Lot 30020 – 1871, 100 mon dark steel-blue plate, earliest printing, single on envelope

1871, 100 mon dark steel-blue, plate 1, earliest printing, position 6, very good impression, wide margins all around, used on reverse of Meiji 4.3.9 (29 April 1871) folded envelope from Maisaka (Totomi Province) to Futagawa (Mikawa Province), tied by large “Kensazumi” handstamp with three characters in regular script (Kaisho), which was used in the post offices and agencies east of Atsuta and Nagoya (“East Zone”). Includes original letter dated 3rd month 9th day, sent by the Maisaka postmaster to the Futagawa postmaster. This cover was dispatched eight days after establishment of postal services in Japan. Envelope with some insect damage not affecting the franking. Cert. Philatelic Museum Foundation (2014).

It is also included a letter written by the Maisaka postal agent and addressed to another postal agent in Futagawa. This document ads an additional degree of rarity, as this is a rare feature encountered in this period.

Nine covers and three cover fronts are documented bearing the large “Kensazumi” in Kaisho script; this is the earliest recorded date for a cover with Kaisho script postmark, together with a cover front from Toyohashi. A very early postal history example on the ninth day of the establishment of Japanese postal services (1871). Illustrated on page 86 of the 2017 “Dragon Stamps Plating Book” by Yamazaki Yoshiyuki (JHES ¥6,000,000).