Lot 30267 – 1875, 15 sen violet syll. ro (2) pos. 5, used, featuring « handwritten 10 (+) » (« kaki-zyu ») variety

15 sen violet, syllabic 2 (ro), position 5 featuring « handwritten 10 » (« kakiju ») variety, very fresh, cancelled by negative « crossroads » cancel used on external mail. Very fine. Cert. Philatelic Museum Expert Committee (2015), Florian Eichhorn BPP (2023).

Of this famous hand-retouched error, only about a dozen examples have been recorded in used condition. (JSCA 37 2 (ro) v-1-5-r, ¥2,000,000).

Note: In position 5 the « kanji » character for « 10 » was omitted at right and later retouched. In some of the already printed sheets the missing character was precariously inserted by hand. The error occurred in the earliest printing and was discovered shortly after; as a matter of fact, the omission and the few corrections inserted by hand only appear on examples in grayish shade, which is distinctive of the very early printing.