meiji portraits ...

the lepach site in germany is unique ...  follow the postal history pages...   he links the postal covers and postcards to biographies of the sender-recipients ...

readers should assist the author with new items of postal history.

determining if false ... (faux)

1. imitations show irregularities in the frame lines. (askew)... using metrics software I have discovered V/H variances between positions ... i.e. no standard size exist as genuine.
2. compare image to that of genuine example ... and look for sanko marks ...
3. TC : torn or cut perforations :  no booklets were issued; imitations often show cuts to perfs.
4. multistrike cancels are rare on genuine, more common on reproductions
5. negative image :  the genuine inks are more transparent, than imitations (opaque) ...  look for extraneous dots from tooling or air bubbles in ink on imitations

15sen /w denshin ... genuine or imitation ? "demmukyoku denpo chosa sho"

fig 1

fig 2

 

florian eichhorn replied ...

This 15 S. NK is a genuine stamp. The top left mark is a non-postal reddish-brown bisected circle. The bottom right black cancel is one of the "telegraph business telegram control dept." (demmukyoku denpo chosa sho ) which checked the telegraph forms for :

a. correct postage (and sued the senders in case, which had to pay the missing amount on special "telegraph supplementary charge forms".

These forms come in native and roman letter styles and are very scarce.

b. weak cancels and placed its marking in case. Shape is like an extra-large telegraph double circle. The text of the cancel is "demmukyoku

denpo chosa sho" with a period . in-between. A bisected circle with the same text was used, too. Both cancels were used simultaneously and

are uncommon.

There is also a large telegraph double circle with the text "demmukyoku dai1ka" or "telegraph business office No. 1 dept."

A "koban postcard blog" had a comment on it, stating the dept. was newly formed in 1891.8.12 when the "demmu kyoku" got divided in two sub-divisions, one "correspondence" and one "engineering". The former was the "telegraph business telegram control dept.", the latter a "electricity experimental dept."

Pictures enlarged

A blog on telegraph double circles gives more details re. the administrative reorganizations, and shows more examples of this large double circle and also the bisected variant:

He also states:

- telegraph double circle style (large) latest known date 26.5.28 (1893, taken from the weak bisected circles); 

- bisected circle style earliest known date 25.9.26 (1891)

The top row shows the well known small size telegraph markings with the inscriptions:

"naishinkyoku dai2ka" (domestic correspondence office No. 2 dept.) resp. "komukyoku ikka" (engineering office 1 dept.).

These are probably forerunners of our large double circle resp. bisected circle.

Stamp pictures with the large telegraph double circle:

UPU koban 5 sen has the "demmukyoku dai1ka" inscription.

NK 15 sen has the "demmukyoku denpo chosa sho" inscription. Same as Your copy.

here I compiled a 100% cancel ...