358 / September 2014

1896 / 1916 RAILWAY REGISTERED MAIL: An assembly of 13 covers illustrating registration on TPOs and at railway stations with fine items from (for example) Vladivostok, Vitebsk, Rostov and the Warsaw - Minsk railway

1881 /1887 SHIP MAIL Two postal stationery cards that of 1881 cancelled with ASTRAKHAN - TSARITSYN "2" and that of 1887 with TSARITSYN - ASTRAKHAN "1", very scarce early items, but the 1881 card rather toned

1900 SHIP MAIL Registered cover franked to 42 kopecks all cancelled with BATUM-ODESSA steamship cancel and the Registration indicated with a rare provisional White Registration label modified in manuscript to indicate the direction Batum to Odessa rather than Odessa to Batum, St Petersburg receiver canellations on reverse

1900 SHIP MAIL Registered cover, some minor age wear,  posted on the Odessa -Batum steamer service, franked on reverse with 2 x 7 kop cancelled ODESSA - BATUM "4" and on the front the registration indicated both by mss at top left and by the corresponding provisonal white registration label bottom left, illustrated in Harry von Hofmann´s Zakaznoe - Recommandirt page 179

1903 / 1911 SHIP MAIL Two cards, 1903 picture postcard of Odessa sent to Tulcea, cancellations on stamps unclear, but with top left seal of the "Bessarabia" steamship in black and 1911 Tulcea to Focsani with the same seal in violet cancelling the Romanian stamp, a scarce pair

1904 SHIP MAIL A remarkable matched pair of Registered covers both addressed to Kislovodsk, one posted on the Archangelsk - Vardö steamship # 1 and the other on steamship # 2, established by the text of the cancellations and the Registration labels "I" and "II" for the Archangel -Murmansk part of the route. Kislovodsk receiver cancels on reverse of both covers.

1911 SHIP MAIL Picture postcard (Greetings from Blagoveschensk) with cancellation of the Blagoveschensk Stretensk steamship, serial "v", a scarce river mail cancellation

1836 / 1914 SHIP MAIL Collection of North Sea mail on album pages with 28 covers and cards of which 19 are pre - philatelic with Mss. endorsements for Steamer (Dampfschiff) transmission written in English, French and German, a good lot

1883 / 1914 SHIP MAIL: A fine group of 28 covers and cards with BATUM - ODESSA and ODESSA - BATUM  ship cancellations, together with 1 cover showing a poor strike of the Cherson - Odessa route

1892 / 1918 SHIP MAIL. An extensive collection of 38  covers and cards with varied ship cancellations of the Volga and Volga-Kama routes, several on picture postcards of the river steamers themselves.

1900 / 1910 SHIP MAIL. Fine group of 10 covers and cards showing cancellations of the Russian Volunteer Fleet in the Far East and the Russian Asiatic Steamship Co and illustrating several routes with a wide range of markings, generally good to fine

1906 / 1915 SHIP MAIL Collection 8 covers and cards with generally very scarce cancellations including Warde - Archangelsk (3 items), Archangelsk - Kovda ( 3), an unusual opportunity to acquire more than a single item from this area!

1900 ADVERTISING LETERSHEETS (Maria Fedorovna) Moscow Issue # 5 uprated and used from Mscow to Leipzig, fine condition and intact

1899 ADVERTISING LETTERSHEETS (Maria Fedorovna) Mocow issue # 49 used from Moscow to Vienna, very fine and intact

1899 ADVERTISING LETTERSHEETS (Maria Fedorovna) Moscow issue # 61 used locally at Kalish, a little edge wear but intact

1899 ADVERTISING LETTERSHEETS (Maria Fedorovna) Moscow issue # 109 locally used within St Petersburg, fine and intact but the back sheet without advertisements and lined for writing

1898 ADVERTISING LETTERSHEETS (Maria Fedorovna) St Petersburg issue # 11 uprated and used from St Petersburg to Hamburg, fine but not intact - half of the lettersheet removed

1899 ADVERTISING LETTERSHEETS (Maria Fedorovna) St Petersburg issue # 12 uprated and used from Moscow to France, fine and intact, the writer gives details in French about the nature of these lettersheets saying that this postal curiosity which he is now sending will in future have value ("Je tádresse cette curiosite postale qui aura plus tard de la valeur")

1899 ADVERTISING LETTERSHEETS (Maria Fedorovna) St Petersburg issue # 16 sent to Reval from a TPO, a little worn and not intact with one sheet removed

1899 ADVERTISING LETTERSHEETS (Maria Fedorovna) St Peterbsurg issue # 21 used from Riga to Strasbourg, fine but not intact - one sheet removed

1899 ADVERTISING LETTERSHEETS (Maria Fedorovna) St Petersburg issue # 30 used from Moscow to Frankfurt, a little messy and not intact - one sheet removed

1900 ADVERTISING LETTERSHEETS (Maria Fedorovna) Riga issue # 102 used from Riga , worn but intact and with long letter

1901 ADVERTISING LETTERSHEETS (Maria Fedorovna) Warsaw issue # 103 uprated and posted on a TPO, addressed to Hamburg, fine and intact with many Polish langauge advertisements and a long letter in German

1906 / 1915 ADVERTISING CARDS A valuable group of 14 postal stationery cards (of which 2 mint) with printed advertising matter; in addition, an illustrated card from the 1910 Ekaterinoslav Exhibition and 2 illustrated Field Post envelopes, together making an excellent lot of very scarce material in generally good to fine condition

1881 BREITFUSS CORRESPONDENCE A  Registered cover to the stamp dealer Roussin in Paris, addressed in the handwriting of F. Breitfuss and with an attractive franking including 5 kop City Post stamp, the cover neatly cancelled; unfortunately the back flap (probably with return address) has been torn off.

1883 BREITFUSS CORRESPONDENCE Registered letter using an unusual combinatin of 10 kop sdtationery and pair of 2 kopeck stamps, addressed to Berlin in the handwriting of F. Breitfuss, confirmed by his own name and address written in Cyrillic on the back flap of the envelope

1885 BREITFUSS CORRESPONDENCE Registered cover, worn and with adhesion to original wax seals on reverse, utilising an 1848 St Petersburg City Post stationery envelope uprated with a pair of 1863 St Petersburg City Post stamps. On the back is the name and address of F: BREITFUSS in his handwriting but the front of the envelope is addressed in a different hand; the cover accompanied with detailed 1990 Mikulski certificate

1890 BREITFUSS CORRESPONDENCE A very attractive registered cover addressed to London in the  handwriting of F. Breitfuss with his cachet in violet at bottom left of cover; the letter posted from the Main telegraph office in St Petersburg

1890 BREITFUSS CORESPONDENCE Registered cover to Zürich with receiver cancellation on reverse, addressed in the handwriting of F Breitfuss, and sent from the St Petersburg main telegraph office

1895 BREITFUSS CORRESPONDENCE Registered cover, somewhat creased, sent from the firm of Bruno Saenger (with intact wax seal on reverse) but addressed to the stamp dealer Rudolf Friedl in the handwriting of F. Breitfuss and registered from the Main telegraph office

1865 RUSSIAN POST OFFICES IN THE LEVANT Refolded entire letter addressed to Eupatoria franked 6 copies 10 kopeck (Michel # 5) in two strips of three with fine blue cancellations of KONSTANTINOPOL 23 FEB 1865, no transit or receiver markings

1887 RUSSIAN POST OFFICES IN THE LEVANT Registered stationery envelope sent from Odessa and addressed to Bayreuth in Bavaria but mis-sent to Beirut, oval transit cancels of CONSTANTINOPOL on reverse, along with rare oval double-framed ROPIT BEIRUT in blue, returned to ODESSA and forwarded on to its intended destination confirmed by BAYREUTH receiver

1880s / 1914 RUSSIA USED ABROAD A collection in one album with over 30 items, mostly Levant with notable Beirut, Jerusalem and Mersina, one cover illustrated in Harry von Hofmann´s Zakaznoe - Recommandirt at page 189

1857, 10 kop. brown/blue, large margins all around,tied by good strike of round dotted "5" VILNO to folded letter, somewhat stained, otherwise fine

1862 Entire letter to St Petersburg sent from Kibarty with bilingual cancel at top right and "282" ring cancellation on 10 kopeck Russia # 5, just touched by filing crease, St Petersburg receiver on reverse

1862 Entire letter to St Petersburg sent from Kibarty with bi-lingual cancel top left and 10 kopeck Russia  with "282" ring cancel, St Petersburg receiver on reverse