kobans ... and trading

I specialise in koban imitations and foreign mail cancels ...   botas in particular. please enquire...  if you have material to trade, please contact me ... 

UFM ... unidentified FM cancels ...

over many years, I have encountered some cancels that are unclassified - JPS 2008 handbook ...
however,  viewing the US fancy cancels on the Kodera site, and relating finds to the FM obliterators Bryan brought to japan ... one can solve some examples ...

the problem then becomes, assigning them to a PO ... or finding them on an entire.  in weeks ahead, I will post some examples ...

1879 yokohama 20mm thimble ... 2 forms

    note the JPS roman cancel shows serifs on date ...   the entire below, shows date /wo serifs ... this can only mean 2 daters were active. my assumption : dater for receiving mark; and duplex canceller for outgoing ...  however, ....  here are adhesives with the 18/9 receiver :

in returning to original nishino study, basis of 2008 JPS handbook ... I discovered the duplex -  since 2 were active, did something happen to the serif dater ??

outgoing FM duplex

incoming FM transfer mark  18/9

it exists also /wo break in 7 ...

JPS letter cancels on foreign mail ...

the tokio JLB or large bota is listed in the table below, as it does appear as duplex cancel on foreign outgoing mails.   generally, sorting these requires some patience and skill ...  many  also exist as imitations ....    when bidding on items, please bear this in mind - get to know the existing imitations.

Tokio botas ...

From Japanese kobans 1876-92

this is an example of a Meiji Tokyo bota and n3b2 nujimaru or double circle cancel ... a.k.a. duplex cancel ... during the early period of the IJPO the foreign mails were handled by a separate FMPO in the city ... in modern times, with routing procedures and labeling, substations in the tokyo district can now handle foreign mails ... the JSCA catalog features the above and a reverse image form of the bota ... surprisingly, the 2008 cancel reference does not go further ... many substations used the TB form as an obliterator ... on imitation kobans - there exist 2 cancel forms ....

Horst Mueller of Japan, is a lifelong koban specialist. we share a common passion ... Horst has hosted a site "Kobans" for many years ... within the bota section, he shows the many forms of specialised TBs ... do visit ...

2009, JPS offered a new monograph by M Sawa on this era...  

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 ...

MAEDA 50sen CCCC ...

the 50sen shows cuts to perfs on all sides

an M2 (maeda) imitation...

old kobans were first offered as sets on the K-series tourist sheets

a few survive as obliterated singles

FM Bryans # 18 ...

this FM bota should be added to the JPS 2008 handbook ...

it is unknown which PO was assigned the obliterator, possibly Tokio

first occurence noted.

JPS 2008 cancel guide ...

having worked with this guide for some weeks, I recommend it ....

the foreign mail section has been audited , bringing forward new indicia from the Nishino study ... for telegraph enthusiasts, this section has been expanded greatly ... the small double-circle cancels are a fine way to represent kobans ...

this is not a price guide : but aids research. I relate my koban imitation study constantly ... defining the imitation indicia.  the graphs show section 322 : foreign mail - by PO and year ...

3sen plate anomoly ...

parallex : skewed features due to lack of of orthogonality...   renichi yamada notes in his 2009 monograph - this 3sen occurence -  UR corner left.

certain positions are misaligned on the 400u 3sen rose plate.   so relative to perforation, they are askew, or offset right.

as this plate derived from the 100u old koban 3sen plate,  similar anomolies are likely.   further, as the M4 imitation frames derived from same plate - even they should exhibit this askewed nature.

like history, errors repeat ...   in photography, parallex shows rectangles as rhomboids - if the lense is not orthogonally centred ...  horizon scales are important.   today, so many stamps at auction are shot at angles that produce poor images.

maeda's composite plates ... batz method

fig 1 - enlarged detail of 10sen genuine frame - note the design merges with value.

fig 2 - maeda K series M2-10sen : 2 shades .   note the frame design.

corner shadow boxes are evident.

the Batz method was innovation in denmark to produce "bi-color" issue and also influenced the norge posthorn production ...  basic design elements frame and design were isolated on 1 plate; and value and text layered on a second plate ...   work saving method.

unknowingly,  maeda used similar approach with block/screen transfer ...  see fig 3 below  - merge lines on M3-osaka.    

what is signifigant also - this places the 10sen in bota group of imitations .   the isjp 2002 CD only records
nijumaru types.

remarks on kobans ...

10sen /w KxE bota and 2 red marks ?

rev 50sen red /w fold and signature

can anyone provide more information ?

1871 announcement ....

collage technique ... adverts

the image is a serigraph of the main Tokio post office ...  the image was reproduced several times on adverts.

... a collage technique was used to add the imitations 1yen green .   trappist monks in France, were also teaching printing ...

stanley gibbons in yokohama ... c1900

stanley gibbons sold his stamp business and became a world traveller.  visiting japan
he remarked the scarcity of stamp boutiques.   however, it is unclear whether he reached Tokio and beyond ...   as issues were withdrawn, the IJPO sold the remainder sheets to dealers in japan, and abroad - usually at 25% face value.

his first encounter was no doubt with Takahashi ...

1893 correspondence

Yamazaki ...

Kanazawa , capital of Ishikawa prefecture, was built on the site of the old village of Yamazaki - seat of the Maeda clan (16th-19th cent.)   note the long pilgrimage to tokio ...

1860 0.5 groshen - hannover de

Chiossone worked and studied in germany and england before being assigned to japan.   the design shown, influenced both the norway posthorn ; and the japanese koban series ...

Batz of denmark, trained the designor of posthorn.  electro-typing of cliches assigned in a random matrix of 100 .   the Norge posthorn series predated the 1876 kobans ... however, chiossone borrowed design elements for the 5 sen brown ...



an interesting parallel.

dies and kobans ...

the item on right is suspect - with anomolies that imply possible rotary press reprint.  lack of detail, extraneous dots and well placed cancels.   the JSCA koban section does not focus on die size as an important parameter.

only taisho section draws attention to die-size.   when examining kobans, always bear this in mind.

comments welcomed from readers...