Are These First Japanese Stamps ??

Could anyone help me out with these stamps, can't find it in Scott catalog.

They certainly are very pretty classic Japanese stamps! I do not know their catalog number though.

The inscription on the right side of the stamps indicate they are reproductions.

At that time, it was legal to make reproductions so long as they were marked as such on the front of the stamp.

The very clean paper of the left stamp, and also the style of the red cancels would also hint they were not genuine postage stamps. I almost thought they might have been revenues at first (I don't collect revenues, so I don't know much about revenues).

In case anyone is curious, on the right side, the 3rd character from the bottom means "counterfeit/fake".

Most of the time, that word is not used on the typical counterfeit inscribed stamps. I think I posted the 3 more common phrases (often hidden in the design) in another thread. In your examples, those 3 phrases are not used, but the side inscription is so dominant that it would not have caused any problems with the authorities -- only problems for us who aren't fluent in Japanese.

Here's a link to the thread.

https://goscf.com/t/6633

thanks khj, that's interesting information. What value could be for these both stamps?

Sorry, that I would not know. The great majority of forgeries/reproductions are worth significantly less than the originals.

These types of Japanese reproductions were sold by the pageful, although I have to admit I am not knowledgeable about the specific reproductions that you have posted.

Thanks for posting the pics!

k

These are revenues. The two large characters in the centre say so.

In fact, they aren't forgeries. I think khj has been misled by the warning in the left label, which reads something like 'Penalties apply for forgery'.

I wonder if we could ask Tony Macg to come into this thread,
with his appraisal of the text.
I have these as revenues, (invoices and payments)
and Forbin shows the eight
characters down the RHS

In my lot, the 1 sen grey has definitely two engravings
when you toggle the two images in ACDSee you can
spot the differences, but they all have your
"reproduction" character, so that sets off alarm bells.

The colours don't match, unless there was a later printing.?

v paul
You can see on this blog the 5 sen stamp on top just like you're stamps. It's a document revenue stamp from 1885.
http://www.stampcollectingblog.com/...om-japan.php

Rodney, this is a perfect example of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing.

The two inscriptions in the left and right hand labels form a complete sentence, warning that 'Counterfeiters of this revenue stamp will be liable to punishment'.

I note they are getting misled to a degree,
between a Revenue and a Cinderella.

You don't regard revenues as Cinderellas, then, Rod?

No I don't Tony, never have.

Thank you for the correction, Tony!

Yet another new thing I learned on SCF today!

k