TORRES 10sen fake

• missing corner dots
• corner shoes
• frame thin TR B
• oval fram break Top

 

TORRES 10sen fake

 

• oversize X obscures most design
• frame errore
• shade 
• width > genuine

TORRES 25sen FAKE

 

• POS1 2 and  3 BELOW

• romaji var
• SEN 
• kanji redrawn 
• redrawn inner frame 
• H/W vary
• plate 2x2

acquired from argentina, imperf

P AND T SCHOOL POST

• DEN SHIN in X 

Woodward Postage Stamps of Japan

• paper types analysed 
• koban perfs and prices
• CD reF on ebay

 

1yen fake on tourist sheet

 

1872-1889

• reverse 1   Yn distorted
• black dot in kiku

1883 U Kobans TORRES

TOKIO 1/19

litho and steel engraved  #5

5sen ID CHART

 

TORRES 5sen fake

• corner wings and wheel
• L or R frame thin and bent
• frame skewed
• smaller kanji 
• FM X fake
• SHADES do not match
• roman FM JUN oversize

IJPO 15sen var

 

all unlisted in JSCA  - assigned # 86v-p-b-#

TORRES 4sen fake

 

• TORRES kanji smaller
• TOKIO 1/19 fake

IJPO 20sen var ...

 

• 74v-p-f
• u
• 74v-p-a
• 74v-p-b
• 74v-p-c
• 
  

IJPO 15sen var

 

• new var
• 73v-p-c
• 73v-p-b
• 73v-p-a

TORRES 15sen postcard advertising ...

several european companies used images of japan in their adverts...   monestaries in france produced several postcard series from their printing presses.    note characteristics of the 15sen koban...

IJPO 30sen with fake cancel

 

The image is a plain paper of old oval 30 sen, and you can see the Maruichi mark that seems to be Settsu   Kobe. However, if you look closely, it looks like a black spot on the coat of arms.

The image below is a fake hand-carved bird of 45 sen, stamped with a circle on the same date. The sign of the September 26th flight is a fake.  

first fake cancel on genuine koban I have seen

15sen ID Chart

• TORRES illustrated all euro fakes
• JAPAN   IJPO Maeda Wada 

MAEDA-Wada 30sen fake

• size of romaji and vars
• kanji larger than IJPO on L
• shades
• top frame bent
• space oval and outer frame

MAEDA-spiro 5sen unknown position

the 5sen brown is from an unknown spiro sheet ... the cancel just touches on the upper frame ... this shows clearly in the negative image ...

building a image library, will allow identification of items ... and plating of position in a matrix 5x5 

• 5 SHEETS ARE DEFINED TO DATE  
• of the 125  positions I have plated very few from my collection and scans.   
• this points to high volume printing of sheets with varied indicia overlay.    
• packet making...

.

MAEDA D11 8sen plate

 

• PLATE sise 2+
• L frame narrow
• oval frame breaks
• romaji kanji var

TORRES 5Sen ...

• kanji touch oval
• frame design error
• romaji touch frame
• wings touch frame
• bent frames a style of TORRES

MAEDA 30sen fake

 

• plate pos3 new X form
• sen set high
• lacks UL notch
• small oval sun
• var romaji kanji
• shade var KB3   > IJPO
• packet fake

restoration methods ...

Warning: Avoid soaking Kobans in water, as severe curling occurs with some papers (Thin bluish-white paper, 1888 brown gum coated paper). Placed in water, they rapidly form cylinder shapes. This is very annoying... Place such a stamp very carefully to dry on glass, printed side up. Water occlusion on glass will immediately help stabilization. Then when moderately dry, very carefully transfer the stamp to a hingeless mount until fully dry.

PRINZ UHU Hinge Mark Remover is excellent for clearing paper adhesions and old hinges. Carefully applied with a fine brush, it can also be used to clear debris from mint stamps. It does not disturb gum surfaces. Be careful however, not to get solution on the stamp face itself. Other hinge remover solutions can react with inks, and should avoided. All red or crimson inks for koban are somewhat fugitive, so I buffer with fresh white blotting paper to printed side down.

The softer koban papers (JSCA C and D) should be cleaned only with shovel-nose stamps tongs, (smooth round surface towards the stamp); or a fine artists brush. Paper thickness can vary on given stamp, so again be very careful. Let these stamps soak longer in solution, before attempting a cleanup. .

Stamps can be placed in a Desert Magic drying book (blotter paper with vinyl interleaves).

As you work, note what is revealed. Vertical or horizontal wiremarks, etc. Place similar stamps in a group on a separate page of the drying book, or glass. Make copious notes of your observations; this speeds sorting later.

Avoid gum removers... If you have to rehabilitate a hopeless or heavily gummed stamp that is in danger of cracking, the PRINZ UHU Hinge Mark Remover can again be used to relax the paper and gum. Saturate stamp, then replace in either a hingeless mount or drying book until completely dry. Be careful as certain inks (reds) are unstable using this technique. Test first with damaged or faulty stamps.

Clean the watermark tray each time you use this method before moving to another stamp. This avoids depositing fine debris to other kobans. ... also spores that are the cause of "foxing", will not be transferred to other items.

Mildew stains and pencil marks can be removed with PRINZ UHU Hinge Mark Remover also.

For other products, read instructions fully, and experiment first with damaged or faulty stamps. Do not use with fully gummed stamps. Inks can diffuse...

---

Forgeries .... be very careful with 12sen koban ... rose colour is highly fugitive, and full saturation will weaken colour considerably..

also note, most forgeries arrive well-stuck to backing papers of different types ... ex "tourist sheets" or "booklets" ... thin, soft papers were used to print many dragon and cherry blossom F, so be very careful handling these ... rice-resin glues are most tenacious ... use PRINZ UHU Hinge Mark Remover, and caution with tongs...

koban papers ...

SENF 10sen fake

• curve bottom frame
• blue shade unique
• narrow L frame
• missing corner dots
•   doubled Yokohama  OB