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)

 
 

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.

 
 

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

 
 

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

 
 

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).

 
 

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.

 
 

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

 
 

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)

 
 

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

 
 

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.

 
 

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.

 
 

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 1880  San Francisco PD ALL on back: Feb 11

 
 

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)