Unusual Japan Stamp ID Question

I generally have no problems identifying Japanese postal items from searching dealers pages around the world but this one I have given up on. The asteric * before the value is new to me. Any Japan experts here?

These are what Scott calls computer vended postage, like the US stamps issued by PO machines allowing any denomination to be set on the base stamp.

These are undoubtedly listed by the JSDA and other Japan catalogs; hopefully someone here can give you a number and date for this pair.

That is listed by Scott as 2560C, issued April 10, 1997.

Thank you for your help with this, mystery solved.

Cheers, Nick

Yes, I think the reason that this is not considered computer-vended postage is because there are only certain denominations that could be purchased, as opposed to being able to purchase a stamp in any number of variable amounts. So I think that's why this stamp and the other 5 values have full main-section catalog listings.

The denominations of the 6-issue set are:

50, 80, 90, 120, 130, and 270 yen.

While most of them carry the typical Scott valuation (face value converted to US$ at the prevailing exchange rate at that time, x 2), note that the 130-yen stamp carries quite a premium.

In the 2018 catalog, the 130-yen stamp (Scott 2560D), is valued at $25.00 mint never hinged and $11.00 used. (But also note that these are italicized values, which is an indication that Scott feels the stamp is difficult to value accurately.)

This whole subject of valuing stamps has turn into a mess during the past 20 years . The catalogs have lost their main source of information .Dealers no longer run full page ads or make price list .

How can all the catalogs arrive at a price without any supporting information ? The whole system has been on cruise control for 20 years .

The Coil stamps in question:

Responding to floortrader's comment, I have talked with some dealers who provide price information directly to Scott, based on their own perceptions of the market. Many of these people are listed in the Acknowledgements immediately following the Table of Contents in Scott. In many cases, and especially for rare or unusual material, there may be no "objective" step involving publicly-available price lists.

Rare and unusual material will show up in public auction and much easier to track price .

"Base on their own perception of the market" ---Thanks that is the answer I was looking for .They are not dealing from actual sales and their own sales .

In fairness, I would say that those dealers tend to base their price quote on their own sales, but I was told two other things that may be relevant: 1) If you are a major specialty dealer, it is important for you to actively "make a market" and 2) Scott often gets conflicting prices from different sources. I don't know how they reconcile those differences.

Some catalogs list and price computer-vended stamps, and some do not. Scott appears to be going against its own "no list" policy by cataloging and pricing these stamps. This is probably because of the horizontal perforations, size/format, and design of the stamps.

There are many, many examples of computer-vended stamps only being available in specific, programmed values. In fact, almost all of the early, more "primitive" issues were sold this way. Even with the more modern machines where continuously variable values are sold, they are at least limited by the number of digits available.

I believe Scott has has listed these stamps because someone on the editorial staff doesn't understand what they are. What other reason could there be?