In 1948, Japan issued three souvenir sheets that look a lot alike, especially to someone who doesn't read Japanese or doesn't have all three in front of them.

And in the Japan section of the Scott stamp catalog (the standard reference for collectors in the US), Scott only illustrates one of the three, and then uses just a short description of the other two.

It's much easier to identify which ones you have, and which ones you need, if you could see all three together, and knew a little bit more about how to tell the differences among them. 

That's what this illustrator does.

[Note:  Presenting this information with eBay's limits on picture size, number of pictures, prohibition of tables and a ban on html, makes it quite a challenge to lay out this information helpfully and effectively.  I've prepared a better version at my website, www.philatarium.com.]

Illustrator:
Here are three souvenir sheets:

Scott 409:  Tokyo Communications Exhibit   (issued April 27, 1948)



Scott 410:  Aomori Newspaper & Stamp Exhibit   (issued May 3, 1948)



Scott 411:  Fukushima Communications Exhibit   (issued May 23, 1948)



I'll show you below two different ways to tell these three items apart.

Method 1:  By Ink Color & Lines of Text

This is the easiest way to tell #409 from the other two, because #409 is the only one printed with green ink.



Now you can determine with confidence which ones you have, and which ones you need!

There is another way, if you'd like to learn how to recognize a little bit of Japanese:

Method 2:  By City Name


The city name of the exhibition which the souvenir sheet is commemorating is printed at the lower-right:



There, now you have two different ways to determine precisely the differences between Japan Scott #409, #410 & #411, the 1948 sampan souvenir sheets!

For a better version of this explanation, please go to my website:


More to come!

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