Page 52 - SD2015-09_John_Grant_Japan 1871to1883

Japanese

Cherry Blossom Issue 1872to 1876

9

1875 Issue

(Engraved by Spiro Brothers) (~ithographS. piro Printing Works Hamburg)

Printed on porous or native wove papers
Short Perf 10% x 121h and compounds

With syllabies (Japanese Characters) used for plate numbers

Colours changed and all designs unified size

4 13
pas

Spiro brothers Hamburg Forgery
The Spiro brothen made large numbers of forgeries from 1864 to about 1880.
T h y had their own lithographicprinting firm in Hamburg (Germany). Over the
years about 500 different forgeries were made. These forgeries must be the most
numerous of all forgeriesand can be found in almost every old collection.
They were normally prink3 in sheets of 25 The stamps were never gummed, but
can be found mostly cancelled. The typical 'Spiro cancels' are often the easiest way
to recognize these forgeries. The perforation is often defective.

Spiro-Dotted Cancel

Sniro F o n d 20 Sen

Die I Die I

# 0

(chi) (1'0)