My Ebay purchase of stamps from Germany arrived today, sent by the seller from Backnang in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Let’s take a closer look at the stamps that he put on the envelope.
2021 World of Letters (two stamps from a series of 18 stamps) Issued Dec. 2, 2021 Perf. 12 Die Cut | Self-adhesive | Design: Bettina Walter | Engraving: Bundesdruckerei| Photolithography | 2D barcode panel | No watermark 3266 DQN €0.05 | Multicolored | Letter-and-pencil water lily 3267 DQO €0.85 | Multicolored | Letter-folded-into-swan origami [Sources: stampworld.com]2001 The 300th Anniversary of the Kingdom of Prussia Issued Jan. 11, 2001 Perf. 14 | Design: Aretz | Photolithography | No watermark 2037 BVK 110 Pfg/ €0.56 | Cream, brown-olive, gray & black | Coat of arms of Kingdom of Prussia (1701-1871) The Kingdom of Prussia was a powerful European state that existed from 1701 to 1918, ruled by the House of Hohenzollern. It was centered in Berlin and Brandenburg, and it led the 1871 unification of Germany. [Sources: stampworld.com, Wikipedia.com]2005 The 200th Anniversary of the Birth of Hans Christian Andersen, 1805-1875 Issued Apr. 7, 2005 Perf. 14 | Design: Blume-Zander & Zander | Engraving: Stampatore: Bundesdruckerei | Photolithography | No watermark 2311 CFZ €1.44 | Brown orange & black | Plaque and characters from the fairy tales of Hans Christian Anderson Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) was a celebrated Danish author, renowned for his literary fairy tales. He is also the author of plays, novels, poems, travel books, and several autobiographies.
2005 Definitive Series of Flowers (one stamp from a series of 28 stamps) Issued Jan. 2, 2010 Perf. 14 | Design: Stefan Klein et Olaf Neumann | Engraving: Stampatore: Bundesdruckerei | Photolithography | No watermark 2584 CQI €4.10 | Multicolored | Lady’s-slipper orchid (Cypripedium calceolus) The lady’s slipper (Cypripedium) is a fascinating terrestrial orchid distinguished by its striking, shoe-shaped flower lip. In the wild—such as the strictly protected yellow lady’s slipper (Cypripedium calceolus) in Central Europe—it grows in open deciduous and pine forests on calcareous soils. [Sources: stampworld.com, Brittanica.com, Bund Naturschutz]
Trump Seems Trapped by Iran War, Even as He Wields the World’s Biggest Hammer
David E. Sanger writes for the New York Times:
President Trump often celebrates his unpredictability, declaring that it keeps allies and adversaries alike off balance.
By his telling, his willingness to bomb Iranian nuclear sites 13 months ago, and send Delta Force commandos in to snatch President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela from his bed in early January, reflected his determination to execute military operations that would have made his predecessors blanch. He told The New York Times he was limited only by “my own morality,” as he wielded the world’s biggest hammer.
But in recent weeks, he has seemed trapped, his presidency gradually consumed by a war he cannot find his way out of.
He has discovered limits on his power that he could have scarcely imagined as he began full combat operations on Feb. 28, when he set out goals for a swift end to Iran’s nuclear program and the overthrow of the country’s government.
“How many times do I have to end my war in Iran before I get the Nobel Peace Prize???” [Cartoon by Dr Jack in South African newspaper Die Burger (‘The Citizen’) of Fri 7/26]
I am pulling apart a pile of definitive stamp series from Japan issued from 1913 to 1937 called the Tazawa series, after their designer.
Following the death of Emperor Meiji, the Japanese government held its first-ever open prize competition to select a new standard stamp design.
Tazawa Shōgen was an employee of the Japanese Printing Bureau and won this national contest to design the country’s standard definitive stamps in 1913.
The stamps typically feature the Imperial Chrysanthemum crest, floral motifs, or national coats of arms and were used extensively for domestic and international mail.
Two different printing methods were used for the stamps, resulting in slightly smaller and slightly larger prints of the design. The 18 and 19 on the pieces of paper are millimeters, and the dots on the papers indicate the width of the stamp as I measured it. <b/r>The first two piles (narrower prints) were printed with a flat plate process, and the latter two piles (wider prints) were printed with a rolling press.A closer look at the details of the stamp. The characters at the top say “Greater Japan Imperial Postal Service”. The vertical characters is Japanese for ½ Sen, the denomination. The chrysanthemum symbol below the characters appeared on almost every Japanese stamp up to World War II and symbolizes nobility, longevity, and rejuvenation. Introduced from China, it holds ultimate royal significance, with this stylized, 16-petal version serving as the Imperial Seal. The design was printed on granite paper, a paper with fine colored threads in.
Pål Hermansen from Oslo, Norway, won first place (gold) in the Wildlife category of the 2026 reFocus Color Photography Contest with this photo of a grizzly bear in Alaska.
The Catch In high summer, millions of sockeye salmon return from the Pacific to Alaska’s rivers to mate, spawn, and ultimately die at their birthplace. For grizzly bears, the fish are a feast. Even so, despite their abundance, the returning salmon are not always easy to catch. [Description and photo from Stern magazine online. Photograph by Pål Hermansen]
‘Seattle Freeze’: Forget making friends — half of Washington residents don’t even want to talk to you
– Headline of a report in The Seattle Times of May 28, 2019 about a survey done by Seattle-based Pemco Insurance, that seems to give credence to the phenomenon known as the Seattle Freeze: Northwesterners’ reputation for making it hard to form new friendships.
Here’s a cute cartoon that was printed in the July issue of The Stranger, Seattle’s alternative newspaper.
(‘Seattle’s Only Newspaper’ says the tagline on their website, but we do have another newspaper called The Seattle Times).
The cartoonist behind “Gnartoons” is James the Stanton (James Stanton), a Seattle-based illustrator and comic artist. He has been publishing the psychedelic, alternative comic series since 2005. (Explainer for the uninitiated: ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by a company called OpenAI. It can answer any complicated or intricate question you might have, but in this case the advice it offers is a very ‘artificial intelligence’ one, robotic and hardly helpful at all).
This morning, a storm brought thunder, lightning, and heavy rain to large parts of downtown Seattle.
The downpour totaled 0.36 inches (9 mm), and brought a sudden end to our 19-day dry spell.
‘Approaching Storm’ (1952) by South African artist Jacob Hendrik Pierneef is an iconic series of oil-on-canvas landscapes. (He painted several of these in slightly different compositions). The works are celebrated for their dramatic, moody skies and geometric depiction of the African bushveld. Pierneef’s technique included Cubist and Art Deco influences, breaking down the rolling plains, landscapes and his signature acacia trees into structured, monumental planes. [Sources: Google AI Overview/ Strauss & Co. Art Auctioneers]
Here are some of the first pages from my Japan stamp collection.
Japan’s Showa series stamps are definitive postage stamps issued during the reign of Emperor Hirohito (the Showa period), spanning from 1937 through the early post-war era.
1st Showa Definitive Series (1937–1940) Design Motifs: Classic imagery showcasing iconic cultural landmarks, historical figures, and scenic vistas. Key Designs: Mount Fuji with cherry blossoms, General Nogi Maresuke, and the Horyu-ji temple pagoda. Paper Types: Printed initially on distinct granite paper (containing tiny colored fibers) before transitioning to plain white paper. Production: High-quality photogravure and engraving with standard, clean perforations.
. 2nd Showa Definitive Series (1942–1945) Design Motifs: Heavily militaristic and industrial themes reflecting World War II mobilization. Key Designs: War workers hammering, military pilots, fighter airplanes, and industrial factories alongside classic Mount Fuji with cherry blossoms imagery. Austerity Measures: Production quality suffered heavily as the war progressed.
Perforations became rough or uneven, and the gum backing was often omitted due to resource shortages.
. 3rd Showa Definitive Series (1945–1946) Design Motifs: Mostly repurposed wartime designs but produced under extreme emergency conditions immediately following Japan’s surrender. Key Characteristics: These are completely imperforate (no holes, required cutting with scissors) and printed on coarse, poor-quality paper with no gum.
My set of Japanese stamp purchases from the proxy shopping service in Japan arrived today.
I buy stamps from 5 or 6 sellers from all over Japan. The purchases are sent to the proxy service warehouse by the sellers. The proxy service combines my purchases into one package and ships it out to me. 😚
One of the sellers used a colorful ‘action folder’ of the Hanshin Tigers to protect the pages with the stamps inside.
The Hanshin Tigers (阪神タイガース, Hanshin Taigāsu) are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. (Two main circuits in the national baseball league are the Central League and the Pacific League.) The Hanshin Tigers are one of the oldest professional clubs in Japan. They played their first season in 1936 as the Osaka Tigers and assumed their current team name in 1961. The Tigers are owned by Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc. The Tigers team plays its games at Hanshin Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, which in the Hanshin area of Japan between Osaka and Kobe (part of the greater Kansai region). There is no parking lot at Hanshin Koshien Stadium (parking is completely prohibited around the stadium). A typical ticket price for a Hanshin Tigers game at their home field, ranges from roughly ¥2,000 to ¥9,000 (US$13 to US$60), depending on the seat location. [Sources: Wikipedia, Hanshin Tigers website]
Wishing all the dads a belated happy Father’s Day.
South Africa — Family Day Issued Apr. 5, 2000 Perf. 13¼ | Design: Chenette Swart | Photolithography | No watermark 1154 A373 Standard Postage (R1.30) Multicolored | Family of three [Sources 2021 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue Vol. 4A]
From today’s Wall Street Journal, reported by Hannah Erin Lang: SpaceX shares have surged nearly 50% in their first days of trading and left a trail of remorseful traders in their wake: those who sold too early. After climbing an additional 4.8% in Tuesday’s session to $201.80, SpaceX ended the day as the world’s fifth-largest public company by market cap, surpassing Amazon. The gains came as SpaceX announced a deal to buy AI-coding startup Cursor for $60 billion.
What do you mean the market is overheated? .. the sun as the almighty dollar, and ‘feathers’ of SpaceX share certificates, $100 bills. The hippo’s side comment: Feathers don’t make the bird, but without the feathers he is no bird. (From Aesop’s Fables: Fine feathers don’t make fine birds). The cartoon probably refers the famous Greek myth and cautionary tale of Icarus and the sun. Icarus’s father, Daedalus, made wings of feathers and wax for Icarus to escape imprisonment. Disregarding his father’s warnings to avoid flying too high, Icarus soared too close to the sun, melting the wax and sending Icarus plummeting into the ocean. [Cartoon by Dr. Jack (full name Dr. Jack Swanepoel) from South African newspaper Die Burger]
The stamp albums from Japan that the proxy buyer Buyee.jp had bought for me, arrived on my doorstep a few days ago.
I will post a few pages from the albums in due course.
2003 Japan: Letter Writing Day (ふみの日 Fumi No Hi ) Issued Jul. 23, 2003 Perf. 13 x 13¼ | Stamp 28 x 37 mm | Printing: Photogravure | No watermark C1898 50 ¥ | Multicolored | Cat holding letter and camera [Sources: 2027 Sakura Catalog Of Japanese Stamps, colnect.com]
Check out the air mail envelope that contained my purchases of Japanese stamps from a seller in Asaka, Japan (in the Tokyo metro area).
He wrote my name and address in perfect print— something I absolutely cannot do with Japanese characters!
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2015 Japan: Fauna, Flora and National Parks Definitives Issued Feb. 2, 2015 Perf. 13 x 13¼ | Stamp 22 mm x 26 mm | Printing: Photogravure | No watermark 3791 A3351 10 ¥ | Multicolored | Japanese crested ibis (Nipponia nippon) [Sources: colnect.com, 2021 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue Vol. 4A]2026 Japan: Invitation to Stamp Collecting III : Ukiyo-e Issued Mar. 11, 2026 Perf. 16½ | Design: Maho Shimada | Stamp 50 mm x 35 mm | Printing: Offset Lithography | Printer: Toppan Edge Co., Ltd. (Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.) | No watermark JP 2026.03.11-01c 500 ¥ | Multicolored | Woodblock print by Utagawa Hiroshige “Arashiyama in Full Blossoms: Famous Places of Kyoto” [Sources: colnect.com, Google Gemini Flash]
I took the No 8 bus to Westlake Avenue and walked up along Lake Union, hoping to still catch Mark Zuckerberg’s megayacht there.
Alas, she was gone.
Someone there told me she was out in the open waters of Elliott Bay.
Checking out the Boeing 747 fuselage ‘public art’ installed between the apartment towers of 1200 Stewart Street. (I’m still on the No 8 bus).A new eight-story banner installation designed by Seattle artist Ernesto Ybarra on the east façade of the 9th & Thomas building in South Lake Union. It is called ‘The Hostess’, and celebrates Seattle’s role as a host city for the World Cup soccer matches this summer.Once upon a time many years ago, I brought my 1996 Toyota Camry to this building at 400 Westlake Ave for new tires. The Firestone Auto Supply & Service Store building was constructed in 1929 with concrete and terra cotta details in the art deco style. The façade was kept when a new 15-story commercial tower was built on the property.Nearby is the 2021 artwork by Patti Warashina called ‘Dreamer’. It was sculpted with aluminum and painted in geometric patterns.This corner of South Lake Union’s waters is for rowers and kayakers. That’s the MOHAI building in the background (Museum of History and Industry).The Marina Mart building is still there. Constructed in the early 1940s, it has deep ties to Seattle’s maritime heritage. It has transitioned from an industrial maritime site into a major dining and recreation hub.With Memorial Day behind us, sailing season is now officially open. There was a light breeze around and lots of sunshine🌞.
Happy Friday.
I’m reading up about the stamps from Greenland that had I bought at the stamp show from a friendly guy from Nuuk, at the Greenland booth at the stamp show.
2025 The 75th Anniversary of the SIRIUS Patrol Issued Jan. 31, 2025 Perf. 13 | Design: Miki Jacobsen | 40 mm x 30 mm | Offset Lithography | Printing: Gutenberg AG | Paper: FSC SecurPost 110g/ m2 | No watermark 01100788 19.00 Kr | Multicolored | SIRIUS Patrol with provisions and dog sled
The headquarters of the SIRIUS patrol is Daneborg, located on the east coast of Greenland, close to 74 degrees north latitude. The headquarters is completely cut off from the outside world. To get there, you have to fly in a small propeller plane from Iceland. At the station, twelve men and 80 sled dogs are each other’s only company for a radius of about 250 kilometers. There are not many distractions outside of work. There is mail from home six to seven times a year. SIRIUS’ northernmost station is called Station Nord. Five men are stationed here year-round. The main task is to keep a large runway free of ice, but there are also many other tasks. On the patrols, the menu is freeze-dried food, powdered milk, chocolate and rye bread, but after arriving at the station, there is food in abundance, as well as videos, music and even a shower. Everything is in sharp contrast to the patrols’ harsh living conditions. Station Nord is therefore a very popular place to stay for the patrols. In a modern era, when surveillance of Northeast Greenland could easily be carried out using satellites or aircraft, the SIRIUS patrol may seem redundant. However, the fact is that, according to international conventions, sovereignty can only be enforced by entering the areas that a country possesses. So the unique Danish military unit will probably continue to operate in Greenland’s northernmost regions in the future. [Sources: stampworld.com, stamps.gl/greenland-collector, Google AI]2025 Greenlandic Dog Sleds Issued Jan. 31, 2025 Perf. 13 | Design: Konrad Nuka Godtfredsen | 56 mm x 33 mm | Offset Lithography | Printing: Gutenberg AG | Paper: FSC SecurPost 110g/ m2 | No watermark 895 AEK 3.00 Kr | Multicolored | East Greenlandic sled 896 AEL 38.00 Kr | Multicolored | Greenlander with East Greenlandic sled [Sources: stampworld.com, Google AI]2025 EUROPA Stamps – National Archaeological Discoveries Issued May 26, 2025 Perf. 13 | Design: Maya Sialuk Jacobsen | 30 mm x 40 mm, 40 mm x 30 mm | Offset Lithography | Printing: Gutenberg AG | Paper: FSC SecurPost 110g/ m2 | No watermark 902 AER 25.00 Kr | Black and white | Boy with animal skin clothing from the Thule culture More: Qilakitsoq is an abandoned Inuit settlement on the Nuussuaq Peninsula on the West coast of Greenland, about 450 km north of the Arctic Circle. The settlement is renowned for the discovery of eight mummified bodies from the Thule culture in 1972. The discovery was made by two local reindeer hunters, Hans and Jokum Grønvold. In two graves were the mummies of six women and two boys. They comprise three generations with close familial links across the graves. Although the causes of death are unknown, they probably died at the same time in the Autumn shortly after arriving at the Winter settlement. They were wrapped in animal skins and fully clothed. They were equipped for a long journey to the underworld, carefully prepared according to ancient, traditional rites. They had extra skins and clothing to afford them a safe journey and a good life in the realm of the dead. The five oldest women have almost identical facial tattoos that can express both kinship and social status. The youngest woman of about 20 years is not tattooed. Perhaps she was either unmarried or childless. Tattoos have been in common use among Inuit women for thousands of years. There were amulets on and among their clothing. The Inuit probably employed these amulets to muster strength and protection from evil spirits. The mummies from Qilakitsoq have since afforded valuable insights into the life of the Inuit who lived in the area some 500 years ago. The stamp reproduces the most recognisable and most iconic of the eight mummies. It is presumed to be a small boy of about six months. While the gender is based on the clothing, the age has been ascertained from the development of teeth and bones through radiographic examination.
903 AES 28.00 Kr | Black and white | The Kingittorsuaq rune stone More: The Kingittorsuaq rune stone was found in 1824 by a man called Pelimut. The discovery was made on top of the mountain on the small island of Kingittorsuaq about 20 km north of Upernavik. At the highest point of the island, he saw three collapsed cairns placed in a triangle formation. Near the largest of the cairns, he spotted a stone with several markings that he did not recognise. The stone, which is known as the Kingittorsuaq Runestone, bears medieval rune inscriptions. It is conclusive evidence that Norsemen in Greenland on their fishing trips along the West coast of Greenland reached as far North as North of the present-day town of Upernavik. The stone, which currently resides in the National Museum in Copenhagen, has been dated to the Middle Ages between 1250 to 1333 AD. The last part of the runic script remains undecipherable as it appears to be a group of meaningless characters. However, the first part of the writing on the runestone translated from Old Norse reads: “Erling, son of Sigvath and Baarne Thordar’s son and Enriði Á’s son, on Saturday before Rogation Day raised this stone and rode…” [Sources: stampworld.com, europe-stamps.blogspot.com, Google AI]2025 Dove of Peace Issued Sep. 12, 2025 Woven cloth with embroidery | 100% Recycled polyester | 55 mm x 42 mm | Mfg. by Hämmerle & Vogel (Austria) | Self-adhesive 909 AEY 75 Kr | Stylized, white-and-blue embroidered dove carrying an olive branch Part of an international joint initiative where multiple postal services worldwide issued identical embroidered stamps. It features the exact same dove motif across over a dozen postal organizations (including the UN, Switzerland, Austria, and the Faroe Islands) with only the country name and local currency varying. [Sources: stampworld.com, Google AI]2026 Boston World Expo Issued May 23, 2026 Perf. 13 | Two stamps in minisheet (140 mm x 80 mm) | Design: Martin Mörck | Stamps 40 mm x 30 mm | Offset Lithography | Printing: Gutenberg AG | Paper: FSC SecurPost 110g/ m2 | No watermark 01100819 25.00 Kr | Multicolored | Leif the Lucky’s discovery of Vinland* 01100820 37.00 Kr | Multicolored | Thor Solberg’s flight aboard the Leif Eriksson biplane**
*Leif Eriksson, also known as Leif the Lucky, was a Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to set foot on continental America, approximately half a millennium before Christopher Columbus did. Vinland is the coastal region of North America (Newfoundland & eastern Canada) explored and temporarily settled by Norse Vikings around 1000 CE. **Thor Solberg was a Norwegian-born aviation pioneer who made the first successful flight from the United States of America to Norway in 1935. He made the journey, which started in New York City, in an open-cockpit single-engine aircraft with no landing instruments. [Sources: stampworld.com, stamps.gl/greenland-collector, Google AI]
The site of the Boston Tea Party incident is a short walk from the Convention Center.
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest on December 16, 1773, where American colonists, frustrated by British “taxation without representation,” destroyed 342 chests of tea. Led by the Sons of Liberty and disguised as Mohawk warriors, the group dumped $1.7 million worth of British East India Company tea into Boston Harbor.
The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum had already closed for the day when I got there last night.
I took a few pictures and then walked to South Station at 700 Atlantic Avenue. It is a large train station that serves the MBTA Subway, bus lines and an Amtrak line.
The site of the Boston Tea Party in Boston harbor.The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum.A block of four 1973 stamps to commemorate the Boston Tea Party.A modern walkway and arches leading to South Station. The tall skyscraper above South Station is the South Station Tower. Standing at 690 feet tall with 51 stories, it is the sixth-tallest building in Boston.The main entrance into South Station, at the corner of Summer St and Atlantic Avenue.The main lobby inside South Station.I took the Red Line with three stops to Charles/ MGH* station. *Massachusetts General Hospital.The Puffers Building, located at 214-218 Cambridge Street in Boston’s Beacon Hill, is a historic Queen Anne-style brick building built in 1899. Financed by carbonated beverage magnate Alvin D. Puffer, the building originally functioned as sweatshops employing newly arrived immigrants in the West End’s cigar-making industry. – Google AI Overview/ Boston Women’s Heritage TrailAnd here is what must be one of the orginal Massachusetts General Hospital buildings. Founded in 1811, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) is the third-oldest general hospital in the United States and the original, largest teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School. Conceived to treat Boston’s sick and impoverished, MGH has grown into a world-renowned biomedical research and clinical care center.
I attended the opening ceremony of the Boston 2026 World Expo stamp show, and spent the best part of the day looking at the displays, and checking out the offerings from the vendors. (And making a few acquisitions— nothing too extravagant).
There was a little pomp and ceremony during the opening of the exhibition. A marching band called the Concord and Acton Minutemen came in. They performed the national anthem for us, and then marched out. Lexington is known for Lexington Common, or Battle Green, where the first shot of the American Revolutionary War was fired. This picture is from the end of the opening ceremony, with the unveiling of ten new stamps issued by the United States Postal Service, called Treasures of the Revolutionary Era. On the stage are several dignitaries of the Expo, of the USPS and the Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (The Honorable Kim Driscoll).A view of the main exhibition hall as one descends down the escalator from the main lobby. There are some 10,000 exhibits with a total of 4,000 frames, each with 16 pages, on display. An estimated inventory of some $10 million worth of stamps are for sale at the booths of the vendors and at the auctions that will be held.The USPS is a major sponsor of the show and there were long lines at the counters in the morning.Prints of about 2 ft x 3 ft of stamps of the world adorn the panels that form the spaces on the floor of the exhibition center. I still have to track down the ones depicting stamps from South Africa. (Do you know where in the world Zanzibar is?)An offering for serious collectors that also have deep pockets: a whole sheet of the 1918 issue of USA airmail stamps, 24c apiece, can be yours for $13,000.The 24c airmail stamp from the previous picture was printed in separate runs for the red link and blue ink. On one AND ONLY ONE SHEET, the Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” biplane was accidentally printed upside down. These stamps are called the 1918 24¢ “Inverted Jenny”. When this single sheet of 100 Inverted Jenny stamps was purchased by William T. Robey in May 1918, it was quickly sold to stamp dealer Eugene Klein. Klein then sold the intact sheet to the eccentric multimillionaire collector Colonel Edward H. R. Green. Colonel Green instructed Kleinto break the sheet up into single stamps and smaller blocks. While most of the sheet was split into individual singles, Green deliberately kept the most important positional units intact. The Centerline Block of Four is shown in this picture: Taken from the exact center of the original sheet of 100, this block features the horizontal and vertical guide lines used by the printers. This unique centerline block survived intact and sold at a Spink auction in 2019 for $1,740,000.The famous Cape of Good Hope stamp from the Cape Colony in South Africa, issued 1853 to 1864. It was the world’s first triangular stamp. This panel is part of a thematic collection of triangular stamps of the world.And here is the stamp that started it all: the 1840 Penny Black issued in the United Kingdom. These were imperforate and cut apart with scissors. This is one has four full margins around the edges of the stamp. The display envelope with the stamp on goes for $295. So far I have resisted the temptation to buy one!
Ebay is the 800-pound gorilla when it comes to searching and buying or bidding for postage stamps from all over the world.
Still, to complete some of my sets for South Africa, I had to resort to South African sellers that listed their offerings only locally, on a South Africa-based website for collectors.
I’m going to have to do the same for Japan, but there are additional challenges.
There is the language obstacle of Japanese language-only websites, and many times the seller would ship only to local buyers.
Enter Buyee Japan: a proxy shopping service that lets you bid for, or purchase outright, Japanese products that are listed on local Japanese websites.
The Japanese on the web pages are translated to English, and the Yen amounts are converted to US Dollar amounts. Yay! Buyee will serve as a proxy bidder for you on the auctions. If you win, you pay for the item. The item is sent to Buyee’s warehouse in Japan and then shipped overseas to the USA from there.And this is a prize item that is being offered, and certainly found very few collections of Japanese stamps. It is a 1948 issue, issued for that year’s ‘Philately Week’ in relatively small numbers. It depicts a print by Japanese artist Hishikawa Moronobu. He is known for popularizing the ukiyo-e genre of woodblock prints and paintings in the late 17th century.This sheet of five stamps is in top-notch, ‘mint never hinged, original gum’ condition. My 2021 Scott Catalogue says the sheet is worth/ can fetch US$350 when sold. So it should quite a bit up from its current bid prince of US$ 20.46 over the next few days and in the final countdown to when the bidding closes. (I am not bidding and will look for a single used stamp to add to my collection instead.)
Happy Friday.
It was a beautiful and mild spring day here in the city (63°F/ 17°C) with sunshine this afternoon.
I wore my sunglasses as I walked over to Chuck’s Hop Shop in Central District to join my amigos for a beer.
Check out the cute stamp booklet below, with stamps featuring an illustration by the Japanese artist Jyunichi Komi.
These stamps are prefecture stamps, issued for Fukui Prefecture, Japan*.
Sabae City in Fukui Prefecture is famous for being the eyewear capital of Japan. It produces 90% of the nation’s eyeglass frames.
*Japan has 47 prefectures (political subdivisions).
Starting in 1989, the national postal ministry has issued stamps to promote each of the prefectures.
These stamps are valid throughout Japan.
Prefecture stamps can be recognized by the different font that is used for the Japan Post 日本郵便 inscription on it.
Unfolded cover of stamp booklet with lettering that says ‘Prefecture Issue — Megane (Glasses), Fukui Prefecture’. 1991 Prefecture Issues, Japan Issued Oct. 1, 1991 Perf. 13 | Issued in sheets and booklets | Photolithography | No watermark Z112 ZA112 62y Multicolored | Stylized girl wearing large orange glasses [Sources: 2021 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue Vol. 4A, Google Gemini AI]
I bought a large batch of Japanese stamps from an Ebay seller.
These are from 1981, and depict the very first stamps issued by the Imperial Japanese Post (today simply called Japan Post).
Japan’s first postage stamps, known as the “Ryu” (dragon) stamps, were issued on April 20, 1871.
These imperforate, hand-engraved stamps featured dragon designs and used “Mon” currency.
It would be nice to own just one or two of the original dragon stamps, but man! they are listed for anything from $500 to several thousand dollars on Ebay.
Then you have to take really good care of this little square of paper.
Also: a lot of well-made forgeries are floating around.
Some sellers offer authentication certificates, but can even those be trusted?
1981 International Stamp Exhibition “PHILATOKYO ’81” Tokyo, Japan— Stamps on Stamps from 1871 Issued Oct. 9, 1981 Perf. 13 | Photolithography and engraving | No watermark 1481 A1063 60y Multicolored with vermillion 1871 stamp of pair of dragons facing characters of value 200 mon 1482 A1063 60y Multicolored with brown 1871 stamp of pair of dragons facing characters of value 48 mon 1483 A1063 60y Multicolored with yellow green 1871 stamp of pair of dragons facing characters of value 500 mon 1484 A1063 60y Multicolored with blue 1871 stamp of pair of dragons facing characters of value 100 mon [Sources: 2021 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue Vol. 4A, stampworld.com, Google AI]
