Lot 30014 – 1871, 100 mon dark steel-blue. earliest printing, “Eguchi” type cancel

1871, 100 mon dark steel-blue, plate 1, earliest printing, very fresh possessing very good and even margins all around, showing a very fine strike of the upper part of large “Kensazumi” handstamp with three characters in seal script (Tensho), also known as “Eguchi type”.

A superb example with this very rare cancellation.

Note: The “Eguchi” type cancellation, named after the philatelist and author Eguchi, is a local variety of the three-character “Kensazumi” handstamp in Reisho script, up to now confirmed to be used in Saikyo and Osaka only. It is assumed that, due to the increasing number of mail in the first week of issue, the “ekiteiryo” (G.P.O.) of Osaka branch office manufactured two extra postmark devices Reisho script in the first week of Meiji 4.3, which clearly differed in character style from the standard type distributed in Meiji 4.2. The three recorded covers confirm the usage of these additional postmarks during the period of Meiji between 4.3.7 and 4.4.7; Eguchi mentioned them for the first time in his classic “Early Meiji period postmarks of Japan”, although back in the 1950s nobody believed these to be genuine. (See the recent work by Yamazaki Yoshiyuki: “Dragon Stamps Plating Book”, Tokyo (Narumi) 2017, pages. 101-103).

Provenance: Eguchi H.