1899, Chrysanthemum Series JAPAN 10 Sen

1899, Chrysanthemum Series  JAPAN 10  Sen

Text: Japan 10 sen
Condition: Ø =USED/ Cancelled

Title:   Chrysanthemum crest

Face value:     10

Stamp Currency:       Sen

Country/area:                     Japan

Year:   1899

Set:     1899

Stamp number in set:           1

Basic colour:           Blue

Exact colour:          

Usage:                           Definitives

Type:               Stamp

Theme:           Japanse Chrysant

Stamp subject:           Japanse Chrysant

Michel number:         82

Yvert number:                        102

Scott number:                        103  

Stanley Gibbons number:   

Printing office:            

Perforation:    11½ : 12½

Watermark:    

Paper:            

Printing:             Typography

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Start of "Imperial Japanese Post"

1876   Japan's name appears on stamps for the first time as 大日本帝國郵便 (Dai Nippon Teikoku Yūbin), which continued to appear on all Japanese stamps until replaced by 日本郵便 in 1946 (see below). Denominations were shown in Chinese graphs as before.

Most denominations also showed IMPERIAL JAPANESE POST in roman script. The 5, 6, 8, 10, and 12 sen denoninations exceptionally had JAPANESE EMPIRE plus POST.

Denominations were romanized as Rn (Rin) and Sn (Sen) for lower denominations. The 5 sen denomination had Roman number V and roman SEN, and denominations from 6 sen and higher had Arabic numbers and roman SEN. The 5, 6, 8, 10, and 12 sen issues exceptionally also spelled out numbers in roman script -- FIVE SEN to TWELVE SEN.

The series issued from 1876 are the called "Koban stamps" (小判切手). The series was somewhat modified in 1883, and a 1 yen stamp (Yn) was added in 1888. The 1876 series and the 1883 series are now called "Old Koban" (旧小判) and "New Koban" (新小判) series. These stamps continued to be issued through 1898 but remained usable.

The Koban stamps were designed by the Italian engraver Edoardo Chiossone (1833-1898), who had been invited to Japan by the Paper Money Office (紙幣寮) of the Ministry of Finance. The stamps were printed on new style letter presses. The Paper Money Office later became the Printing Bureau (印刷局), then the National Printing Bureau (国立印刷局). The bureau is now a so-called "Independent Administrative Institution" of the Japanese government.

Chiossone, in Frankfurt in 1874 when Germany printed Japan's first paper money, was invited to Japan from London, where he had gone the following year to study new printing technology. He spent the rest of his life in Japan and was instrumental the Printing Bureau's development of stamp and currenty engraving and production technologies.

1884   Japan's Printing Bureau designs and produces Korea's first stamps, and over the following twenty years Japan becomes increasing involved in Korea's postal affairs (see below).

1895   Taiwan is incorporated into Japan's sovereign dominion, and as part of Japan its post offices begin to use Japanese stamps.

1899   Saw the appearance of the first new design of definitive stamps over two decades -- with a large crysanthemum crest in the center. These stamps are known as the "Kiku [Chrysanthemum] series" (菊切手).

Another notable design change was the disappearance of "Imperial Japanese Post" in roman script. Roman script continues to be used for sen (or Sn) and yen denominations until 1926.