Japan – military issues

Contemporary definitives of Japan were overprinted xxxx (gunji = military) for use by the military.


 * In 1910, the 3 sen kiku stamp was overprinted vertically as above. There are two types: 3.85mm between characters, and 4-4.5mm between characters.
 * In 1913, the 3s Tazawa white paper stamp was similarly overprinted.
 * In 1914, the 3s Tazawa Old Die (19x22mm) on granite paper with Zigzag watermark was similarly overprinted.
 * In 1924, both the 3s Tazawa Old Die and New Die (18½x22 or 18½x22½mm) on granite paper with Zigzag watermark were overprinted with the characters now measuring 16mm tall.

Note that a blockier style overprint was done provisionally at Tsingtao, China ( now Qingdao), on existing stamps overprinted  (1921). For the time being, here are reference photos from the Japanese Philately site.

 File:Japan Military.jpg|forgery 

All stamps have been forged.

First, make sure the correct overprint type is on the correct stamp. For comparison against genuine stamps, we suggest turning both stamps upside down to prevent the eye from trying to read the characters even though you may not know Japanese. Then carefully compare overprint shapes exactly.

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