The forgeries of the early issues of Japanese stamps are so common that many collectors find the problem almost unmanageable. Through the years the Society has published many articles on forgeries to try and help. With the advent of the Internet the ISJP felt it worthwhile to put some of the most basic information about these forgeries where the world could see it.  This is found in the “Common Forgery Identification” section of this website. Most collectors will be able to identify many of the common forged Japanese stamps by using this tool.

Unfortunately not all Japanese forgeries can be identified this way because many do not have the sankō, mozō, or mihon  markings.   For further help with the cherry blossom forgeries,  ISJP monograph number two by Milton T Montgomery, A Guide to the Cherry Blossoms Issues , published in 1969 is a must. For help with the Dragon issues, W. Metzelaar and Varro E.Tyler’s, Forgeries and Imitations of the Dragon stamps of Japan , published in 1971 is most useful. Originals of both of these publications are no longer available but both can be supplied as photocopies from the ISJP copying service.

ISJP Monograph 6, Varro E Tyler and Milton Montgomery, The Wada Cherry Blossom Forgeries, and Monograph 8, Kr. Wilhelmsen and Varro E Tyler, The Koban Forgeries of Japan, are also very useful, but they have been superseded and updated by the ISJP CD-ROM, Forgeries of the Dragon, Cherry Blossom, and Koban Postage Stamps of Japan , by Ron Casey Thomas L Zane and Lois Evans-de Violini. The CD-ROM is still available for purchase.  

Buy any of these publications by clicking on the graphic below: