Old Koban: 2 Sen Olive Brown or Dark Violet
Genuine
Olive Brown: issued 17 May 1876 – Scott #57 and Sakura #64
Dark Violet: Issued 11 October 1879 – Scott #69 and Sakura #65
While the genuine stamps were issued years apart, the forgers chose to use the same plate and die and merely change the color. Spiro printed only the olive brown color. Maeda used only one plate to print in the two colors. Wada’s Plate 2 is found in both colors with different states as follows:
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- State I. Original state: fine engraving with sankō. (Both colors).
- State 2. Later state: With sankō, major and rather crude retouching, principally to the inner value circle and oval band. (Both colors)
- State 3. Further retouch to the inner value circle and oval band resulting in a much smoother appearance than the crude appearance of state 2. The sankō has worn away leaving two bare white patches in the crosshatch design. (Brown only).
- State 4. Bare white patches where the sankō characters had previously worn away retouched to match surrounding crosshatch pattern, creating a state of the plate without sankō. (Violet only).
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Wada’s Plate 16 (lithographed) is only in olive brown. Wada’s Plate 17 (lithograph) is only in dark violet.
Genuine: Unused
Genuine: Unused
Genuine & Forgeries with and without Sankō
2 Sen Olive Brown
Maeda
Lithographed
Sankō on either side above stars in oval band.
Spiro
Lithographed
No sankō, only 15 petals in chrysanthemum crest.
Wada: Plate 2, State 1
Engraved
Sankō on either side of paulownia leaves. Printed cancel
Wada: Plate 2, State 2
Engraved
Like state 1, but with heavy retouching. Sankō hard to recognize.
Wada: Plate 2, State 3
Engraved
Like state 1, but sankō worn away and only white patches remain.
Wada: Plate 16
Lithographed
No sankō. Plate from a single die, but with slight differences. Plate size not known.
2 Sen Violet
Maeda
Lithographed
Sankō on either side above stars in oval band.
Wada: Plate 2, State 1
Engraved
Sankō on either side of paulownia leaves. Printed cancel
Wada: Plate 2, State 2
Engraved
Like state 1, but with heavy retouching. Sankō as white patches.
Wada: Plate 2, State 4
Engraved
Like state 1, but sankō retouched with cross hatching.
Wada: Plate 17
Lithographed
No sankō. Plate from a single die, but with slight differences. Plate size not known.
The Printed Cancels For Each Wada Plate
Wada: Plate 2
Fine Engraving
State 1: sankō with six different vignettes and printed cancels.
Wada: Plate 16
Lithographed
No sankō with common die and six different printed cancels.
Wada: Plate 17
Lithographed
No sankō – the stamps and cancel were produced by multiple copying of a die and slight differences are found among individual copies. The 6 types of printed cancels are not repeated perfectly. Different stamps will have different parts of the same cancel. The plates were much lager than the engraved plates, but the exact size is undetermined.