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.