I request advice considering Japan Definitives

I am decidedly no expert in this area (or any other, for that matter), but I think you have the 2 best print resources, the Sakura and Scott.

When there are discrepancies between the two, I tend to consider Sakura more definitive (no pun intended), since it is in the home country, in the home language, and their ability to research as well as communicate with the postal issuing authority to clarify any uncertain information exceeds what Scott is able to do.

There is a specialized catalogue, the JSCA (or "Nissen", which is a shortening in Japanese of "Japan Specialized"). What it covers and in which volume varies a lot over time, in my somewhat limited experience, but I have a smattering of those volumes. They are about 99% in Japanese, peppered with an English heading or color name. I was never fluent in written Japanese, and am even less so these days (it's been 20+ years since I was actively using the language), but I figure out what I can, and have a couple of people I can ask on an occasional basis.

I understand that Colnect is increasingly trying to capture and list variations of stamps worldwide. I don't know how they would be with regard to Japan and the timeframe you're looking at. I think it's a recent effort, and no doubt depends on the knowledge of their contributors and editors. TSF member djcmh is an editor who understands Colnect better than anyone else I'm aware of, and perhaps he can add his perspective on Colnect's initiative on variations.

Colnect is also a good resource on reconciling differences between Scott and Sakura, as they try to list both numbers (as well as other worldwide catalogs), but if your research seems to differ from theirs, your work may be more current or accurate, so don't assume Colnect's listing would supersede your efforts.

All that was a very long answer to your question.

The short answer, and no doubt the better one, is to post your questions here, with illustrations, if possible, and we'll try to make sense of it!

Chris (crisger ), I agree with everything that Dave (Philatarium ) states above and, yes, indeed Colnect also includes Sakura numbers and is a good additional resource for identifying variants in this long-running definitive series. We might also want to include djcmh in this thread because he may have a greater insight into the Sakura catalog listings on Colnect.

Like you, I ran into a bit of a stoppage with these definitives because I also have the same thoughts on how to deal with the variants that are shown in Sakura vs. the Scott Catalogue. I decided to go with Sakura and am using blank quadrille Scott Specialty album pages to include the Sakura variants in my album. Alas, I haven't done anything with this yet because, as usual, I got sidetracked with other stamp projects but I am of like mind to you as far as how and why they should be collected.

Re Sakura it only lists 'basic' listings on definitives, so very little info on varieties,that would be in JSCA. At present we do not have JSCA as an active catalogue, but would love to add it at some point if there was a contributor who had it and was willing to be an editor. I have a set of the JSCA, but as they are all in Japanese I don't get more that just a very minimal understanding of the variants (via scanning and using online translator to translate the scan)

The good news for non-Japanese speakers is that JSCA has begun its new edition of volumes and these are bilingual Japanese-English, so over the next few years the full set of volumes will have Englishtranslation. Currently the only bilingual volume released is the one covering 1876-1908, but JSCA plans to release new volumes approximately one per year. The next volume planned for release covers the classics 1871-1876, but eventually a post-1945 definitive volume is planned for release.

crisger do you read Japanese? If so then I'd recommend getting the current Japanese only JSCA that covers post-1945 definitives.

crisger for the JSCA check this dealer in the UK they have the volume (and some of the others as well). japanphilatelic.com/japan-catalogues/japan-nissen-jsca-stamp-catalogue-vol-2-1946-1989

Amazon.jp may also have it

Hello All, i will still hope to post pictures of some of the variations I have wonderment over. I see from a study of the details JSCA which I purchased a number of the variatoins are pinters marks or variations in the d4etails of the print runs. Keeping track of minutae like that is beyond what i have time and energy for but i will still hope to get some clarification on the colour variations i have found in some of the normal definiatives in the period between the 1960s to the late 1970s. sorry for delay life and work have kept me busy. Just had time to enter new stamps arriving from auctions and dealers. just about to start on volume 2 of my collection which is last 1970s up into the 80s. will be fun when i get there. hope everyone is doing well, summer is almost over here in the high country of Colorado, and over in Japan where my friends tell me other than storms, weather is pretty much the same as usual.



Chris

Dear Chris and all, 

Example of shade variations with color mark, 1 Yen definitive, 1967 series - Light to dark from left to right.  I bet this stamp is one having the most longest run, well extending into 2010 when the font has been changed.   



Hironobu