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