364 / März 2017

Mixed lot with interesting provisional cancellations on over 20 fragments and stamp multiples plus over 60 Postmaster Provisional stamps with unidentified, doubtful or fake overprints

Soviet South Russia and the Caucasus showing “Trophy” use of White issue stamps May 1920 Parcel card from Rostov on Don 28 5 20 sent to Moscow with part Moscow receiver cancel. Endorsed at the top “Red Army” and charged at the Red Army tariff of 2.50 roubles per funt. The card reduced at left with 83 roubles of the original 97 roubles franking remaining made up with 16 x 5 rouble Denikin and a single 3 rouble Denikin stamp

May 1920 Parcel card from Rostoc on Don 28 5 20 sent to Moscow with part receiver on reverse and signature of recipient dated 20 August. Charged at 102 roubles 50 kop at the Reed Army tariff of 2 roubles 50 per Funt. Endorsed in pencil at top “Red Army Certified N. 1126. Fully franked to 103 roubles with 10 x 10 Denikin anda single 3 rouble Denikin stamp, the latter from the scarcerwhite paper printing, perforated and in a rich chocolate brown colour

May 1920 large part of Parcel Card sent from Red Army Field Post No 51 to Sergievsk Posad, Moscow with July 1920 receiver mark. Three adhesives added on arrival, probably for a parcel storage fee. The original franking a mix of white paper (Musavat printing) first issue of Azerbaijan (12 copies, front and back) along with Imperial adhesives which have been clipped. A rare usage of Azerbaijan stamps  

June 1920 Money Transfer form, new printing with Imperial Arms removed at top left, used to send 500 roubles from VOEZNESENKII-RUDNIK EKAT[erinoslav] 8 6 20 to Orlov guberniya arriving IVAN ORL 15 6 20. Franked at 10 roubles (the minimum charge on transfers up to 500 roubles) with a x 100 revalued Denikin 10 kop stamp which has been locally perforated and of which this may be the only example on intact formular

June 1920 Part of a parcel card sent from VLADIKAVKAZ 13 6 20 and endorsed in pencil “Red Army” at top. Remaining franking comprises 10 x 10 rouble, 1 x 5 rouble and 2 x 3 rouble Denikin stamps  

June 1920 Money Transfer Form used to send 200 roubles from KUBANSKOYE KUB[an] 9 6 20 and addressed to Kiev. Franked at 10 roubles with a Kuban overprinted 10 rouble stamp, representing the minimum charge for a money transfer. Sent at a time when Kiev was Polish-occupied but received LYSYANKA KIEV 6 7 20 and signed for in August  

September 1920 Uninsured parcel form sent from Armavir to Vologda, charged at the Red Army rate of 2.5 roubles per funt with an Mss. N.110 at top of card which is the authorisation number. The large 46 funt parcel was charged at 115 roubles, of which 100 roubles are provided by Kuban overprinted 3 kopeck stamps and 15 roubles by unoverprinted Imperial stamps revalued x 100 in accord with the RSFSR March 1920 regulations. Mixed frankings like this are relatively unusual. Receiver BAKLANKA VOL[ogda] 6 11 20 on reverse  

November 1920 Money Transfer form, printed in Tiflis, used to send 5000 roubles from KUR-KABARDINKA CHERNOM 27 11 20 to Saratov guberniya with receiver cancel and payee’s signature on reverse. Charged at 2% of the sum transferred, the franking provided by 4 x 25 rouble Kuban overprinted adhesives

September1921 Money Transfer Form sending 20 000 roubles from GROZNY to Saratov guberniya with four transits and receivers on reverse, signed for by the recipient. Franked with two scarce 25 kopeck Savings Bank stamps inscribed “18 …”  

Occupation Forces and “White” Mail 1917 – 1921 September 1918 Ordinary commercial letter sent from VLADIVOSTOK 10 9 18 addressed to USA. Franked 2 x 5 kop Imperial stamps, boxed Vladivostok censor, SHANGHAI transit on reverse, Muscatine Iowa receiver on front

September 1918 Ordinary letter franked 35 kop from Berezovka Zabaikal to Shanghai. Kharbin transit on reverse, Russian censor on front, Chinese mark and Shanghai Local Post cancel on reverse  

January 1919 British Intervention in North Russia, ordinary postcard franked at the RSFSR 12 kop foreign rate (Tariff of March 1918 ) sent from Solombala Archangel 3 1 19 to Holland with British censor in violet, Norwegian Vardø transit and Dutch C292 distribution mark, all markings on the front. Tarasoff correspondence

February 1919 Registered letter sent from VLADIVOSTOK 23 2 19 addressed to London. Franked to four roubles with unoverprined Imperial stamps, boxed Vladivostok censor, two London receivers on reverse  

May 1919 Money Transfer Form sent 17 5 19 from Gulyai – Borisovka in the Don Oblast to Novocherkassk franked 15 x 50 kop unoverprinted Imperial stamps representing 1.5% of the 500 rouble transfer, unusual personalised OPLACHENO mark. In addition, a picture postcard neatly cancelled from Piatigorsk 22 5 19 and franked 2 x 10 kop unoverprinted Imperial Arms adhesives  

June 1919 Ordinary letter franked to 50 Kop with Imperial adhesives sent from NOVO-NIKOLAEVSK 12 6 19 and addressed to a Prisoner of War camp in Krasnoyarsk with weak receiver cancel on reverse, weak Inspection cachet on front and violet Mss. 17 VI 1919 probably indicating arrival  

June 1919 Ordinary letter franked with 2 x 50 kop unoverprinted Imperial stamps sent from the French Vice-Consulate in Ekaterinburg 21 6 19, transit through Harbin 5 7 19 and Changchun IJPO 6 7 19 arriving in France 19 8 19. The French played an important part in the Ekaterinburg-based investigation into the murder of the Tsar and his family

August 1919 Ordinary letter addressed to Irkutsk franked unoverprinted 50 kop Imperial Arms stamp cancelled with very fine strike of the oval TPO,  MANCHURIA 260 CHITA 28 8 19. Boxed violet censor cachet  

August 1919 Registered cover sent from ACHINSK 30 8 19  addressed to the Danish Legation in Washington, franked 2 roubles with 4  x 50 kop unoverprinted Imperial stamps. Vladivostok paper seal and censor cachet, Received mark of the Legation dated OCT 13 1919, filing holes  

August 1919 Registered cover sent from Ekibastukiya Kopi, Semipalatinsk to Australia., franked 1rouble 40 kop on reverse. Sent up to Omsk where censored with further censor on reverse probably applied in Vladivostok. Arrival mark SYDNEY REGISTERED NSW on reverse. Cigarette damage but a remarkable item. The cover originates from a coal mining area to which at one time Alexander Solzhenitsyn was condemned

October 1919 Unfranked Prisoner of War cover from UST KAMENOGORSK 12 10 19, addressed to Germany, censor and transit VLADIVOSTOK 1 11 19 but no further marks, very creased  

November 1919 Commercial correspondence, originally unsealed printed paper, sent from Congress of Mining Industrialists of South Russia in Kharkov to Alexandrovsk Grushevski [later Shakhty] in the Donbas with receiver cancel on the reverse. Rare printed matter franking at 10 kop with two Denikin adhesives used during the White Army occupation of Kharkov

December 1919 Red Cross correspondence, Registered double weight letter sent from KRASNOYARSK 2 12 19 to Stockholm, censored in Vladivostok, with London transit and Stockholm receiver on reverse. Originally franked at 6 roubles ( 2 + 2 roubles for postage; 2 roubles for Registration), one stamp fallen off at the time and noted with a Swedish crayon mark “Ovfaltet” in bottom right cornerand no Postage Due raised. Unusual

Larger Collections and Accumulations 1917/18, Mail from German PoWs in Russia and to Russian PoWs in Germany, an accumulation of 57 items nearly all from the Provisional Government and Bolshevik period, very varied and showing increasing use of franked civilian mail services in 1918. Notable for a wide range of cancellations including TPO and, for example, a January 1918 group photograph of German prisoners sent franked through the civilian post, something which prior to the German-Russian Armistice of late 1917 would not have been permitted. Overall, a very interesting lot

1917/18, Mail to Austria-Hungary, lot of 27 covers and cards, mostly Prisoner of War material but 12 items with adhesive frankings and including items posted after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. A significant proportion have been posted along the route of the Trans-Siberian Railway with TPO and Voksal cancellations

1917/18, Accumulation over 40 items, mostly 5 kop franked cards with some covers, many of the cards accompanied by typed English translations, much of interest  

1919, Three pages from the June 1919 Petrograd parcel office receipt book showing the adhesives then in use. Total of 67 stamps of which 6 are the 70 kop Kerensky issue

1919/21, Lot 40 items of inland mail, mostly Free Post items, with covers and cards from all over Soviet-controlled Russia. Many with detailed typed notes ex Robert Taylor collection but scope for further work including study of the messages

1917/21, about 100 money transfer and parcel card forms covering the whole Civil War period from the Soviet side. Remarkably diverse with around 2000 adhesives which have mostly not been studied for scarcer late printings of Imperial Arms stamps and late printings of the formulars themselves. Mass frankings, obvious provisional cancellations, many small localities are all represented. Though formulars are quite common for the Imperial period, these early Soviet uses cannot be found so easily and the start price probably represents very good value for what will be found here on careful examination

1918, saving stamps 25-50k. and 100r. with additional franking tied by cds. "MOSCOW 6.9.21" to local registered cover, slightly reduced at left, otherwise fine

25 r. yellow-brown/brown as vertical strip of three and single, tied by cds. "BORONEZ 5 9 21" to front of money order, fine, certificate Hovest BPP

1921, Liberation of Work 1-5 rbl., used, fine, signed Mikulski and certificate Hovest

1921, Hungeraid 2250 r. green on thin paper, type II, used, fine, certificate Wassmann BPP

1922, Child support 1 k. imperforated - 10 k., 2k. as vertical pair, each tied by special first day cds. to piece, fine

1922, Child support 2-10k., each tied by special first day cds. to piece, 5k. with heavily shifted overprint this first line of overprint missing, signed Mikulski and certificate Hovest

1922, Child support 2-10k tied by special first day cds. "MOSCOW 19-VIII-1922" to special envelope, slightly soiled at bottom, otherwise fine, signed Hovest BPP