364 / März 2017

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

1923, Airmail 45 r. as vertical pair, the lower stamp with overprint error "broken elevator", fine

1923, Philately for labor 10-5000 rbl. with copper surcharge, each tied by cds. to piece, signed Mikulski and Hovest with certificate for 250 rbl, fine

1923, Philately for labor 10-5000 rbl. with copper surcharge including 250r. on thin paper, each tied by first day cds. to piece, two values signed Mikulski

1923, Philately for labor 250 rbl. with inverted copper surcharge, tied by cds. "MOSCOW" to piece, fine signed Sovjet Philatelic Association

1923, Philately for labor 5000 rbl. with copper surcharge, with overprint variety "wide distance between 1 and 923", tied by neat frist day cds. "MOSCOW -1.5.23" to piece, fine, signed Ebnet BPP

1923, Philately for labor 5000 rbl. with copper surcharge as block of four, tied by neat frist day cds. "MOSCOW -1.5.23" to piece, fine, signed Mikulski

1923, Philately for labor 250 rbl. with inverted silver surcharge from position 1, tied by frist day cds. "MOSCOW 1.5.1923" to piece, very fine, a very rare stamp, certificate Mikulski

2001, State Emblems of the Russian Federation, booklet with blue binding, very fine, certificate of Cartor Printing

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS: 1909 (ca.), Revenue stamp 5 k. green, complete sheet with 40 stamps incl. 16 tête bêche pairs, all with red overprint "образецЪ", mint never hinged, some stamps with crease and one stamp with perforation fault at bottom, rare

1912, Machine registration mark "MOCKBA 576.." in red on registered postal stationery 7k. blue with addiotnal franking to San Remo, fine

"SIMA No 50" white label imperforated on enevelope franked on reverse with vertical strip of three and single Coat of arms 35k. and single 7k. from "SIMA 4 VIII 1899" to Ursowo, slightly shortened at left, folded, one stamp of strip of three with missing corner, scarce

"Адресат проживаетъ Почталюнъ" pink label with black border on postal stationery card addressed to Hotel Europejski in Warsaw, there re-addressed and sent to Hotel Stadt London in Riga, somewhat unfresh, scarce

SEMI-POSTAL STAMPS: 1922, Hunger aid in the southeast 2000-6000r. red and green, each used with clear cds. "ROSTOV", certificate Hovest

SEMI-POSTAL STAMPS: 1922, Hunger aid in the southeast 2000r. red with additional franking tied by cds.rn"НОВОЧЕРКАССКЪ -8.7.22" to front of correctly franked registered cover to the "Deutsche Briefmarken Zeitung" in Leipzig, reverse with transit- censor and arrival mark, vertical fold through cover affecting the adhesive at right, otherwise fine, a rare cover