Syllabics in Blue Color Only

Syllabic リ (ri-9)​

Syllabics in both Blue and Brown Colors

Syllabic ヲ (wo-12)

Syllabics in Brown Color only

Syllabic レ (re-17)

Postal Stationery

Anyone, at any time, can add fake perforations to a piece of postal stationery and there is no way of knowing how many times this has occurred or is occurring. The paper of the stamped envelopes resembles that of the foreign wove paper of the stamps.  The syllabic in all the genuine postal stationery items, both envelopes and postal cards is in a hexagonal box.  The syllabic in all the genuine stamps is in a rectangular box.  There are no 1 sen postal stationery issues in brown.

• First Issue 1 sen Blue Postal Card with Red Border:
  • Syllabics: イ (i-1).  ロ (ro-2),  ハ (ha-3),  and ニ  (ni-4).
  • Central Characters: “Yubin Kitte” (郵便 切手) or “Postage Stamp”.
• Second Issue 1 sen Blue Postal Card with Blue Border:
  • Syllabics:  イ (i-1) only.
  • Central Characters: Yubin Fuhi” (郵便 切手) or “Postage Stamp”
• Third Issue 1 sen Blue Postal Card with Blue Border:
  • Syllabics: ロ (ro-2 — エ (e-34).
  • Central Characters: Yubin Fuhi” (郵便 はがき) or “Postage Card”

Examples of Postal Stationery Forgeries

Syllabic ト (to-7)

1. Genuine 1st issue of stamped envelope.
2. Central characters used on genuine stamps.
3. Forged perforations.
4. Syllabic in hexagonal box.

“Signed” Forgeries

Wada Plate 2

Wada: Plate 2, Position 3

Syllabic ハ (ha-3)

Wada Plate 17

• State 1:  all positions are syllabic ホ  (ho-5) in brown only. Sankō vertically above syllabic in color of stamp.
• State 2:   all positions are syllabic ホ  (ho-5) in brown only.  Sankō in black on each side about in the middle of the central characters.
• State 3:   positions 1-3 with syllabic ホ  (ho-5).  Positions 4-6 crossed branches.  All positions printed in both blue and brown and have mozō horizontally below central characters
• State 4:  positions 1 & 2 with syllabic ホ  (ho-5) .  Position 3 & 6 – tied with ribbon.  Position 4 & 5 -crossed branches.  Small sankō on either side of top characters.  Brown only.
• State 5:  Same as state 4, but with leaves retouched. The small sankō is almost invisible.

Wada Plate 17,   State 5

Same as state 4, but with leaves retouched. The small sankō is almost invisible.

Maeda in Brown

Syllabic ホ (ho-5), sankō vertically above syllabic box.

Genuine Stamp with “Unsigned” Forgeries

Wada Plate 18

Wada’s plate 18 was of 8 positions all with  different syllabics in each position on the plate.  Thus, when he printed in blue all syllabics were blue.  If he printed in brown, all the syllabics were brown.  The  genuine, of course, had one plate (or more) for one syllabic and only a few plates were used to print in both colors.  These plates had syllabics ホ ho-5), ト  (to-7), チ (chi-8) and ヲ (wo-12) only.

Wada’s plate 18 had some significant design errors on a few positions (syllabics) and some of these errors were retouched and became state 2.  The retouched stamps had syllabics ヲ (wo-12), ワ  (wa-13) and タ (ta-16),

• Forgeries state 1 syllabics:  ホ (ho-5),  ヲ (wo-12),  ワ  (wa-13),  カ (ka-14),  ヨ (yo-15),  タ (ta-16),  and レ  (re-17) and   ネ  (ne-20).
  • Colors of genuine:
    • Blue only:  No plate 18 forgeries had the same syllabics as genuine stamps that were printed in blue only..
    • Blue and brown:  syllabic ホ (ho-5) and  ヲ (wo-12) in both the genuine and Wada plate 18.  Wada did not use ト  (to-7) orチ (chi-8) in this plate.
    • Brown only syllabics:  ワ  (wa-13), カ (ka-14),  ヨ (yo-15),  タ (ta-16),  and  and レ  (re-17), All in blue are phantoms.
    • Neither color:  ネ  (ne-20).  Phantom in both colors.  Syllabic ネ  (ne-20) was never used on the genuine 1 sen issue.
• Forgeries state 2:  same as 1 state except that syllabic  ヲ (wo-12), ワ  (wa-13), and タ (ta-16) have corrections to errors found in state 1.

Blue & Brown

Blue and brown:  syllabic ホ (ho-5) and  ヲ (wo-12)

Wada:  Plate 18, Syllabic ヲ (wo-12)

Arrows in Red: General characters of most forgeries described above.

Arrows in Black:  Plate 18 Wada error – 1) SE cherry blossom, shading missing in petals and 2) shading missing in SE corner ornament.  Error 2 was fixed in state 2 with very light lines, but error 1 was never fixed.

Brown

Syllabic ワ  (wa-13) and タ (ta-16) with state 2 retouches.

Wada:  Plate 18, Syllabic  タ (ta-16)

Arrows in Red: General characters of most forgeries described above.

Arrows in Black:  Plate 18 Wada error –  state 1 – vertical line missing in second central characters down from the top. Corrected in state 2.

 Syllabics カ (ka-14),  ヨ (yo-15),  レ  (re-17) and ネ  (ne-20 – phantom).

Ramsden, Syllabic ヨ (yo-15)

 ABC Kurabu (ABC Club) - 1950's-1960's

For more information about the ABC Kurabu Forgeries click here.

Note: Numbers in parenthesis and bold are the catalog numbers found on reverse of the forgeries.  State 4 forgeries did not have any numbers on the reverse. It is believed that State 4 forgeries exist for all different values.  But only a few State 4 examples were available for examination.  When State 4 was available for examination, the design type is recorded.

ABC Kurabu (ABC Club) 1 sen brown syllabic チ (chi-8) – Designs 112-B & 112-C

States 1 & 2 (No. 35): Design 112-B. States 3 & 5 (No. 35): Design 112-C.

Characteristics of Design 112-C

1. Small slip.
2. Petal thick and projects to N.

Reproductions

1912 Tayama Reproduction

This 1 sen Cherry Blossom brown stamp with with syllabic カ is found in sheet 1 included with the 1912 issue of the Communications Law Monthly Report. Type 2 Cancel.

Inscriptions translate:
1 sen pale red
Issued: Meiji 8.2 (February 1875);
Off Sale: Meiji 9.5 (May 1876);
Invalidated: Meiji 22. 11 (November 1889)

Click here to see more information about Tayama reproductions.

JSPA Reproductions

JSPA  Sheet No. 6 Issued 20 May 1962

Reproduces the genuine 1 sen brown Cherry Blossom stamp originally issued 4 February 1875 on wove paper.  The reproduction is imperforate on cream-colored wove paper.

 Click here to see more information about JSPA reproductions.