Japan 1871 Dragon 500 Mon (inverted centre)
- Maker
- Empire of Japan
- Year
- 1871
- Rank
- 57 of 100
- Identifier
- 500-mon greyish yellow-green, plate 1 pos. 8, center inverted; Japan's first issue; the legendary inverted-center rarity
Japan 1871 Dragon 500 Mon (inverted centre)
Realized at auction: $5,800,000, dated 2023-06-03. This is a realized sale. Somebody paid it.
What is it, and why is it in the FLOAT 100?
Japan's first stamps; the 500-mon inverted-vignette is the single greatest Japanese philatelic rarity.
500-mon greyish yellow-green, plate 1 pos. 8, center inverted; Japan's first issue; the legendary inverted-center rarity
What is the best-sourced number for it?
- Figure
- $5,800,000
- Kind
- Realized at auction
- Date
- 2023-06-03
A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.
By reference price, Japan 1871 Dragon 500 Mon (inverted centre) is number 2 of 99 in the stamps entries of the FLOAT 100. 75 of those 99 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (57 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
How this is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. A market asking price and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- Why no grade ladder
- Most FLOAT 100 entries are individual objects. There is one of this, so there is no population and no spread across grades to show.
- Archive
- 2026-08-08
Track your own
FLOAT is a free tracker. Add the stamps you own, keep photos and certificates with each item, and see a value built from real sales at your item's grade. This page is a public reference; it does not offer, price or sell insurance.