Help - what price should I list this very old stamp for?

[darklisruthven]

I have a really really old Imperial Japanese postage stamp.

Problem is, I dont know exactly how old it is, or what its value is, or even how to look it up - I did a Google, and all the websites seem to suppose you already know all about the stamp so you can look it up, and no pictures even to help the novice?

[WiccaBasketUK]

There is a similar 2 sen imperial japanese stamp in purple on ebay for 50p
Ive done some googling and they stopped writing imperial japanese post on them in 1905.

[damian_steele]

Can't help with value, but a poster on Flickr claims it is from 1883.

[WiccaBasketUK]

try here

http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/yosha...us_stamps.html

and there is a forum that deals with them

http://www.stampboards.com

[gbsbks2010]

I am not a Japan stamp collector, but have looked it up in Stanley Gibbons Stamps of the World
About 1876 catalogued £1.00 used.

However like all stamps there could be something special about it - the perfs, the watermark, missing character etc etc, only a specialist would know if it was special!

[billsstamps]

I think it is in the 50p to £1 range; the perforations are irregular, and the postmark is heavy, but it is over 100 years old.

It is not the kind of stamp a casual stamp collector would buy so condition is a little more important.

[darklisruthven]

okay, thanks guys! I'll get it listed over the weekend and see what happens.