Lot 30169 – 1872, 10 sen apple green, Government printing, paying a double-weight registered cover from Osaka

1872, 10 sen apple green, Government printing, paying a double-weight registered cover from Osaka (Settsu Province) to Obama (Wakasa Province), cancelled by a magnificent strike of negative “Ne-Ichi” syllabic-numerical circle of Osaka. Reverse showing type N1B1 “Osaka 9.4.23” (23 April 1876) cds and Obama arrival (4.25). Cover opened for display with small area of paper lacking at top. Cert. Florian Eichhorn BPP (2023).

Merely three 10 sen Government Printing covers are recorded, being of even more scarcity if we consider that only two are in private hands. Unquestionably one of the rarest stamps of Japan on cover, and a true postal history rarity of classic worldwide philately. No covers are illustrated in the “Gallery of Japanese Stamps”, volume 2 (1990). (JSCA ¥2,000,000+).

Provenance: Fukuhara Kazunobu

Census of 10 sen Government Printing on cover (each carried at different rate):

-The example presented here

-Single on registered cover, 21.6.1874, Osaka to Eichen Aizu, in the Kanai collection (The Philatelic Culture Museum)

-Pair with 6 sen & 1 sen, 5.11.1874, Shizuoka to Okabe, ex Shirai Tsugumi, currently in the Yigal Nathaniel collection