Lot 30213 – 1874, 1 sen grey-blue syllabic 2, a horizontal pair on “Degron-kun” cover

1874, 1 sen grey-blue, syllabic 2, a very fresh pair on cover front to Paris sent by a member of the French Military Mission, paying the single rate per 7.5 grams to Paris and tied by double circle type N1B1 “Yokohama 7.6.16” (June 16, 1874) cds, in combination with France “Cérès” 5c yellow green, 15c bistre and 80c rose, these three tied by GC “5118” lozenge with associated “Yokohama Bau Francais 16 Juin 74” cds alongside, required to pay the single rate by French packet, in this case being carried by the ship “Menzaleh”. Alongside showing Japanese “Degron-kun” type 1 handstamp wording in “Yokohama Honcho 5-chome/Futsukoku Kikyakusen Kaisacho/Degron-kun” (Mr. Degron, Chief of French Mail Ship Co., Honcho 5-chome, Yokohama). Cert. Scheller (2023).

A very rare and appealing mixed franking, with at most four recorded exhibiting this three-colour French franking, being unique in combination with 1 sen syllabic 2.

Note: The sixteen members of the French Military Mission in Tokyo were exceptionally allowed, as a result of their status, to prepay their correspondence with French and Japanese stamps on the same cover, without using another outer envelope, as regulated by the Japanese “Overseas Postal procedures”. The ‘Degron-kun’ wooden handstamps were produced with the purpose of making its instructional text understandable for Japanese postmen, who could not read a Latin script, and had to deliver the correspondence to Mr. Degron, the Postmaster of the French P.O. at Yokohama. Surviving examples of the “Degron-kun” covers are dated between 1873 and 1877.

Provenance: Dr. Tani Takashi