1941 Airmail Stamp Post Marked Tokyo Bay

This Air mail stamp is cancelled "Tokyo Bay". Japan surrendered to the US in Tokyo Bay in 1945.




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JAM- How do you know that somebody didn't buy a rubber stamping kit at Walmart and just overprinted it . Is TOKYO BAY a post office or a mailing point ?

This was soaked off a philatelic cover marking the surrender of Japan in 1945 on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. I can't recall the naval ship, it may have been the Missouri, but the naval postal clerk inserted "Tokyo Bay" into the killer when he cancelled the covers.

See Lot 514 for the real thing.

http://stampauctionnetwork.com/f/f12526.cfm

In non-wartimes, it was common for US Navy vessels to insert their location in the killer bars. Many, many US ships were in Tokyo Bay in the weeks after the end of the war. While some of the mail would be "philatelic", much of it would be carrying real "live mail" back home to family and friends - the killer being merely a bonus.

Here is an example from the USS Ticonderoga, which did not get to Tokyo Bay until Sept 6 (too late for the ceremony on the USS Missouri), and mailed several days after arrival. It contains a small Japanese flag.



It is certainly authentic, but identifying which ship the original poster's "Tokyo Bay" killer came from is a challenge and the exact date certainly unprovable. It does not match lot 514 in the auction link above, but does broadly demonstrate the creativity of postal clerks to make-do during their ship's visit to the Bay.