Meiso Mizuhara

An unadopted hand-drawn essay for the 1878–83 Large Dragon stamps of China bought by John Agnew from Sir Robert Hart. Subsequently, acquired by Sir Percival David and latterly by Meiso Mizuhara was a Japanese philatelist who was known for his award-winning collections of the stamps and postal history of the countries of Asia and his books on those subjects. His collection of Chinese stamps and postal history was exceeded in importance only by that of Sir Percival David.

Collecting Mizuhara was one of the founders of the Japanese Philatelic Society in 1946, through which he sought to re-establish philately in Japan after the end of the Second World War. He later was instrumental in the creation of The Philatelic Museum in Mejiro, Tokyo.

His collection of Chinese stamps and postal history rivaled and in some areas exceeded that of Sir Percival David, Mizuhara's collection included items once owned by David, including material that David acquired from John A. Agnew. The book won Large Vermeil medals at the Bangkok 93, China 96 and Pacific 97 philatelic exhibitions. The English translation (1998) won a gold medal at Singpex 98, and a Large Vermeil medal at Italia 98.

Death and legacy Mizuhara died in November 1993. His collection was auctioned by Spink & Son in a series of sales structured around his original exhibition write-ups and described as "Exhibition collections": German post offices in China, November 2001. Tibet, October 2002. United States post offices in China, December 2003. Mongolia, January 2011. Korean postal history, 1884–1905, January 2013. Chinese customs post, January 2016.

Selected publications Catalog of the Chinese liberation area stamps 1930–49. Japan Philatelic Society, Tokyo, 1988. Korean postal history, 1884–1905. Japan Philatelic Society Foundation, Tokyo, 1993. (Japanese language) Korean postal history, 1884–1905. Japan Philatelic Publications, Tokyo, 1998. (English language)