Lot 30224 – 1874, 2 sen yellow syll. 18 (so) tied large negative cross, single on printed matter

PRINTED MATTER SENT ABROAD: THE RAREST TYPE OF FOREIGN MAIL

1874, 2 sen yellow, syllabic 18 (so), tied by large negative cross to printed circular to New York, dated inside “Yokohama, April 28th, 1875” by Heard & Co., with blue crayon “2” confirmed with “Due 2” marking struck on arrival on front. Two vertical filing folds not affecting the stamp.

The printed matter is the scarcest type of mail sent abroad, with fewer than ten examples recorded for the whole “Cherry Blossom” issues.

A preliminary census of “Cherry Blossom” printed matter mail sent abroad:

-The example offered here

-Single of 6 sen orange, syllabic 5 ‘ho’, foreign paper, on wrapper from Shanghai to Elmira New York, 1877, in the Yigal Nathaniel collection

-Two examples of 2 sen on wrapper from Kobe to Manchester, 10.3.1875, ex Stanley Berman (lot 691), currently in the Kanai collection (The Philatelic Culture Museum)

-Two examples of 1874 1 sen (2), syllabic 5 ‘ho’, foreign paper, with 2 sen (2), syllabic 2 ‘ro’, foreign paper, on wrapper (“three papers”, triple rate) from Yokohama to Washington, arrival on 10.3.1875, in the Yigal Nathaniel collection (recording in 2002 just four printed-matter rates sent to a foreign destination)

– Single of 1874 6 sen, syllabic ‘ru’, western paper, another triple rate from Yokohama to United States, March 1875, in the Yigal Nathaniel collection

– Single of 1875 1 sen brown “ribbon”, from Shanghai to United States, 1878, in the Florian Eichhorn collection