Introduction ...

ISJP study is based on Wilhelmsen cataloging plates and makers. I have been solving some of weaknesses in category. Meiji woodblock was skillful, . Copper plate and  photo-lithographs followed..   sekihan

MAEDA  surpasses WADA as maker of koban litho facsimiles.  postcards and playing cards were bulk of his trade.   Spiro - a look back.... my view MAEDA is SPIRO.

all but 1 5x5 koban sheets sourced to Japan... the Aachen 5rin was acquired in Germany ...

In recent times , Gerhard Lang-Valchs  introduced me to PR TORRES of Spain.  so I began researching classic albums and catalogs of europe. increasingly more TORRES fakes are emerging ...

 Maeda-Spiro mystery

 

investigations have shown - stamp packets are more predominant ... illustrations or unused fakes  >  cancelled packet fakes  roots of philately  begin with facsimiles .  TORRES values to search below.

• classic albums of europe yielded koban illustrations. SENF offered steel engraved  facsimiles = these form basis for fakes ,  I have merged these in ID charts
• TORRES .early woodblock and litho imperfs are beyond the ISJP 2003 CD on forgeries.  illustrations bear cancels as fakes  from illustration  .> album catalog > cancel > stamp packet
• both OK and NK litho fakes derived from MAEDA KB4 and D11 underprints ... 
• MAEDA-Spiro koban  botas are scarce , implying sold as packet singles ...  Not 1 Spiro sheet has surfaced.

readers are urged to send scans of unusual collection items for inspection .   I am reviewing my archives and streamlining by topic and designers... StampCat database is constantly changing, so edits are inevitable to posts ...  use keyword search box . CTL+ will enlarge images ...

M C STRATHDEE  ISJP3399

 

STAMP packets and market growth in Meiji Japan

 

In Japan, Kotaro Wada was only supplier of copper-plate facsimiles... Maeda Kihei produced all litho-koban -  including spiro group. original woodblock masters could be multiplied faster by lithography. tourist sheets booklets albums and stamp packets followed ...  Both produced  pricelists of their items.       WADA placed ads in UK but was banned from doing so by Pemberton.   Stanley Gibbons visited Yokohama shops after selling his business in London.   He likely was interested  in Maeda and Wada

dealers and wholesalers exported abroad ...  the facsimile makers led sellers of genuine Japanese issues. globally scarcity is what drove philatelic market and knowlegebase.   the Paris worlds fair sold 50000 tourist sheets (Gely)  London Exhibition  more ...Wada sunami ...

IJP sold remainder sheets @ 15% face value

rate change

Yoshizawa & Co. Price-List of Japanese Postage Stamps, Cards and Rrappers 

ex Florian Eichhorn collection

gauranteed genuine ... scarcity shown in table below

H A RAMSDEN  also made tebori facsimiles and packets. these are 12X9 matrix sheets either unused or

negative cross , kiban cancelled.  dealer Jun Kobayahawa, in Yokohama  unkown if he made koban sheets ?

In europe, TORRES of Spain illustrated most of classic albums and journals of the time.  I am still finding koban fakes,  based on album designs + cancel forms.    so lots to search for ...  design change over time - crude to superb.

TORRES 10sen OK FAKE

IJP - corner dots

• MISSING corner dots
• TORRES

 

TORRES style

• commonality ROMAJI
• KANJI 
• balloons vaty
• frame border vary

 

Plácido Ramón de Torres (1847–1910)

Plácido Ramón de Torres (1847–1910)   a.k.a Rosendo Fernandez, was a prolific Spanish engraver ... ...collaborated with Fournier , Senf (Shaubek) ;  J B Moens was his client  1864-1899

• TORRES style varied widely from crude woodblock prints to superb litho illustrations and fakes
• NK and OK mainly low values were faked as packet material
• design elements were changed randomly,  
• bent frame lines are common
• shades seldom match genuine, sometimes color change
• romaji or kanji varied widely
• cancels mimic IJP or fantasy

In the early 1860’s, the young Torres started his career in Italy, where he had grown up, making stamp illustrations for his patron, one of the first Italian stamp dealers, the editor and multi-talent Elia Carlo Usigli (1812-1894). Through his international connections Usigli sold those copies to the editors of the emerging stamp magazines and catalogues all over Europe. Once finished an illustration both made “private copies” in colour and put them into stamp packages, creating what I call the Torres/Usigli “minor forgeries”. So, nowadays, most 19^th century European stamp catalogues (Moens, Stanley Gibbons, Maury, Roussin and a large etc.) as well as the little known catalogue Torres published in 1879 in Barcelona, can serve to detect those forgeries of mostly single and cheap values

Torres only made lithographic copies. The ‘minor forgeries’ are usually unused and often exist in odd colours.  You can sometimes find small jokes or mockeries of the original stamp within the inscriptions. People often mistakenly think that these are accidental errors but he created them purposefully.

The ‘major forgeries’ are those with cancellations.- Gerhard Lang-Valchs

TORRES work reached Japan.  I have found many items there. foreigners likely brought  them and some are postally used on cover.

NB variance in width of kobans .

no embossing on 1Yen ....

REDRAWN vars exist ... search by value

 A TRUE CHAMELEON ...

Wood-engraving, etching, and lead-casting are just a few of the printing techniques that brought hand-drawn images to multiple viewers before and beyond the advent of modern photo-reproduction. Lithography, for example, pushed a kind of DIY-revolution in visual culture after its 1796 invention by Alois Senefelder. For the first time, artists could draw directly onto printing surfaces, leading to massive innovation.

  Later techniques, such as electrotype and photo-engraving, often pushed the human hand farther away from reproduced images.  

JPS and ISJP

Kobans and the JPS ...

Japanese philately has changed more in the last decade than decades previous ...

The internet and new philatelic tools - the ability to scan and relay images to other philatelists; has assisted both research and the auction business greatly. JPS members are very active in this area, and many revisions to the specialised JSCA catalog reflect this today. ...  

the specialised series in now in 4 parts ... classifications have been augmented, restructured and many new varieties have been detailed.... any serious koban collector follows this system. Old Koban group : 80 or 100 position plates , whereas the Yu and New Koban group were 100 or 400 position plates .... some die anomolies are detailed in the JSCA catalog - allowing separations of 100-400 plates ... perf variations : comb to bickel perforator.

the JPS members as Renichi Yamada have authored specialised koban monographs ... some  are Japex introductions, and are all expensive to acquire.  

narumi monographs ... ideally the JPS should offer the nissen catalog as download... by group : dragon, cherry blossom, koban, kiku, etc ...  in pdf format this would be translatable for foreigners.

the JPS also has no foreign members ...  unlike the ISJP.


Koban Forgeries and the ISJP...

Relative to the dragon and cherry blossom issues 1871-75, which have been heavily forged or imitated - identifying koban forgeries is an easier task. For novice koban collectors, MAEDA Kihei predominates in Japan.      coverage is primarily the Old Kobans 1876-80. caveat emptor for 6sen, 12sen, 30sen and 45sen denominations however... some very skillful "unsigned" forgeries exist - sanko or "signed" forgeries are online @ the isjp.org ...

series to 1892. ... MAEDA new koban fakes exist imperforate or  perforate...  many euro fakes are surfacing . ex albums - TORRES of Spain.

Again, the monograph on Japanese Classic Forgeries 2002 edition is a key reference for all... allowing an audit of personal holdings; and advice regarding acquisitions of new material from auction or dealers. Many houses today still post obvious forgeries as genuine stamps. ... ISJP.ORG site is superb ! you will find links to additions and corrections pages edited recently .... note also ... the isjp.org is offering a free service to members ... forgery objects will be reviewed via image scans provided via email transfer ... and a opinion rendered : forgery or not ..

also, here is a useful link to Hideo Endo's : Forgery Cancellations

TORRES 10sen 1879 cover to Germany via San Fanscisco

• script matches TORRES
• no receiver marking  DE
• IJP cancels genuine
• 10sen TORRES fake
• NC bota FAKE

 

TORRES 1sen x4 fake cover

TORRES 10sen TOKIO cover

• romaji 
• thin frame

FAKE Bota 

ex Endo-Koseki project

TORRES 10sen fake on ciover

• see Torres letter script
• narrow frame
• kanji
• romaji