Japan Birds 1875 Stamps - The Wagtail : Signed Imitations.

I had previously heard of stamps in existence that have been forged .If you search online for "Postal forgeries or counterfeits" I am sure there is a lot of reading material available for a philatelist for free and to take notes.

 
But a Signed Forgery/imitation was something new for me and worth a small study - yet a long way to go!
 

I would like to mention as very important person in the field for identifying these weeds in our collection - The Reverend Robert Brisco Earée (1846-1928) was an English philatelist, known for his studies of philatelic fakes and forgeries.
 

 

Earée is best known for the classic Album Weeds; or, How to Detect Forged Stamps which went through three editions and is still regarded as a one of the best all world guides to forgeries and fakes ever produced.

He summed up his philosophy in The Spud Papers by saying '...if philatelists would only study their stamps a little more, instead of merely trying to see how many they can collect, I am certain that they would soon learn for themselves far more than any book or Spud Paper can teach them.'

 

Simple steps to Identify Signed Imitation :

• Characters reading sanko, mozo, or mihon
• Often in the same color as the rest of the design .

 
What's is sanko, mozo, or mihon ?
 They are marked with small kanji characters reading:

1.   Reference - Sanko.
2.   Imitation - mozo.
3.   sample/specimen - mihon.

1875 - The Wagtail and Blossoms (15 SEN)

The White Wagtail  ( Motacilla alba ) bird .

I think its a Wagtail(if not stand corrected)  - Photographed in July 2013

Spot the Sanko Kanji Characters ....

 

easy to spot....

 There are different positions these kanji characters appear :

Sanko :

Found on Syllabic 1 violet or lilac Shades.

Position 1 (Near shrub and Bird - all above examples are position1).
Position 2.(just below the 15 SEN on upper Frame inner circle).

I don't have examples for Position 2 , but will be easy to spot - I have mentioned the place where they can be placed - see image below :

Position 2

Large mozo horizontal:

Just below the 15 SEN on upper Frame inner circle.

• similar to the Sanko - Position 2  , but are large kanji Characters.
• Found on Syllabic 1 violet or lilac.

Mihon vertical:

Above ground  of bird and below the bird's tail near to right Shrub .

• Found on Syllabic 1 violet, lilac or shades.

 

Hope to get the Mozo and Mihon imitations soon.

Fun to collect and study them - sometime is seems a disappointment when you know these are fakes - but worthwhile remembering they are quiet old too.

Also if you find no Signed characters !!  its too early to say they are genuine - as many stamps in this period were forged - the paper , its color , postmark & perfs would be the next to determine a gem....
 

Chasing Butterflies !!! Stamps and Photos.

Thinking of my childhood days of chasing butterflies , one memorable pastime..got onto me again; with my Nikon Camera I went out to catch a glimpse of these beauties- I did find some colourful butterflies in a 1 mile radius around my home and the results were just fantastic.

The butterfly count in the UK this year has been great - thanks to the soaring temperatures , ideal for butterflies.

Peacock Butterfly

The Peacock can be found in woods, fields, meadows, pastures, parks, and gardens, and from lowlands up to 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) elevation. It is a relatively common butterfly seen in many European parks and gardens.

 

When I first spotted one it was busy on some flowers and was there for an hour , not a very busy flier like the cabbage butterfly. It gave me a good opportunity to take some really good close photographs. 

The colourful Peacock butterfly

 

 Speckled Wood Butterfly

 

A lovely looking butterfly ; simple colours , difficult to pick in the woods - well camouflaged with the woods I must say.

 

Speckled Wood Butterfly

Comma Butterfly

 

I never new why would anyone name a butterfly Comma - I looked at it and no way it resembled any. But I had a close look - it has a strange white mark on its winged which actually looks like a comma and there you go!! its simple to name butterflies :)

 

Comma Butterfly , look closely see the white comma white mark!!

Comma Butterfly

Common Blue Butterfly

 

This was tiny little butterfly and I had to really bend very low to get a photograph of it ...this is the best I could get at the moment.

 

Cabbage Butterfly

Red Admiral Butterfly

A lovely Red Admiral

 

 

 My recent Stamp Sets :

As a start to my new Butterflies and insects stamp collection I purchased the SG catalogue 1991 that has stamps identified for this thematic.

In an attempt to initiate I also got some beautiful butterfly stamps.

Just keep scrolling down - I am sure the colours of these stamps will definitely inspire you to start collecting.

The Peacock butterfly 1st stamp.

 

New South Wales - Stamps and Lyre Bird Stamp.

New South Wales was the first part of Australia to be settled by Europeans, and the first to operate a postal service. In 1842 regular mail service was carried by steamer between Melbourne and Sydney, and the first mail packet from Britain arrived in 1844. An act of 1848 reformed the postal system and authorized the use of stamps; the first stamps appeared on 1 January 1850. 

Year - 1850.

Specifics: without Watermark and Imperforate.

They were called as Sydney Views, due to their design being based on the Great Seal of New South Wales; the 1d, 2d, and 3d stamps were separately engraved, and then re-engraved and retouched over the next year, yielding dozens of varieties.

Year - 1851 to 1853.

Specifics:  without Watermark and Imperforate.

These stamps are known as "Laureates" due to the laurel wreath on the Queen's head they were printed without watermarks.

In 1851 the colony switched to a more conventional design, a profile of Queen Victoria wearing a laurel wreath different from the Sydney views.

Year - 1854 and onwards the colony tried using paper watermarked with the denomination, for the "Laureates” a practice that resulted in mismatches between watermark and printed denomination that are rare.

In 1854 the colony issued 6d and 1/- stamps printed locally, from plates engraved by Perkins Bacon in England. These were large square stamps with the standard profile of Victoria wearing a diadem, framed with a hexagon and octagon respectively.

Year – 1855 -The designs were reused for 5d and 8d.

Year - 1856 lower values as well got introduced. The inking of all these was highly variable, and there are dozens of distinct colour varieties.

Specifics : The use of perforation began in 1860; unfortunately for collectors, the stamps were very closely spaced, the perforating process not well controlled, and it is unusual to find stamps from before 1899 where the perforation does not touch or cut into the design on one or more sides.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS - 1888

New South Wales celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1888 with an issue of what is widely considered to be the first commemorative stamps. The set of eight, each with a different design, were all inscribed "ONE HUNDRED YEARS".

 

Among the designs were a view of Sydney, an Emu, Captain Cook, a Lyrebird, and a Kangaroo. The 20/- value included portraits of both Arthur Phillip the first governor, and the then-governor Lord Carrington.

Year – 1890 - A 2½d stamp depicting an allegorical figure of Australia appeared.

Year – 1891 - ½d, 7½d, and 12½d values were produced in 1891 as surcharges on existing stamps.

 

Year – 1897 - two early semi-postal stamps were issued, paying 1d and 2½d rates, but sold for 1/- and 2/6 respectively, the additional proceeds going to a Consumptives' Home. In the same year a set of three stamps marked Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

 

New South Wales stamps are readily available today, but it is somewhat complex to collect; there are a dozen types of watermarks, multiple perforations, and numerous colour shades. The collection I have has the basic stamps which are variants of the first stamps issued and it makes them special is that they are part of the first stamps which came into use in Australia.

The best collectible stamp I think from my interest is the Lyre bird stamps – this is a beautiful stamp; I got these stamps and I could see the colour differences right away, not sure if these were soaked off or tampered with.

But my best bet is that there are several colour variations …