Authentication And The Norms Within The Stamp Community? :) (Imperial Japanese Stamps)

Hello there,
So I found several sheets of old Imperial Japanese stamps, that my grandfather got from his father. (Bought from a auction house in the 1970's)
The stamps were all send to one of my grandfathers stamp buddies, to be authenticated, which is why I found them in postal packaging. My grandmother have told me, that the stamp buddy, was the go to "authentication guy" and that he has marked the stamps with either a "checkmark" or an "f".

The question is, if selling these stamps is in accordance to the stamp community norm and practice, if I explicitly state the situation, that I can't fully guarantee the autentication? Or if I should do something else in my position? (btw: I'm a broke student from Denmark, so it can not be to costly).

I of course have no desire to cheat anybody, why I seek clarity here.

Best regards Jonas.

The early material on these sheets, which were prepared for the tourist market, was commonly faked. Just put them on ebay stating that you don't guarantee authenticity.

I see many markings on the pages already as "Falsch" or "f" as you noted. Still they are nice old stamps and I would keep them intact on those vintage pages rather than trying to separate out any of the stamps to sell individually. Not worth spending any money to send them for authentication, in my opinion.
The presentation as a whole is better than the individual stamps which are probably all common and/or reproductions. They are not worthless, but they are not as valuable as the catalog listings may imply.
Selling them yourself "as is" on ebay is one option. For better visibility, you might do better sending them to a large-volume ebay dealer on consignment for a commission. Although they may have minimums and there might not be enough here to meet their minimums. Another option is a direct sale to a dealer, either locally at a stamp show, or over the Internet. Send these photos to 2 or 3 dealers and see if there is any interest. Likely they will have the same advice, ebay, either yourself, or by someone with lots of followers for better visibility.

If you scroll through this ebay uk "sold items" list, you'll get an idea of what they sell for, and where you might pitch them, if desired.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_...H_Complete=1

Tourist stuff. Falsch. Not worth much or much effort. Leave intact. More of a curiosity keepsake.

Thx for all the good answers.

These are called "tourist sheets" in the Japanese stamp collecting world. And most of the stamps on these sheets are undoubtedly not authentic, but copies (sometimes very good ones) of real stamps.

It was very common in the late 19th century, as Japan westernized or modernized, for foreign visitors to go there. To offer them one type of souvenir to buy, these sheets of "stamps" (really copies of stamps) were created in very large numbers to sell to them, such large numbers in fact that these fake stamps may very well exceed the number of real stamps issued. They're literally called "tourist sheets" and they consist of some cheap real stamps mixed together with copies (forgeries, if you prefer) of less common, more rare stamps. Any of the more valuable stamps you see on a tourist sheet are almost definitely copies of real stamps.

Over time, these forgeries have mixed in with all the real stamps to such an extent and in so many different varieties that entire guide books showing which forgery and which forger a particular stamp came from have been published. Some of the forgers were very good, some were not. Since they weren't intended for postal use or to cheat the Japanese government, they may have been tolerated. There's been a great deal of study of the different versions of these stamps over the years.

Among early Japanese stamps, it's nearly always a good idea to assume that the stamp you are looking at is likely a forgery -- as most of these undoubtedly are. This is especially true of Japan's first four stamps (Scott #1-4). Nearly every one you will every come across is likely a forgery. It does make it easy to fill album spaces!

In selling them, leave them on the sheets and sell them as what they are, "tourist sheets". They are not worth much money, I'm afraid, since there were so many of them. Hopefully collectors will leave them on the sheets, too, and not mix them further into the general pool of Japanese stamps -- but of course many will remove them. Still, with a decent catalogue, the real stamps can be identified without too much trouble. You just have to know where to look.