I have these myself Karl if I remember correctly there Postage dues from around 1913-1945 not 100% sure but love these old Japan stamps even got some imperial Empire one's.
I think it's a cut square from a Japanese postal card. It's a low denomination (5 rin = ½ sen), so very likely to be of minimal value, unless that postmark is uncommon (which I don't know enough about to comment on).
@Brett Moulton@William Sandrik@Phil Atarium Thanks Guys. It is a stamp on a card, but not a postal card. Love the stamp myself. But no idea about it , thought it might be a fake, because its a stamp stuck to a piece of Polish card.
Then I'm not sure. I tried to blow up the image on my phone and did not detect any perfs, so my apologies for the misidentification. I'm not near a catalog at the moment to try to give the Scott number. There are some forgeries in this series (the [ Koban -- nope!] Tazawa series), but nothing like in the earlier definitives, so the odds are at least reasonable that it's genuine.
The item (1/2 sen brown stamp) shows no perforations; are they clipped off? The date of the postmark is May 11, 1919, and part of the Tazawa series. I cannot read kanji characters, and if I could the image is too blurred to decipher the town. There was no stationery or postal card issued in the 1/2 sen value.
it's not 1/2 sen (one half of 1,000) rather it's 1/2 yen (1/2 of 1). It's like the half penny. 1/2 Sen for that time would be the equivalent of $5 which would be the equivalent of around $60.. That would be crazy pricey.
If it is not perforated, the perfs were clipped off. No imperfs were ever issued. This stamp is 1/2 sen (5 rin), not 1/2 yen. There are 100 sen to 1 yen. At that time period (1914-25) the rate to send a 1st class letter in Japan would have been 2 sen (10 sen to the US),
What are the chances of seeing the Polish Card that this is stuck on? Maybe if we see this item in its entirety. that will give us the clue needed. The stamp looks kind of blurry, maybe it's just a cinderella item like those Germa Produced Post Cards for many countries made c1900s.
Thanks for the scans, looks to me that the "Stamp" is printed on the card. The design is not clear so I would say it is part of a design for an advertisement and not a real stamp or indicia from some PO Generated Card. The small amount of words on the back leads me to believe that it was for some type of Hair product "Maybe now you can have silky black hair like the women of Japan". I'm just guessing from the 2 complete words on the back.
Comments
Thanks Guys. It is a stamp on a card, but not a postal card. Love the stamp myself. But no idea about it , thought it might be a fake, because its a stamp stuck to a piece of Polish card.
It's like the half penny. 1/2 Sen for that time would be the equivalent of $5 which would be the equivalent of around $60.. That would be crazy pricey.