JAPAN 1871-1875

Return To Catalogue - Japan 1876-1899 - Japan 1900-1920 - Forgeries of 1871 issue - Spiro forgeries of the 1872 issue - Other forgeries of the 1872 issue - Forgeries of the 1874 issue and later issues - Miscellaneous

Note: on my website many of the pictures can not be seen! They are of course present in the cd's;
contact me if you want to purchase them: evert@klaseboer.com.

Currency: 1 yen = 100 sen = 1000 rin

Attention: many forgeries exist from the issues 1871-1875 see Forgeries of Japan. Among them forgeries made by Wada Kotaro, the Spiro Brothers, Hirose, and other unkown forgers. Warning: since I'm not an expert in this field, some of the stamps shown here might be forgeries! More information on forgeries can be found on the website: http://isjp.org/expert/index.html or www3.ns.sympatico.ca/mack.strathdee/index3.htm.

1871 Rectangular stamps, only Japanese text, so-called 'Dragon series'

Imperforate, value in Mon (unity of weight)

Genuine stamps

Genuine? 500 m blue, genuine?

  48 m brown
  100 m blue
  200 m red
  500 m blue

Perforated, value in sen

Image obtained from Chirster Bergstrom

  1/2 s brown
  1 s blue
  2 s red
  5 s blue

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
Value in Mon
48 m	R	RR
100 m	RR	RR
200 m	RR	RR
500 m	RR	RR
Value in Sen
1/2 s	R	RR
1 s	RR	RR
2 s	RR	RR
5 s	RR	RR

For Forgeries of this issue, click here.

1872 Inscription 'SEN' value and Chrysanthemum in design, various sizes, 'Cherry Blossoms' in the four corners

1 s brown, japanese caracter in rectangle above lower 'SEN' 1 s brown, no caracter above lower 'SEN' 2 s red 2 s yellow

  1/2 s brown
  1/2 s grey
  1 s blue
  1 s brown
  2 s red
  2 s yellow
  4 s red
  4 s green
  10 s green
  10 s blue
  20 s violet
  20 s red
  30 s grey
  30 s violet

Small varieties exists from the 1/2 s brown, the 1 s brown, the 2 s yellow and the 4 s green.

(With 'Mihon' or 'Specimen' overprint)

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
1/2 s brown	**	**
1/2 s grey	**	**
1 s blue	***	**
1 s brown	***	**
2 s red	***	**
2 s yellow	***	*
4 s red	***	**
4 s green	***	**
10 s green	***	***
10 s blue	***	**
20 s violet	***	***
20 s red	**	**
30 s grey	R	***
30 s violet	***	***

I;ve seen postal stationary, in the values 1 s green ans 2 s yellow, in the same design.

For Spiro forgeries of the 1872 issue, click here or here for other forgeries of the 1872 issue

1874 Chrysanthemum in the center of the design

  5 s green (1876)
  6 s violet
  6 s orange

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
5 s	***	***
6 s violet	R	***
6 s orange	***	**

For forgeries; click here.

1875 Various birds, goose, wagtail and falcon

Plate number 3
(Genuine stamps)

  12 s red
  15 s lilac
  45 s red

(Plate number 1 on a 45 s stamp; genuine)

Note: these stamps have platenumbers (between the value and 'SEN'). Three different plate numbers exist for each stamp.

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
12 s	***	***
15 s	***	***
45 s	***	***

For forgeries; click here.

Forgeries, Tourist sheets

The following sheets are so-called Tourist Sheet made by the forger Wada. They were called like this since they were often offered to tourists. The first sheet contains 8 forged dragon stamps, 36 forged cherry blossom stamps and 16 forged Koban stamps, all made by Wada. It also contains 19 genuine stamps.

Fournier forged cancels

Some forged cancels, made by the forger Fournier, as they can be found in 'The Fournier Album of Philatelic Forgeries'. I don't know on which forged stamps Fournier used these cancels. (Reduced size).