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1942 First Anniversary of the Great East Asia War - Plate Varieties & Errors

Overprint Varieties as Listed by Zirkle

The plate varieties shown below are listed by Zirkle in her book "The Postage Stamps and Commemorative Cancellations of Manchoukuo". By looking at the different positions of the first two varieties she has made some assumptions about the number of plates used which she lists as A. B. C & D. All plate varieties appear on the 3f stamps but only A & B on the 6f, but sadly this is not that case as the 6f sheet shown below conforms to none of Mrs Zirkle's models.

In fairness to Mrs Zirkle she admits to not having done the research herself, having based her information on "reports". Any shortcomings in the research is not really surprising because not many collectors will own enough full sheets for a representative sample. It is now clear that more plates exist than was first thought when Mrs Zirkle's book was written.

Many of the varieties are so tiny as to delight the dedicated flyspecker, so to show you what she means by some of the tiny defects she mentions these are explored below with a red arrow pointing to the fault. You can also enlarge these images with a click of your mouse.

Variety a. - Zirkle associates this small fault with

Plate A - first occurs on stamp 42
Plate B - first occurs on stamp 1
 Plate C - first occurs on stamp 33 then 41
Plate D - first occurs on stamp 33 then 44

Variety b -  - Zirkle associates this small fault with

Plate A - first occurs on stamp 75
Plate B - first occurs on stamp 77
 Plate C - first occurs on stamp 61
Plate D - first occurs on stamp 89

Variety c.