Cinderella stamps from Japan
Here are some 18th century “back of book” issues from Japan. Normally I wouldn’t know very little about these, but with little help from my online friends I’ve managed to ID these.
The first one is a 5 Sen document revenue stamp from 1885. In Japan, document revenue stamps are usually placed in the upper left or right corner of the front page (though the location is a matter of custom rather than law). The revenue stamp should have a chop seal (cancel) placed half over it and half over the agreement to protect against re-use. The stamp itselfs very traditional japanese in design: on the corners are cherry blossoms, on the middle is the chrysanthemum symbol(symbol of the emperor). Stamps from this set are relatively common findings especially in old collections of stamps.
Second stamp is 3 Sen bron tax revenues “shunyu inshi” from 1898 to 1909 set. The values 1 sen to 10 sen shows a design with a vine scroll “karakusa” in addition of the chrysanthemum symbol.
Third is a Japanese 15 Sen telegraph stamp issued in 1885. I’ve seen these sold on eBay monthly less than 0.10US$ a piece.
Fourth stamp is 3 Rin tobacco tax (duty) stamp. The series was issued in November 1875. The design is very cutting edge for the time: on the top is the chrysanthemum symbol, below that are four characters “tobako inshi” (tobacco duty) and face value. In the center is mount Fuji with two tobacco plants around. These stamps relatively easy to found even today as tobacco was very popular in Japan.
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hi – I am a cinderella stamp designer living in the UK and I am very impressed with your blog page. It is full of interesting information and very well laid out. We have just started a forum for cinderella stamp collectors and thought we were doing quite well but having seen your pages I must admit we are a bit embarrassed! We are at http://www.youforum.co.uk/cinderellastamps if you are interested in joining – we do not have any other members from Japan and so you will be most welcome.
Very best wishes, Colin Edwards
Hi Colin,
and thanks for kind words…
The site you link is…interesting… the discworld fan inside of me is more than pleased to find out such an interesting mixture of philately and fiction exists. I’ll be definitely dropping by.
PS. Actually I’m very far from japanese. I’m a 6′2″ finnish bloke living in a VERY cold country. No wonder how the all the old Norse myths about “frost giants” began…LOL.
Hi Keijo
Thanks for joining our cinderella stamps forum.
The joys of the internet! I have a Japanese friend named Keiko and I think I misread your name. How embarrassing :-0
You have a terrific site though and I will be sure to drop by regularly. I hope you will find time to contribute to our cinderella stamps forum too.
There is a very enthusiastic specialist Discworld stamps forum at discworldstamps.co.uk which will introduce you to the many Terry Pratchett fans who love the stamps there. I worked with illustrator Alan Batley on many of the first four years of the Discworld stamps for Terry Pratchett and I can assure you of a warm welcome on their site.
However, eBay is the best place to buy DW stamps as so many collectors are now selling their collections there and it is much better value than buying from the shop.
Best wishes, Colin
Oh the joys of the Cinderella stamps.
I would suggest that e-bay although a vibrant marketplace is sometimes more expensive in certain areas that buying direct from our shop.
The thing is that sometimes people put stamps up on e-bay when they are still being sold by us. Nothing wrong in that, but it does lead to some collectors paying a bit more than they need to.
The other factor which comes into play is there is a great deal of good old fashioned swapping that goes on via our forum.
In fact it was one of the main reason we started the forum over 5 years ago.
One of the great delights of philately, even when we are discussing Cinderellas is that there is a constant ebb and flow of collections changing hands. As one collector realises their investment so another collector discovers the delights of Discworld Stamps.
Some very good thoughts there, Bernard.
PLEASE NOTE that since first contacting you in september last year, the forum we started has moved due to problems with our original service provider.
It is now at:
http://www.cinderellastampsforum.com
and you and all collectors/enthusiasts of EVERY type of cinderella stamp – advertising stamps, revenues, merchants stamps, propoganda stamps etc – will be VERY welcome to post there.
Colin & Sara, thanks for the update. I’ll definitely try to drop in more often