Lot 90064 – 1872, 5 sen yellowish green, 1 sen deep dull blue and 2 sen vermilion on registered cover

AN EXCEPTIONAL THREE-COLOUR FRANKING ON REGISTERED MAIL BEARING THE SECOND ISSUE

1872, 5 sen yellowish green, pelure wove paper, 1 sen deep dull blue, plate 3, and 2 sen vermilion, all tied by head portion of large “Yokohama Kensazumi” on reverse of folded envelope to Tokyo, with red framed “(year of ) Water Ape 8th Month 13th Day / Yokohama Post Office” (Gregorian date 15 September 1872) dispatch datestamp on obverse. Below the franking showing Tokyo black framed arrival datestamp on the same day of departure, and boxed “Afternoon Delivery” handstamp. On address’ side exhibiting the lower part of framed instructional marking in red, probably “(kaki)tome” (registered). The 5 sen with corner fault at top left and the 1 sen affected by tear, otherwise fine, and cover a bit reduced on top by opening.

An extremely rare registered cover from the short-lived second issue, being unique with the 5 sen value.

Note: The 8 sen franking may have corresponded to 2 sen registration fee up to 25 ri distance matching the distance bewteen Yokohama and Tokyo, 1 sen letter rate for the same distance within 25 ri, and the sextuple weight rate per 4 momme = 24 momme (equivalent to 90 grams).