Thursday, July 30, 2020

1958 Japanese Baseball and Sumo Stamps - Nagashima and Wakanohana

The late 1950s had several multi-sport sets that captured some of the most popular sumo and baseball stars of the time. Hugely popular in the late 1950s in sumo wrestling was Yokozuna Wakanohana and in baseball, Shigeo Nagashima. Both of these athletes dominated newspapers, magazines, and the attention of young children. Included as free giveaways in the Shonen series of children's magazines in 1958, these stamps show a young Nagashima in his Giants uniform and a seasoned Wakanohana who had just been promoted to Yokozuna. Both of these individuals would rise to the some of the highest levels of respect within their sports and these stamps capture them as athletes striving to make names for themselves.  Now catalogued as the Z581: 1958 Shonen Sumo and Baseball Stamps, these extremely rare stamps are printed on thin paper and were meant to be licked and stuck onto something or inside something.  Thanks for stopping by and stay safe out there!
 
 

 

6 comments:

  1. These are very cool. Hope you find out how these were distributed.

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    1. I think they must have come in sheets, but not sure how many were in these sheets. Pretty tattered edges on these separated stamps. Interesting design for sure.

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  2. Oh cool! Those Shonen magazines had some cool promo inserts back then, way ahead of their time!

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    1. They definitely had a bunch of giveaways. I am sure there are a ton more hidden gems out there.

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  3. Those are great photos of Nagashima. They're unlike most other photos I've seen from that time period

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