377th Auction

SWEDEN-GREECE, 1851, Cover from "STOCKHOLM 24/10 1851" to the British mission at Athens, partly prepaid in cash with 6 skilling bco. till Stralsund, transported via Prussia (frontside boxed "Aus Schweden") and Trieste with blue Athens arrival mark on reverse. On the way charged with "9/9" kreuzer c.m. Postal Union rate and Austrian sea post; in Greece charged with a total of "110" lepta to be paid by the recipient. A scarce destination for Swedish letters.

SWEDEN-STRAITS SETTLEMENTS/CHINA, 1863, Small cover from Grenna, addressed to a crew member of the British corvette 'HMS Barossa' at "Singapore or elsewhere", re-directed to China. The letter was originally endorsed "via Marseille", but altered into "Trieste + Alexandria", franked with 1858, 5 oere yellow-green, 9 oere lilac, 30 oere brown and 2 copies 50 oere carmine (a further 50 oere stamp originally applied at upper left is missing). On front boxed "Aus Schweden per Stralsund" and blue crayon "f 13½" (silbergroschen) for the foreign postage beyond Trieste, on reverse transit marks of Ystad and Trieste and tax stamp "15/52". At Alexandria marked "1/-" in red crayon with adjacent red cds. Despite the missing stamp a very attractive cover, just 3 further letters from this period have been recorded from Sweden to Singapore. Certificate Dr. Helena Obermüller-Wilén (2004) (Fazit 7c1, 8b, 11b, 12d)