there is no way anyone can give you Sc# on Japanese Stamps by looking at this image.

Someone who understands toning and foxing better than I do can make more-informed recommendations, but that is the other big problem with it (aside from the separation), and therefore with the stamps and postal cards as well. Certain types of discoloration actually spread to other "non-infected" paper items, so just be careful with how you store it, even for the time being.

The other question in my mind is that I don't know how uncommon it is to have one in French. I _may_ have the monograph that was issued about this. If I do, I'll see what I can find out.

I may also know how to contact the author of that study, and, if so, I'll forward a link to this post along to him.

I would say just hang on to it for now -- but carefully!

Thanks for showing it! It's nice to see one with all the stamps on it, despite the condition challenges.

- - - - - - -

By the way, the top full row of stamps are postage stamps (definitives), and the bottom full row are revenues. With those 2 stamps in the upper-right corner, the left one is a commemorative (Scott #85, Japan's first commemorative (used catalog value of $3.00, but in 'very fine' condition), and the right one is a revenue. It's hard to tell much about the 3 postal cards, and I can't comment on the cancels, but the cards look typical for that time.

To emphasis a point made in that article I linked to, tourist sheets were a major source of early Japanese forgeries (for the postal issues -- as far as I know, this isn't a problem for the revenues), so yours may or may not have forgeries among the selection.

I have to correct my earlier
I need qualify that statement to early Japanese issues seen on Japanese Tourist Sheets (Sc#1-84), through the 1930's (again on Tourist Sheets.

Hal

Hal, by the way, I sent you an email through the SCF system, to ask you a question.

Thank you guys for 'elucidating' me on this issue.
I don't know which path I'm gonna take yet.

Micheal Rogers? Im sorry, I am literally, an 'illiterate' to the stamp community/world.
:P

Philatorium, I'd greatly appreciate it, if you could find the author of the monograph you referred to.

Michael Rogers is a dealer who specializes in the orient.

You'll find Michael Rogers is now with Daniel F. Kelleher Auctions

http://db.kelleherauctions.com/asia/home.php

I have not yet found my copy of the monograph, and I probably won't easily, because I still have a lot of material in storage.

But, I did find this snippet that another ISJP member and forgery specialist wrote about French sheets:




(From here: http://kobans.blogspot.com/2009/07/...ompiled.html )

So I don't think your tourist sheet being in French will outweigh the condition factors that it has.

However, you might try to flag down the guy who wrote that above. I have seen him participating on this board not that long ago, but I cannot remember the name he goes by here. However, if you changed your title in the original post to something like: Japanese Tourist Sheet question

you'd probably catch his attention.

Otherwise, please feel free to contact him directly through his blog. From him, you could perhaps get a sense if this particularly variety that you have is as commonplace as that excerpt suggests.

You could also contact the author of the monograph, Ron Casey. He is the current president of the Int'l Society for Japanese Philately, and you can find his email address here: http://www.isjp.org/officers

I personally am typically a bit reluctant to contact authors directly in situations like this, because I feel like they all-to-often get asked what something is and how much it's worth. But that could just be me.

What an interesting question this has turned out to be!

ISJP Monograph No. 17: The Tourist Sheets and Booklets of Japan
*** Edited by Staff - Please Review the rules that you agreed to when you registered. ***

These are cool. Individual items appear genuine and were commonly (cheaply) available before 1900. This is what Ron Casey calls "Imitation Tourist Sheet." An imitations of the Wada and Kamigataya sheets, that was produced by a non-forger.)

Not philatelically valuable. Cleaner ones sell for less than $10 on ebay. Matted, framed and priced in an antique shop, they do much better.

The foxing is an issue. It can't be removed by mere mortals. I remember dusting a foxed piece with baking soda and then with pure talc. Can't remember if the result was appreciable. I also recall using kitty litter (for the musty smell of old books).