Lot 30290 – 1875, 6 Sen orange syll. ru (11) paying the 6 sen letter rate to China, on cover

1875, 6 sen orange, syllabic ru (11), tied by small size intaglio cross to folded letter endorsed “Pr Nevada” to Shanghai, accompanied by neat “Yokohama Jul 31 Paid All” in red, with oval merchant’s cachet “Ziegler & Co. Yokohama (Japan)” at lower left, blue Shanghai Local Post receiving cds on reverse. The earlier of just two documented examples of 6 sen orange single franking used to pay the 6 sen foreign letter rate to China; the other cover with a 6 sen single sent to the same address, bears a different syllabic: nu (10), and it was used on August 14 (Chiba Shinichi collection). A third cover with this rate is also known, but with a different franking and not originating from the Peil correspondence.Note: The 6 sen postal rate was into force from January 1875 to March 1876 on mail sent to Shanghai, according to the U.S.-Japan Postal Treaty of 1875; this 6 sen fee was subsequently reduced to 5 sen. The “Nevada” steamship was covering the Shanghai branch line of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company.Provenance: Pigeron auction (Nov. 1995, lot 4171), sold for FF18,800 and bought at this auction by the Paris stamp dealer Larocha; parts of the “Peil” archive was sold by the French dealer Xavier Pigeron.