1) Early Large Circle (shoki ogata in)

Used from 1875 - 1885, Meiji 8 - 18, in Yokohama, Nagasaki, Hiogo, Tokei (Tokyo) and Hakodate.


1n1: Foreign Mail Postcard 3 Sen, 1879 issue, FC5 from Nagasaki via Yokohama to Achen (Aachen), Germany. 
  • Nagasaki Crossroads obliterator NS79B. 
  • Nagasaki Early Large Single Circle with month/day/bar sequence: NOV 19 (1880) 
  • Yokohama Experimental type with five pointed star : NOV 26 1880 
  • German delivery mark: 7 January (1881) 

 
 
1n2: Cover with 10 Sen old Koban from Siberia per private courier to Forwarding Agent Holme, Ringer & Co. in Nagasaki, from where it went by post via Yokohama and New York to Dresden in Germany. 
  • Nagasaki obliterator NS81A 
  • Nagasaki Early Large Single Circle with month/day/bar sequence: SEP 19 (1881) 
  • Yokohama Experimental Type with 5 pointed star: SEP 28 1881 
  • New York transit marking: OCT 23  (backside)
  • Arrival mark Dresden-Altst.: 6. 11. 81 (backside)
Nagasaki Early Large Single Circle

 
 
1n3: Cover with old Koban 5 Sen  issued in 1876, from Nagasaki via Yokohama and San Francisco to Indianapolis, Indiana 
  • Nagasaki Early Large Circle with date and time, Nov 3, 12 M., (1876) 
  • Yokohama Pail All, Nov. 16 in vermilion 
  • San Francisco, Paid All, Dec 7 
With the list of 'Pacific Sailings from Japan' it is possible to date this letter. It went by the O&O Gaelic, leaving Yokohama on Nov. 17 and reaching San Francisco on Dec. 6, 1876. On this cover the Early Large Circle was used as obliterator, which is regarded as scarce.
Nagasaki Early Large Circle

 
 
1n4: Foreign Mail Postcard 3 Sen, 1879 issue, FC5 from Nagasaki to Copenhagen, Denmark. 
  • Nagasaki Killer type NS81A 
  • Nagasaki Early Large Circle with month/blank/date sequence (C2), June 19 (1882) 
  • Delivery mark Kopenhagen: 7 Aug. 1882 
Nagasaki Early Large Circle

 
 
1n5: Cover with 5 Sen old Koban from Nagasaki via Yokohama and
San Francisco to Philadelphia. 
  • Nagasaki initial N cancellation 
  • Nagasaki Early Large Circle with year: 19 JAN 85 
  • Yokohama Small Single Circle with 8 point asterisk: 27 JAN 1885 
  • San Francisco PD ALL: Feb 18 on backside
  • Received Philada: Feb 24 on backside
Nagasaki Early Large Circle

 
 
1n6: Cover with 5 Sen UPU Koban from Nagasaki via Yokohama to U.S.A.
  • Nagasaki obliterator NS83B
  • Nagasaki Early Large Circle with date/year/blank sequence (C3): 22 FEB (1884)
  • Yokohama Experimental type with  5 pointed star: 1 Mar 1884
  • San Francisco PD ALL: Mar 24 (on back)
  • Wolfburough N.H. arrival mark: April 5 1884 (on back).
Nagasaki Early Large Circle

 
 
1h1: Old Koban 5 Sen, brown 
  • Hiogo Early Large Circle without time in month/day sequence: 
    March 16. This cancel was used in the years 1877 to 1882. 
Hiogo Early Large Circle

 
 
1h2: Old Koban 2 Sen, olive 
  • Hiogo Early Large Circle with day/month sequence. 
Hiogo Early Large Circle

 
 
1h3: Cover with 5 Sen old Koban (very wide border on the left), from Hiogo via Yokohama to New York. 
  • Kobe negative 'K' initial obliterator 
  • Hiogo Early Large Single Circle with day/blank/month sequence (C4): 3 Aug (1882) 
  • Yokohama Small Single Circle: 11 AUG 1882 
  • San Francisco Paid All: Aug 28 
  • New York Transit mark: Sep 4 
Remarks: this is the latest known usage of this type of Hiogo strike (Swenson)
Hiogo Early Large Single Circle

 
 
1h4: Foreign Mail Postcard 3 Sen green, 1879 issue, FC5 

From Hiogo via Hong Kong to Stuttgart in Germany

  • Hiogo Early Large Circle with bar in month/day/bar sequence: 
    May 28 (1881) 
  • Hong Kong Transit (on back) June 4 '81 
  • German Arrival Mark: July 19 
Hiogo Early Large Circle

 
 
1h5: Foreign Mail Postcard 3 Sen green, 1879 issue, FC5, from Hiogo to Stade in Germany.
  • Hiogo Early Large Circle with bar in month/day/bar sequence: NOV 22  (NOV upside-down)
  • Yokohama Experimental type with  5 pointed star: NOV 25 1881
  • Transit New York: DEC 17 - on back
  • Arrival marking Stade, Germany: 1. 1. 82 - on back
Remarks: I added this card because of the upside-down NOV in the Hiogo cancellation. Further I find it amazing, that this card with New Year greetings written and posted on Nov 22 in Hiogo, Japan arrived in Stade, Germany on January 1st.
Hiogo Early Large Circle

 
 
1t1: Cover with a pair of 5 Sen old Koban stamps from Tokyo via Yokohama and San Francisco to Chicago.
  • Tokyo Small Flower obliterator in green
  • Tokyo (TOKEI) Early Large Single Circle type B (day, month, bar) in green: 30 DEC (1877)
  • Yokohama Paid All in vermilion: DEC 31
  • Domestic Yokohama KB2 Double Circle: 12. 30. 
  • Transit marking San Francisco: JAN 18
  • Arrival Marking Chicago: 4 PM JAN 23
The receiver marked on the cover: Recd. Jan. 24, 1878.  The year is additionally confirmed by the Pacific sailing list: this letter was carried on the City of Tokyo of the Pacific Mail Steamship Co., sailing on December 31 1877 from Yokohama with an arrival in San Francisco on Jan. 17, 1878. The arrival mark was added the following day. This makes this the earliest known Tokei Early Large Single Circle. The Tokyo Small Flower in green on cover is rare.
Tokyo (TOKEI) Early Large Single Circle

 
 
1t2: Cover from Tokyo to Millerstown, PA, with a 5 Sen old Koban stamp. 
  • Tokyo Small Flower obliterator in black 
  • Tokyo (TOKEI) Early Large Single Circle type C (day, month, blank): 23 JAN 
  • Yokohama Experimental type with star: JAN 26 1980 
  • San Francisco PD ALL on back: Feb 11 
Tokyo (TOKEI) Early Large Single Circle type C (day, month, blank)
Tokyo (TOKEI) Early Large Single Circle

 
 
1t3: 3 Sen Foreign Mail Postcard from Kofu, Kai via Tokyo, Yokohama and San Francisco to Detroit, Michigan, USA.
  • Kiban cancellation of Kofu
  • Double-Circle type KG of Kofu: March 1 (1879)
  • TOKEI  Early Large Single Circle C (day, month, blank) in green: 2 MAR 
  • Yokohama early Double-Circle: MAR 5 1879
  • San Francisco transit marking: March 22
There are nicer Tokei cancels type C in green, but I present this one nevertheless, because it is unique insofar as it bears the only recorded Kiban cancellation on one of the 1877 Foreign Mail Postcards.

 
 
1pa1: Cover from Nagasaki to Hiogo with a pair of 2 Sen old Koban stamps. A domestic letter with a 4 Sen postage? 

Dating the letter: John. G. Bishop records 1876. 8. 25 as the latest usage of the single line PAID ALL mark. The 2 Sen olive Koban stamp was issued on 1876. 5. 17. The Nagasaki cancel reads JUL 14. Mr. Swenson reports 3 findings of the single line PAID ALL marking between 1875. 03. 01 and 1875. 08. 25. The latest, just as mine, was from Nagasaki to Hiogo. The Hiogo Early Large Single Circle type C3 is known from 1876. 12. 09 till 1882. 04. 04.

My guess: the Nagasaki cancel has to be from 1876. 7. 14, which means that Mr. Swenson erred with 1875. 08. 25 and that the Hiogo cancellation already had been in use before 1876. 12. 09.

The PAID ALL markings are a part of the Early Single Circle chapter in both the Bishop and the Swenson monographs and I therefore add them here myself too. According to Mr. Swenson only three different examples have been recorded from Nagasaki and I herewith add number 4 since his discriptions do not fit my cover. The PAID ALL mark was required for mail to or through the United States (U.S.-Japan postal convention of 1873. 08. 03). On this domestic letter neither the Paid All mark nor the Roman letter Nagasaki cancellation and the Hiogp receiver mark normally applied to foreign mail make sense.

The way of writing on the cover is not Japanese but Chinese. The name of the receiver (Chen) is a typical Chinese family name and I therefore assume that a Chinese trader in Nagasaki mailed this letter to a collegue in Kobe (Hiogo). Did the Japanese postoffice regard mail posted by foreigners as foreign mail even with a domestic destination? There is a red handstamp with Roman letters Hiogo and Chinese characters for Kobe on this cover. The red is slightly different from the Paid All mark and I therefore assume that this handstamp is a private one.

  • Nagasaki Early Large Single Circle type A (month, day, hour): JUL 14 (1876) 
  • PAID ALL on a single line 
  • Hiogo Early Large Single Circle Type C3 (day, month, blank): 16 JUL (1876) 

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