Japan Revenues - Hand Engraved Documentary Issues

Japan Hand Engraved (Etched) Documentary Revenue - Second Issue (1874).

5 Yen dark purple 

Printed on foreign paper, rouletted.  Only one plate.   Very tough one to collect, Unused copy is hitherto not found.  Unfortunately no copy in my collection, so I have to adopt the scanned image from Hasegawa (2016). 



The design comprise background images of chrysanthemum and cherry blossom, and the front design with value inscription and warnings.  Very precise and beautiful design, possibly aimed to prevent fraud attempts for reproduction. 

The color of this stamp is described as "Violet" in Shimomura catalogue, "Dark Carmine" in Furuya catalogue and "Dark Carmine on Pale Carmine" in Hasegawa catalogue, whereas  I have adopted the original description in the 1874 specimen page. 

- Hironobu

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- Edited Dec 31, 2018 : description of paper corrected to "foreign paper"

Dear all, this concludes the five stamps categorized as the Second issue.

There might be some discussion on how to categorize the 1 Yen carmine (foreign paper / perforated); indeed, Furuya (2011) has included this 1 Yen carmine in the Second issue. The categorization adopted in this thread (putting 1 Yen carmine in the fourth issue) is based on that by Hasegawa (2016), which depends more on the perforation/paper categorization than the date (or announcement of the date) of issuance.   This approach by Hasegawa is somewhat consistent with the two following issues, e.g. the third and fourth issues, where no official announcements have been made for the perforation and paper changes.  I shall summarize the different categorizations, including the classical Forbin catalogue, the Barefoot catalogue, Shimomura catalogue, Furuya catalogue and the most recent Hasegawa catalogue in the future. 

Wishing you all a very happy new year from Osaka, Japan. 

- Hironobu

Japan Hand Engraved (Etched) Documentary Revenue - Third Issue (1874).

1 Sen Black

Printed on native paper, perforated.  Number of plates not known.  Perforation varieties include p11, p13x11 and p13. 

This stamp is considered to be the successor of the first series 1 Sen gray, printed in darker ink shade and perforated.  


Third Issue 1 Sen Black.

This example shows the mixed (combined) perforation of p13x11.  Japanese native paper has a characteristics that it is more difficult to tear horizontally than vertically, and this combination of different perforation pitch is considered to be used to ease the horizontal separation of stamps.

- Hironobu

Japan Hand Engraved (Etched) Documentary Revenue - Third Issue (1874).

5 Sen Brown

Printed on native paper, perforated. Number of plates not known. Perforation varieties include p11, p13x11 and p13.

This stamp is also considered to be the successor of the rouletted plates from the former issues, printed in brown ink and perforated.  The color of this stamp is very close to that of the second issue 5 Sen, but seems to have slightly darker shade in general.  Still a plenty of room to study.



- Hironobu

Japan Hand Engraved (Etched) Documentary Revenue - Third Issue (1874).

10 Sen Blue

Printed on native paper, perforated. Number of plates possibly seven, with three plates (Plate I to III) confirmed to be identical to first issue 10 Sen red.



Perforation varieties include p11, p13x11 and p13, with p13x11 the most common of all. 



- Hironobu

Japan Hand Engraved (Etched) Documentary Revenue - Third Issue (1874).

25 Sen Yellow

Printed on native paper, perforated. Two plates used, confirmed to be identical to the former rouletted issues.


Perforation varieties include p11, p13x11 and p13, with p13x11 the most common of all.  Perforation p11 and p13 very scarce. 

This stamp is rather difficult to find, especially in good centering condition.  Also very tough to find a usage on a document, which I am still looking for.



- Hironobu

Dear all, this concludes the five stamps categorized as the Third issue.

The beauty of this series, as mentioned before, is the classical appearance of the stamps bearing the sophisticated hand engravings and the rather primitive perforation.  I personally find it attractive as like the Matsuda printing issues of Cherry Blossom stamps.    

The next series will cover the fourth issue, perforated and printed on normal (western) paper.     

- Hironobu

Japan Hand Engraved (Etched) Documentary Revenue - Fourth Issue (1874).

1 Sen Black

Printed on foreign paper, perforated.   The most used revenue stamp from the whole series. Very rich in paper types and perforation varieties, which I shall gradually add the descriptions.

Printing shades from dark gray to black; however, there seems to be no clear correlation between the shades and printing period.

The most common examples are the later printing (electroplated) on either norma or porous paper, with perforation 10. Although having a good uniformity of the engraving, the individual stamps have a common characteristics in the engraving which could be used for distinguishing the electroplated plates from the earlier normal plates. This characteristics, which might also be considered as secret marks (such as those found in hand engraved stamps), shall be discussed in more detail in the follow-up post in the future.



A typical used example of the most common later printing (e.g. electroplated) on porous paper, with perforation 10.   Hasegawa (2016) lists two (2) different plate for the later printing, although the difference between the two plates seems to be quite subtle (my opinion).  

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Unused stamp, later printing on porous paper with perf 10 (from unused strip of 5). 

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Later printing on normal paper. Note the more clear impression of the printing for this paper type. 

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Example of earlier (conventional, etched) printing, on white thin paper.  Note the different plate characteristics compared to the later printing plates. The number of the plates for earlier printing are unknown (according to Furuya (2011), possibly more than 20 or so).

- Hironobu

Japan Hand Engraved (Etched) Documentary Revenue - Fourth Issue (1874).

1 Sen Black - perforation varieties

Now comes the interesting part of the Fourth Issue revenues - perforation varieties. 

The fourth issue revenues are believed to be appearing from around Meiji 7 (1874) and has been superseded by the next Typographed Issue released on Meiji 18 (1884).   This period overlaps with the last few years of Cherry Blossom stamps, the entire period of Old Koban stamps (1876 - 1879), and couple of years of UPU Koban stamps (issued 1883, followed by New Koban stamps from 1888).  During this period a wide variety of paper and perforation was used for postage stamps (especially for the Old Koban stamps).   It is considered that the same perforation machines installed at the Governmental Printing Bureau has been used for the revenue stamps during this period, resulting to the similar varieties of the perforation of the fourth issue revenue stamps.   

The major perforation varieties which could be found on 1 Sen Black revenue stamps are 8 1/2, 10, 11L and 13 (or 12 1/2).  



According to the result of Koban stamp studies, these perforation varieties, especially perf 8 1/2 and perf 10 should be considered as a group of perforation within a certain range;

• perf "8 1/2" : actual perforation = 8 to 9
• perf "10" : actual perforation = 9 to 10
  

Some examples of actual perforation measurement results are shown below. 

- Perf. 8 1/2

Stamps having perforation pitch from 8 to 9 (but not exceeding 9) could be included in this "group".
 






- Perf. 10 

Stamps having perforation pitch exceeding 9 and less than 11 could be included in this group.  In most cases, the actual pitch shows around 9.5 to 10.5 with relatively small deviations. 






- Perf 11L (L = large hole)

This perforation shows a distinct characteristic of "large" perforation hole, and could be easily distinguished from other perforations.  The actual perforation pitch could range between 10.5 and 11.5;  this slightly overlaps with aforementioned Perf 10 but distinction is rather straightforward due to the difference of the hole size.    The perforation hole is usually larger than the gap between the holes, making the impression of the perforation more sharp. 





- Perf 13 (or 12 1/2)

This perforation is mentioned as "perf. 13" in most catalogues, including Furuya (2011), Hasegawa (2016) and Shimomura (1981).   The actual pitch may vary from 12 1/4 to 12 3/4.   I personally prefer to use "perf 12 1/2" due to the correlation between the Koban stamp study results (perf 13 is clearly distinguishable from 12 1/2 by its later appearance, which does NOT overlap with the Fourth issue period).   This issue shall require more investigation and analysis.








Apart from these representative perforation pitches, there are possibility that other perforation used for later issues of Cherry Blossom stamps and Old Koban stamps such as 9s, 11 (normal hole), 11s (small hole) and 12 could be found.   


- Hironobu

Japan Hand Engraved (Etched) Documentary Revenue - Fourth Issue (1874).

5 Sen Brown

Printed on foreign paper, perforated.  Printing shade is close to 3rd Series 5 Sen brown, usually having rather pale impression.  Printed on normal (wove) paper and porous paper.   Perforation variety includes 11, 13, 13x10 for early printing and 10, 11L and 13 (12 1/2) for later printing (Hasegawa 2016), with some other varieties often observed (such as 11s).  This variety of perforation is somewhat different from other stamps from the Fourth Issue, and requires more investigation. 

This stamp could be further categorized into normal (early) printing and later (electroplated) printing, with the exception that both printings have narrow gutter width of approximately 2mm.  This is a unique feature amongst the Fourth Issue stamps, and the narrow gutter leads to rather significant cut-in of perforations into printed face.   According to Hasegawa (2016),  normal printing is on normal (wove) paper and later printing is on porous paper.   



Perf.10

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Vertical pair with perf 10, from different plate.

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Perf 11 (possibly 11L), later printing. 

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Perf 13 (12 1/2).  The perforation pitch is rather non-uniform compared to the ones found on 1 Sen Black.

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Perf 11 with significantly smaller perforation holes.  This perforation could be categorized as "11s", being used on Old Koban stamps during 1876 and 1878, but still needs verification.

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Combined perf 13 x 10. 

- Hironobu 

Japan Hand Engraved (Etched) Documentary Revenue - Fourth Issue (1874).

10 Sen Blue

Printed on foreign paper, perforated.  Printed on normal (wove) paper and porous paper.  Perforation variety includes 8 1/2, 10, 11, 13 (12 1/2) and compound perfs  (Hasegawa 2016).

This stamp could be further categorized into normal (early) printing with narrow gutter width and later (electroplated) printing with wide gutter width. Furuya (2011) and Hasegawa (2016) both mentions 4 plates for normal printing and 2 plates for later printing. 

The color shade of normal printing is light blue to blue, whereas the later printing shows significant difference including gray (gray-blue), green blue, steel blue and deep blue.   Deep blue was used in the latest printings. 



Early printings, with light blue to blue shades. 

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Later printing shades, from left to right: gray, green blue, steel blue and deep blue.  All stamps from Plate 1 of later printing.

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Later printing, Plate 1.

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Later printing, Plate 2.

The two plates of later printing could be distinguished by different shape of the 5th stroke of "紙".



- Hironobu

Japan Hand Engraved (Etched) Documentary Revenue - Fourth Issue (1874).

10 Sen Blue - on documents

The 10 Sen blue stamps could be often found on documents with higher value inscription, such as land loan document and land purchase documents.  


Single usage of early printing, perf. 13 on document dated Meiji 13 (1880). Note the brighter shade of ink, typical to early printing.

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Usage of block of 2x2, later printing, steel blue with one 1st issue 5 Sen on document dated Meiji 14 (1881).  Perf. 10.

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Usage of two 10 Sen stamp, later printing, green blue on document dated Meiji 20 (1887); a rather late usage of the stamp.

- Hironobu

Japan Hand Engraved (Etched) Documentary Revenue - Fourth Issue (1874).

50 Sen Orange

Printed on normal (wove) paper and porous paper.  Perforation variety includes 10, 11, 13 (12 1/2) and compound perfs (Hasegawa 2016).

This stamp could be further categorized into normal (early) printing with narrow gutter width and later (electroplated) printing with wide gutter width. Furuya (2011) and Hasegawa (2016) both mentions 2 plates for normal printing and 2 plates for later printing.

The color shade may vary from bright orange to very pale/faint orange, the former believed to be from early printing. 


Example with bright orange shade, possibly from earlier printing. 

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Example with pale orange shade. 

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Perf. 13 (12 1/2), printed on normal paper.

- Hironobu

Japan Hand Engraved (Etched) Documentary Revenue - Fourth Issue (1874).

1 Yen Carmine/Pink

Printed on western paper, perforated, both on normal (wove) paper and porous paper. Perforation variety includes 10, 11, 13 (12 1/2) and compound perfs (Hasegawa 2016).

Although the issuance of this stamp has been announced together with the 2nd Issue stamps, here in this forum it will be categorized as 4th Issue as it is printed on normal paper and perforated.

This stamp could also be further categorized into normal (early) printing with narrow gutter width and later (electroplated) printing with wide gutter width.  Hasegawa (2016) mentions 1 plate for normal printing and 1 plate for later printing, the former plate identical to Plate 2 of 1st Issue 1 Sen blue, size reduced.  

The normal printing is in carmine, on normal paper and porous paper.  The later printing is in pink, on white western paper which is unique to this stamp. 

In my collection there are only a couple of single stamps; finding multiples and usage on documents seems to be very very tough. 



Early printing, normal paper, perf.10

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Early printing, porous paper, perf. 10

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Later printing on white western paper, perf. 10

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Later printing on white western paper, perf. 13.   The perforations on this stamp usually shows very sharp and clear impression. 

- Hironobu