373rd Auction

1937, Znaczki Pocztowe booklet 2.20 zl. with red inscription at left, mint never hinged, fine

1902, Bisect 6 a. on 200 r., 6 copies incl. pair, tied to large part of registered envelope from "MACAO 22 JUL. 10"

1869, King Carol I. 10 b. blue and 15 b. vermilion, each two single stamps tied by cds. "BRAILA DIM 27.10.(70)" to letter sheet with handwritten endorsement "via Cospoli Cu Vapore 'Lloyd'" and framed "P.D." and straight line "P.P." via Cospoli and Piräus to Athen. Taxed for inland delivery 20 lepta with Large Hermes 1870 20 l. blue, tied by cds. "ATHENS 26.OKT.70", letter sheet with water spots and stamps partly touched or small foulds, otherwise an attractive cover with rare mixed combination franking, less than ten exist, certificate Gmach BPP (2019)

1867, “BUCAREST 29.6.”, clear cds. on unpaid entire letter via Vienna with handstamp “A.” and French transit mark and postage due mark “20” (decimes) to Montpellier with arrival mark, fine  

1868, Levante Emperor Franz Joseph 10 sld. blue tied by cds. “BUCAREST 3.7.” to letter sheet to Vienna with arrival mark, fine E. Müller, Costa and Ferchenbauer  

1869, “JBRAILA 18.3”, clear cds. on entire letter with charged 15 kr. to pay and nice sender cachet to Constantinople with arrival mark

1778, "ST PETERSBOVRG" clear black straight-line on dated folded letter, fine, signed Mikulski

1820, "SPBurg" red cyrillic straight-line on small folded letter to Narva, scarce, fine

1857, 10 k. brown and pale blue, good margin all around, used with pen stroke, fine

1858, Coat of arms 10-30k., fresh colors, 30k. few shortened perfs, otherwise fine, scarce

1858, Coat of arms 30k. rose-carmine/yellowish-green, fresh color and normal perforation, with shifted watermark, a fine and scarce stamp

1866, Coat of arms 1-30k. as blocks of four, except 1 k. all from the lower right sheet corner, all with wonderful fresh colours and good perforations, mint never hinged, just one 15k. stamp with adherence, very fine and attractive multiples

1875, Coat of arms 2-20k. as blocks of four with bottom sheet margins, all with wonderful fresh colours and good perforations, mint never hinged, 7k. some perfs seperated, very fine and attractive multiples

1875, 7 k. on horizontally laid paper, tied by cds. "MOSCOW 12 OKT.1878" to illustrated envelope 'GASSNER'S MUSEUM' (D'Industrie et Anatomie) to Bavaria with Moscow postal censor mark and arrival mark; envelope with slight faults, still fine and very attractive. Most unusual.

1884, 2k. green and 5k. lilac tied by cds. "DZHULFA 1" resp. "DZHULFA 2" to reverse of two covers to Tabriz, fine, scarce Provenance: Peter Ashford Collection

1884, Coat of arms 3k. red imperforated horizontal pair, fresh color, the left stamp just touched at left, 3mm tear between stamps at base, right stamp margin into design on 2 sides, with strip of paper added at top, used with clear cds. "LAGODEKHI 6 FEB 1887", of very fine appearance, with only one other copy known, that being unused, one of the great rarities of classical Russian philately, certificate Ceremuga (2019) Provenance: Zbigniew Mikulski (Private Treaty)

1884, 7k. blue, three resp. two stamps tied by cds. "ERIVAN 16 FEB 1889" to reverse of two covers via Dzhulfa to Tabriz, a little roughly opened, otherwise fine, scarce Provenance: Peter Ashford Collection

1899, 5k. lilac and 7k. blue tied by cds. "TASCHLA 6. MARCH 99" to registered wrapper 2k. green with white label, fine and scarce

1899, 5k. lilac, two singles with additional franking tied by cds. "NEMIROV 28 APR. 1900" to reverse of registered cover to Australia with transit and New South Wales arrival mark, inland label in a distinctive local style, fine

1903, Free Frank privilege asserted with red wax seal and violet numbered cachet to send ordinary letter from SARAPUL to Mont Athos. On reverse clear Kazan and Odessa transits and arrival mark of ROPIT AFON. The letter must have travelled directly by ship from Odessa to Athos ; if it had gone via Constantinople and then overland, the Free Frank privilege would not have extended into Ottoman territory. Very unusual item of Black Sea / Mediterranean ship mail 

1917, 1k. orange block of nine and single tied by cds. "PETROGRAD 1. APR. 17" to reverse of neat typed ordinary letter to Abo with part of red Finnish censor mark on front, the earliest recorded postal use of any 1917 imperforate, fine Provenance: Trevor Pateman Collection

1923, Labor Day 1-4r.,  1r. with bronce and golden overprint, mostly marginal copies tied by cds. to 5 small pieces, fine

1918 February, examples of the local reduced rate of 30 kop for ordinary letters and 1 rub for Registered, both used within Petrograd. Rarely seen rates with the 30 kop letter notable for printed label “ People's Bank, Russian Republic ", some minor imperfections, scarce

1918 August, Commercial registered letter from Petrograd to Warsaw, correctly franked at 60 kop with dual censorship and German receiver cancel on reverse, one stamp with corner fault, but a nice example of mail enabled by the Treaty of Brest Litovsk

1919, Private correspondence, long letter still intact, Registered letter sent from within the RSFSR with Imperial Registration label and cancellations of KOSLOVKA SIMB . [ irsk ] “ b ” 27 11 19 and a 4 rouble franking ( made up with 22 stamps ), correct according to the RSFSR Tariff of 5 November 1919 . Endorsed " Active Army " at top and addressed to a soldier in a Latvian regiment. No transit or arrival markings but possibly destined for the Latvian front

1920 May, Insured Parcel form used to send a parcel of 41 Funt from EKATERINODAR KUB[an] 28 5 20 and received at SEMENTSOVO VOL[ogda] 12 7 20 and collected there. Charged at 122 roubles 50 kopecks the franking exactly supplied by 7x3 kopeck imperforate kopeck stamps revalued x 100 = 21rbl. and  4x3 kopeck imperforate stamps with Kuban 25 rouble overprint = 100rbl, and on reverse, 3 kopeck perforated with Kuban 1 rouble overprint = 1rbl. and also on reverse 2 kopeck imperforate with Kuban 50 kop overprint = 50 kop. Endorsed at the top “Red Army” with "N 94" certification, the parcel ( sent to a private address ) has been charged at 2,50 roubles per Funt, the applicable Red Army tariff at this date, plus 20 roubles for Insurance, a very interesting and despite some imperfections attractive item

1920 October, Ordinary private letter sent on the TPO "RYAZHSK 61 VYAZMA" to Brussels via Moscow with three triangle censor mark. Franked correctly with a 5 kop imperforate stamp revalued x 100 (Tariff of 30 September 1920). According to Alexander Epstein, very few examples of this 5 rub tariff are known; after the resumption of foreign mail services in June 1920, most letters were sent registered, minor stains, otherwise fine

December 1920, Revaluations x 100,  registered cover from KROLEVETS with Moscow receiver, franked four Kyiv Il Tridents on Imperial stamps, revalued x 100 to give the correct 10 rubel RSFSR tariff . Unusual late Soviet use of Trident stamps

1921 May, Private Esperanto correspondence, ordinary postcard sent from OMSK 24 5 21 to Bamberg with weak Three Triangle Censor on the reverse. This card is correctly charged at 2 roubles in accord with the RSFSR Foreign tariff of 30 September 1920, which abolished the Free Post for ordinary mail sent abroad. The Kerensky card is used as a Blank in accordance with the invalidation of 1 January 1919 . A German Postage Due mark PORTO KONTROLLE has been applied and " 80 " inserted by hand and repeated in blue on the card. However, the card is correctly franked and both the cachet and the " 80 " in blue have been crossed through with red crayon . Alexander Epstein records only a few known examples of the 2 rouble postcard rate, most mail abroad in 1920 - 21 was sent registered

1921 October & November, two Kerensky postcards used as blanks and each franked with 7 x 15 kop Imperial Arms stamps, locally sent in Petrograd by a prisoner N N Kholodilin in pre-trial custody. The long messages include valuable historical details of prison arrangements for payment and sending of mail and reception of parcels

1934, Stratostat 5k. lilac-brown, perf L14, mint never hinged, fine

1875, Coat of arms postal stationery card 4k. green with errounous inscription at bottom "Уравление", used, small corner bend/crease, otherwise fine

1906, essay for Imperial reply letter card 10k+10k blue (separated), contains two attached letter cards, size of each 174x106mm, one copy of such essay was presented to each participant of the UPU Conference of 1906 in Rome

1906, essay for Imperial reply letter card  without value in blue, contains two attached letter cards, size of each 174x106mm, one copy of such essay was presented to each participant of the UPU Conference of 1906 in Rome

1906, Issue 1896 essay for Imperial reply letter card 10 k. +10 k. blue, contains two attached letter cards, size of each 174x106mm, appropriately folded, sample presented to the UPU Conference in Rome, perfect condition, scarce,

1900, complete undivided sheet of six stamped papers for curreny transactions, spectacular watermarks make this ideal for lightbox framing and display, few folds, otherwise fine