Japan [7th Post] China [9th Post]

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Even now,after many years acting like a avid buyer of stamps, I think that some times we get much more than we have payed or more than we were expecting... it is that stamp in excellent condition, that marvelous postmark, a very well centered stamp , a desired stamp we were looking for many time, or even a rarity..(Yes , it is possible,...) 

A month ago I bought a lot of Iranian stamps, very detailed with a special focus at the early days and at the 60's and 70's...in the last pages of that stock album,there were some Japanese stamps.. at the beginning I didn't pay much attention to them but here I am today showing them ,proud of my stamps... Yes , they are MNH stamps from Japan and I think in this case (and I didn't had realized it..) this detail makes all the difference... Mint stamps from Japan are even more beautiful than the others I'm used to...well , here are some of them from the 70's , a very beautiful group of stamps...

I will start now with something that for sure will be very positive for the thousands of Boat stamp Collectors...Yes, there are many,many stamps dedicated to this thematic,but these are not very easy to get... I personally,never had seen them in my life.. (I wish to say that I'm not a thematic collector.. it is necessary to understand that one of these collectors directs all his/her efforts to know and find these stamps... it is very different..! ).. 

Well, I'm showing them individually for better appreciation... As you can see this is a Engraved series.. the stamps were designed and engraved by a group of very skilled Artists...it is not the first time I talk about the beautiful engravings and printings of Japanese stamps, for National issues or just working for foreign countries (like those beautiful stamps of Philippines..) .. it is without doubts a very good group of stamps...they were issued in 1975/1976, with the curiosity of being 6 series of two stamps each...I have here just stamps from 1976 (3rd, 4th,5th and 6th series..).. another curiosity ,just for the thematic collectors,again, is that these 6 series followed another 5 series of two stamps each (from 1974/1975) , this time dedicated to trains... I don't have those , but I just want here to help Your search giving You a time and a space to look out...these are all prime quality stamps..!
1976 "Japanese Ships (3rd Series)" (2) [Des (R. Murayama)(Y.Sunagawa)][Engr (T. Kesano)(S. Nakada)][Recess] Sc(1223,1224)
1976 "Japanese Ships (4th Series)" (2) [Des (Y.Sagawa)(G. Yamataka)][Engr (S. Okamura)(K. Oshikiri)][Recess] Sc(1225,1226)
1976 "Japanese Ships (5th Series)" (2) [Des (G. Yamataka)(G. Yamataka)][Engr (K. Oshikiri)(S.Okamura)][Recess] Sc(1227,1228)
1976 "Japanese Ships (6th Series)" (2) [Des (K. Hishinuma)(S. Watanabe)][Engr (S.Nakada)(S.Yajima)][Recess] Sc(1229,1230)

Now ,some beautiful individual series of Nature stamps...

each one of these stamps is considered to be ,,for catalog purposes, a series...and We are talking of Nature Conservation series I to XX,starting in 1974 and ending in 1978...beautiful stamps,,! watch specially the bird stamp...what a level of detail ! it has some particularities that makes the engraving identical to that beautiful elephant series from Laos ,work of Jean Pheulpin..very detailed, very soft, very beautiful engraving..!!

1976 "Nature Conservation (8th Series)" (1) [Des ((Y.Higashitsunoi)][Recess] Sc(1202)
1976 "Nature Conservation (9th Series)" (1) [Des ((H. Otsuka)][Recess][Photo] Sc(1203)
1976 "Nature conservation (10th Series)" (1) [Des (W. Emori)][Recess][Photo] Sc(1261)
1976 "Nature Conservation (11th Series)" (1) [Des (H. Otsuka)][Recess][Photo] Sc(1262)
1976 "Nature Conservation (12th Series)" (1) [Des ((T. Yamanouchi)][Recess][Photo] Sc(1263)

This is a strange two stamp series... the first stamp, is a pretty normal Japanese stamp , showing us a Sacred Temple somewhere in Japan... it is a [Photo] stamp , another fact that increases it's normality... at the right , we have the 2nd stamp, a fantastic stamp of the Deva King located in the Todai Temple... the engraving work is Great and the final result is exceptional...Great Stamp!!!
1976 "National Treasures (1st Series)" (2) [Des (S, Watanabe)][Photo 50y][Recess 100y] Sc(1272,1273)

And now just to end this post, a brief look to other MNH stamps I like to enter now in the collection...I already have some of them but as used stamps... now I'm adding them in MNH form...they are very Famous stamps from CHINA.....

These are stamps from the Famous series "Martyrs of the Revolution"... the Original series was issued between 1932 and 1934, with the portraits of important participants in the Chinese Revolution..a simple look to the values and colors and to a Chinese catalog, could tell us that many of these stamps shown are not from the original series..., in fact, none of them is..! if they are not from the first and original issue of this series , there must be at least another issue... Yes, there were two more issues of 19 stamps each in 1940/1941 with  more values and colors, with and without the presence of Wmk... I must say that the original 1932 series is Unwmk. If we have doubts about a stamp,if it belongs to the 1932 or 1940 issues, we must first take not that : 

There is a secret mark that identifies the correct issue date of the stamp...let us look to the first letter of the label immediately below the portrait, and those stamps who presents a letter like a) are from 1940/1941 and those of type b) are from the original 1932 Issue (all of the stamps I present here today are type B stamps,so I had to take a small scan from an old SG catalog....

After make this distinction and if the stamp is a type B, we must now find or not the Wmk, to complete the classification.. now a brief look to the perforations [there could be some differences (12, 12.5 or 13)] and we are done with it..! if the stamp is a type A, than it is unwmk and perforation 14...

I have many more stamps from this period to present , but I think it is better to stop here and now with this small post, richly stuffed with beautiful stamps...

Ok..Next time Iran and Turkey stamps...

SeeYou

A Long post

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Today I have some more Chinese stamps from the 1900's and 50's and to finish the post , a complete Year of stamps also from China...

OK,for now let us focus on a small group of "oldies" ...

All these Dragon stamps are without Wmk... the first and the 2nd groups are from the 1900/1906 series and the last one is from the "New colors" series of 1905/1910...look at the beautiful 10c of the last group...SG talks of 3 possible colors, Ultramarine blue, Sky blue and dull blue... this is definitely a dull color, but I think it is a dull sky blue... (beautiful color!!)..catalogs only talk of the 2c from this group as deep green ,but I present also a stamp that is clearly a deep Yellow green... The last stamp of the 2nd group is from a overprinted series issued in 1912...I will only present the codes from the last group...
1912 "surcharge on Dragons (1900/1906)" (15) Sc(146)
1905/1910 "Dragons" (7) Sc(124,124,126,127a,129)

A very famous complete series from 1951... the National Emblem Issue has just one design , but a particularity....the stamps are [Litho] and [Recess] printed...there is a [Litho] printed Yellow background with crossed lines and the vignette and labels are engraved...
1951 "National Emblem Issue" (5) [Des (Sun Chuanzhe)][Litho][Recess] Sc(117,...,121)

this series is incomplete and has 2 designs... reprints are known in this series,so to distinguish them from the original stamps,there is a mark in each one of the designs...all the stamps presented are reprints,because : 1) in the first design, You can see a small line of shading (deep ) in the left top corner...2) in the 2nd design ,next to the dragon's tail , in the lower right of the coin , there are two small lines inside one of the dragon's scales...
1951 "Centenary of the Taiping Revolution" (4) [Des (Sun Chuanzhe)][Recess] Sc(124,125,126)

a beautiful and famous series,but unfortunately one of the stamps is still missing...
1952 "25th Anniversary of People's Liberation Army" (4) [Des (Sun Chuanzhe)][Recess] Sc(159,...,161)

This is a series [Photo] Printed, and that is a not so common feature in those days...the most common were the [Recess] printings and [Photo][Recess] mix printings... but as we will see , in the future China started to use a lot this kind of printing (unfortunately, I must say...!)..
1959 "X Anniversary of PRC (1st series)" (3) [Photo] Sc(438,439)

This a series already from more recent days... as you can see it is [Photo] printed , but the designs are very good, with some lack in detail (it is normal..)..
1987 "60th Anniversary of the People's Liberation Army" (4) [Des (Liu Xiangping)][Photo] Sc(2104,...,2107)

Some years ago I bought several series from China 1988 to a Portuguese seller... some time latter , he contacted me and asked me if I was interested in buying complete Years from China ... I said yes and for almost a year I bought him 11 complete years , from 1993 to 2004...it was a very nice price,good Chinese Albums, with MS, SS and all the material that was issued in each year (except FDC's , of course..).. suddenly , he never contacted me again, and doesn't answered anymore to my emails... since then , I tried to ask Chinese people living in Portugal if they could arrange me some stamps, but the answer was always no , sometimes with very rude manners... I was not asking for stamps from 1967,I was just asking for those cheap and common stamps from the last decade.!! here are some photos taken with my Jurassic Phone , where you can see the album and some pages...

The first year I will present is 1993... Unfortunately, in my opinion it is a "not so good" crop...most of the stamps are [Photo] printed, there isn't any stamp that we could say "Yes, it is a above average stamp.."... the series themselves are not appealing, neither the subject neither the stamps...Knowing as I do know the following years I could say that this is the weakest of the 11 years I've bought... so , let us see them..!.

The New Year stamps... this time , 1993 was the year of the Rooster, so the first stamp represents the bird in a [photo][Recess] printing...
1993 "New Year stamps" (2) [Des (Cai Lanying)][Engr (Hu Zhenyuan 20f)(Yan Bingwu 20f)(Li Qingfa 50f)(Jiang Weijie 50f)][Recess][Photo] Sc(2429,2430)

Commemoration of the life of Song Qing-Ling... but who was Song Qing Ling?? after a quick research in the Net, I found out that she was the 2nd wife of the 1st Chinese President , the Very well known Sun Yat-Sen (perhaps one of the most represented personalities in stamp designing... just remember the countless huge series with his portrait , before the implantation of PRC...)
1993 "Birth Centenary of Song Qing-Ling" (2) [Des (Yan Shuntai)][Photo] Sc(2431,2432)

a small series about a particular species of Camel native of the steps of Central Asia...The Bactrian Camel
1993 "The Bactrian Camel" (2) [Des (Yin Huili)][Litho] Sc(2433,2434)

The 8th National People's Congress
1993 "The 8th National People's Congress" (1) [Des (Feng Xiaohong)(He Jie][Litho] Sc(2435)

This series is about a Chinese game called Weiqi (GO)... it is a game originated in China for thousands of Years, and I think it deserves a look (You could see the linked video ,with an overview to the Game ).. I didn't know the existence of this game.. nice..!
1993 "GO" (2) [Des (Qian Zhongping)][Litho] Sc(2436,2437)

a series commemorating the 1st East Asia Games...

1993 "1st East Asia Games, Shanghai" (2) [Des (Li Wei)(Li Bin][Litho] Sc(2438,2439)

 Commemoration of the life's of 4 Revolutionaries (20f Li Jishen)(30f Zhang Lan)(50f Shen Junru)(1y Huang Yanpei)
1993 "Revolutionaries" (4) [Des (Zhu Zhengeng)][Litho] Sc(2440,...,2443)

The Bamboo is one of the Ex-libris of SouthEast Asia, wide spread through all the region...
1993 "Bamboo" (4) [Des (Xiao Rong)][Litho] Sc(2444,...,2447)

This is a Literature series, where the designs tell us part of the story...this is actually a Group of series , 4 stamps for year about the book "Outlaws of the Marsh" and this is the 4th Series...now that I'm classifying these stamps I remembered something from my youth and at the same time another one of these Chinese Literature Group of Series.. i'm talking of "The Romance of the three Kingdoms" ...I have this Group completed, but what I want to talk You about is that a Japanese  Company called Koei made some amazing strategy games about these work of Literature, and the last update of these programs came out just a few years ago... but the Game I played was the 1st and 2nd of these games, back in the 90's... before these , I played endlessly another game from Koei called "Bandit Kings of Ancient China" for PC.. I played it for an year or two, and I won all the levels with all the heroes possible, and several times... it is a fantastic Strategy game and it was from the end of the 80's, beginning of the 90's , and the game came in a 1.2Mb disc!!! it was amazing the complexity of the Battle boards, how the computer reacts with remarkable intelligence (it actually grows with the wisdom of the Hero the computer is playing with..) , and all in 1.2Mb.. it is a game I personally recommend  if you( or your juvenile son... ) want to have a nice challenge...(it only plays in MS-DOS..) [The version shown in the linked video is not for PC.. In a PC the graphics were similar but better and the battle boards were different but with the same complex rules, where everything counts..)...]
Ah, I'm back to the stamps...
1993 "Literature / Outlaws of the Marsh (4th Series)" (4) [Des (Zhou Feng)][Photo] Sc(2449,...,2452)

this is what we could call a Geographic or Geologic Series..it is about the Changbai Mountains.... it is interesting to notice that in a first and distant view the pictures seem like photos, but they are not ...in fact the designs are quite good but the Printing....(!) ..
1993 "Changbai Mountains" (4) [Huang Huaqiang)][Photo] Sc(2453,...,2456)

1993 "7th National Games, Peking" (1) [Des (Zhang Anpu)][Photo] Sc(2457)

a series about the sculptures of the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang... some beautiful religious figures...
1993 "1500th Anniversary of Longmen Grottoes,Luoyang" (4+MS) [Des (Ni Jiade)(Wang Huming MS)][Litho] Sc(2458,...,2461)

4 Designs representing aspects of the life of an important insect , the Bee
1993 "The Bees" (4) [Des (Liu Xianbo)][Photo] Sc(2463,...,2466)

between the last series and this one ,there is  a series about Lacquer Work that I don't present because it was already a part of the collection... 

The series is about the work of the Artist Zheng Banqiao , but besides his beautiful work ,what I find very interesting is the stamps background.. it was very imaginative to use something like a 'potato sack' texture, and above it the vignette and labels.. very nice...
1993 "  300th Birth Anniversary of Zheng Banqiao (Artist)" (6) [Des (Pan Keming)(Lu Tianjiao)][Litho] Sc(2471,...,2476)

1993 "Birth Centenary of General Yang Hucheng" (1) [Des (Zou Jianjun)][Litho] Sc(2477)

To finish this review of the 1993 China Stamp Book,here it is a series about Mao Zedong .. I was expecting that this series could be printed using another more refined process,but in the end it was the same [photo] printed material...
1993 " Birth Centenary of Mao ZeDong" (2+MS) [Des (Wei Chuyu)(Peng Bin MS)][Photo] Sc(2478,2479)

Well, it is the end of this post where I tried to turn this last part more interesting with links to biographies and videos,and I think in the end the post turns to be an interesting one...alright....

SeeYou