Established July
15, 1969

    The Ryukyu-Hawaii Emigration Error Sheet Mystery Scott 192a












    Black and White Photo of the Original          Black and White Photo of a Normal
    Error Sheet Submitted by A Member.            Sheet Submitted by A Member.      

    One of our members relates the story of how he found one of the most famous Ryukyu Island Stamps errors, the Ryukyu-
    Hawaii Emigration Error Sheet, Scott # 192a, and has included the original black and white photo of the sheet along with the
    italicized text below.

    Our member writes:
    I went to the Urasoe Post Office and purchased two sheets of Ryukyu-Hawaii Emigration Commemorative stamps.  I placed
    them in a polyethylene bag and placed in a safe deposit box at the Bank of America in the Plaza House. That is where I kept
    all my sheets of Ryukyu stamps.

    I discovered the error a few months later. I showed the stamp to Mr. Thomas Maeki, a Ryukyu stamp dealer in Naha.  I also
    went by the sales window of the PSA Philatelic Sales Section at the main Naha Post Office to get their input on the stamp
    without results.

    I finally met with Seiji Oyama and he examined the sheet and confirmed it did indeed pass through the printing machine as a
    second copy. Impressions could be seen on the sheet.  I sold the sheet to Seiji Oyama.

    For further reading of this story, please reference: FTDD Vol. 3, n. 1 (January 1971), Page 12

    Our member adds:
    During my visit to Okinawa last October (2007), my friend and I stopped by the gas station that Seiji Oyama and his brother
    owned in Naha.  They are both dead. We talked to the gal in the office. She has been there a long time. We talked over old
    times. Seiji Oyama's brother was into artifacts. He had cabinets with bones, points and pottery. I do believe most of the items
    are in the Ryukyu Museums.

    More discussion on this error can be found in FTDD Vol.  6, n.1 (April 1974), p. 9 and italicized below is an
    excerpt from that article:

    Melvin Schoberlin reported that the "second sheet" (the one reported in 1972 by Bob Kamiyama) had been broken up and
    dispersed and that, at that time (=1974), the original sheet from our member was still unbroken and in the hands "of a
    Ryukyuan speculator."

    Editor’s Notes:
    It is strange that Schoberlin would use that term, speculator, about Oyama. That would seem to mean, from what our
    members says about selling the sheet to Oyama,  that either Oyama still had it or had sold it on, unbroken, to someone else,
    and it is doubtful as Oyama did not sell  prized material such as this sheet would have been.

    Scott lists a single stamp without overprint type (192a) at $3,000 in the 2008 edition of the U.S. Specialized.    

    We may never find out what happened between when Oyama bought it and the time of his death.  We do know that a dealer
    from Japan bought a lot of Oyama's materials from his estate after his death and was selling large and small lots from it.  To
    our knowledge, the error sheet in question was not among the items that came up for sale.  So, the sheet and its disposition
    are still “not located.”

    Our member, the original owner of this sheet had one final comment:
    Before I left the island in the early 1970's someone (I do not remember who), informed me the sheet was sold to a dealer in
    Japan.  At that time, the Japanese stamp dealers were paying top dollar for Ryukyu stamps.

    Do any of our members have the answer as to the disposition of the sheet or anything to add?  If so, send your comments to
    our site manager. Thank You.


    May 12, 2008, A member responds:
    Regarding 192a, it may be useful to find owners of individual stamps. I own a right side copy which would make it pos. #5, 10,
    15 or 20. If we find two owners with the same position, we can assume both sheets are broken up.

    May 13, 2008, A member responds:
    A member e-mailed stating that he has position #15 of Scott 192a. Does anyone else have a position #15?
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