10c Yellow (116). Used with vertical pair and single of 2c Brown (113), tied by four strikes of "HIOGO JAPAN" double-circle handstamp on mostly complete blue folded cover (intact large panel with backstamps) to Behling & Lamotte, Quebec, Canada, "Kniffler & Co. Hiogo (Japan)" blue oval handstamp and sender's directive "via San Francisco", "San Francisco Cal. Oct. 17" (1870) double-circle datestamp on back, "Montreal O. AM OC 25 70" and "Quebec C.E. OC 26 70" datestamps on back, bottom 2c is reaffixed in position where it originated--a bit of the Hiogo outer rim ties left side of stamp to cover--filing crease slightly affects top two 2c stamps

VERY FINE APPEARANCE. THIS IS THE FAMOUS JUHRING-COULTER COVER FROM HIOGO--THE ONLY RECORDED EXAMPLE OF A 2-CENT AND 10-CENT 1869 PICTORIAL FRANKING PAYING THE 10-CENT U.S.-JAPAN AND 6-CENT U.S.-CANADA TREATY RATES ON MAIL FROM JAPAN TO CANADA VIA THE UNITED STATES. ONE OF THE MOST OUTSTANDING 1869 PICTORIAL ISSUE COVERS AND AN IMPORTANT COVER IN THE FIELD OF UNITED STATES POST OFFICES IN JAPAN.

This cover was carried from Hiogo to Yokohama on the Pacific Mail Steamship Co. branch-line steamer Golden Age, which arrived Yokohama September 20, 1870. It was then carried on the PMSS Great Republic, departing Yokohama September 23, 1870, and arriving San Francisco October 16 (Sunday). It entered the Canadian mails at Montreal on October 26.

When this cover was sold in the 1977 Juhring sale by Sotheby Parke Bernet (lot 795), the bottom 2c stamp was missing. It appeared as an off-cover stamp in the same Juhring sale (lot 369), and eventually the stamp and cover were reunited by Elliott H. Coulter, who was alerted to the off-cover stamp by Richard C. Frajola. The story of this reunion was told by Michael Laurence in his article, "Frog Turns Prince" (Chronicle 109). Elliott Coulter always regarded this as one of his finest 1869 covers.

Illustrated in The 1869 Issue on Cover: A Census and Analysis (color plate 9); Michael Laurence, Ten-Cent 1869 Covers: A Postal Historical Survey (p. 300); and Jeffrey M. Forster, "1869 Covers Showing the Hiogo Double-Circle Marking," Chronicle 251. Photographed and recorded by Stanley B. Ashbrook, who noted Hollowbush's ownership (prior to Juhring)--see online Ashbrook index card archive at The Philatelic Foundation.

Ex Frank A. Hollowbush, John C. Juhring and Elliott H. Coulter. The 1981 P.F. certificate no longer accompanies.

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