Product Numbering & Bar Code Verification of Phantom Plarail Sets

Yesterday I saw a bar code with a price tag on an early Hikari-Go mark era (blue header) packaging. This is ふくせんてっきょうレール. Upon contacting the owner of the item, it is G-22 (printed in 1973). I was worried that it's my first time seeing one, so the analysis begins.



This bar code is also called a JAN code. Because the first 2 digits of the bar code is 49, and Japan joined EAN to release JAN bar codes initiated in 1978, and the 300 yen was the retail price in a shopping mall (which is higher than the catalogue price of 250 yen), we can identify legitimately that this rail was out of print between 1978 and 1980. These bar codes are extremely rare on early Hikari-Go mark era (blue header), so we are looking out for bar codes like these. According to members, we know that stuff like these could be unsold for 10 years or more in obscure/bankrupt toy shops (due to the fact 400 yen was discounted to 300 yen after the release of JAN codes). We will embark on a research journey once again to the obscure toy shops around Japan to look for similar packaging and bar codes.