Lot 90190 – 1877, “Old Koban” 10 sen blue, two covers from Yokohama to France

1877, “Old Koban” 10 sen blue, two covers from Yokohama to Lyon, France, paying the rate to France from 1st April 1876 to 19 June 1877. Both bearing attractive single frankings and endorsed “p. Oceanic”, carried via United States and tied by mute cancel, with alongside postmarks including red “Yokohama Paid All Feb 10” and blue Brest entry cds also tying the franking in one cover, the the other with violet trial type “Yokohama Japan Aug 16 1878” cds and red French entry. A superb duo.

Note: Both covers originate from the March-September 1878 period of Yokohama post office foreign mail cancels, when no specific types are known. Covers from this period are in general rather scarce.