388th Auction

1850, “YASSI 1850 5 OKTIAB”, Cyrillic foliate-ornament datestamp (Tchilinghirian Type 7), very good strike on the reverse of an ecclesiastic envelope to Constantinople; some wrinkles, still very fine. Very rare, and one of only three covers known from this correspondence

JASSY: 1851, Russian PO printed Receipt for a registered letter, struck with oval negative seal handstamp inscribed "From the Post Office Abroad at Jassy" with Eagle above, struck in black. Very rare.

1860, “YASSI SEP. 9 1860”, Cyrillic datestamp mit fleuron (Tchilinghirian Type 9), fair strike in blue on entire letter to Bucharest, fine and scarce

1860, “YASSI SEP. 23 1860”, Cyrillic datestamp mit fleuron (Tchilinghirian Type 9), very good strike in blue on entire letter to Constantinople with adjacent manuscript “received 30 September”. Slightly soiled at left, still very fine and scarce

JASSY: 1862, Postal receipt issued by the “JASSY POST OFFICE" for a money letter with an insurance value of 74 roubles and 2 kopek, dated 15 January 1862; light vertical archival fold, still very fine. A rare example of the small format receipt used in Romania

JASSI INCOMING MAIL: 1817, entire letter with straight-line “KISHINEV” despatch on reverse and addressed to Jassi, intact wax seal, fine; Kishinev herself was ceded to the Russian Empire after the end of the Russo-Turkish War. An early and very scarce cover

JASSI INCOMING MAIL: 1842, lettersheet with two-line “KISHINEV 15 DECEMBER 1842” despatch marking on reverse and addressed to Jassi, fine. A scarce destination

SCULENI: 1856, Postal receipt issued by the “SKULYANI POST OFFICE" for a sending to St Petersburg. Lightly folded, with some minor faults and toning, otherwise fine. Following its cession to Russia under the Treaty of Bucharest, Skulyani was the principal border post and key locality for mail exchange between Bessarabia and the Danubian Principalities. Rare

TULCEA: 1883, “R.O.P.i.T TULCHINSK. AGENTSVO 28 II (83)” (Tchilinghirian Type1), two fine strikes in blue on Russian Levant 1 k. black/yellow and 7 k. carmine/green to small mourning envelope to Livorno, Italy, with reverse transit cds. “ALEXANDRIE” and arrival. Envelope with missing black flap, small reinforced tear at top and minor soiling of no significance; the 7 kopek with one round corner. Overall very fine and attractive. A truly extraordinary cover of great rarity, being one of only three recorded from the Russian Post Office in this small port of the Danube Delta  (Michel-Nr. 12x, 14x)

Provenance: `Kurt Adler´ (455th Robert Siegel auction, 1974)

`Cihangir´ (121th Corinphila auction, 2000)

1798, folded entire with full contents from St Petersburg to Providence, Rhodes Island, endorsed on the flap “Forwarded by Claes Grill, London”, carried privately by ship with American dispatch clamshell “New York OCT” and manuscript “Sh 38” ship rating, very fine. A very scarce transatlantic mail with Russian origin, from the known Benson & Ives correspondance 

1825, folded entire with full contents from St Petersburg to Boston, reverse two-line frame “Forwarded by Y(our). O(bedient). S(ervan).ts / Maury Latham &Co. LIVERPOOL”, on front red transit cds “NEW YORK” and matching straightline “SHIP”, manuscript “20½” ship rating at upper right corner, small tear on the back, still fine. Scarce

1858, 10 k. brown/blue, fresh colours, tied by receiving framed “ANK 3/10” to folded lettersheet (without correspondance) to Karis, alongside another boxed “ANK 6/10”, very fine and unusual

1858, no wmk., perf. 12½, 10 k. brown & blue, two singles, tied by diamond "ODESSA" to entire letter 1864 to Mytilene,Island of Lesbos. Entire witht tiny tear at top and the left stamp tiny perforation faults, where applied at the edge of the entire. A scarce letter with very unusual destination. Large expert mark on front.

10 k. brown/blue, horizontal pair of vivid deep  colours and with good perforations, neatly tied by circular dotted cancellation “1” with red departure cds “S. PETERBURG 20 NOV. 1863” to folded entire to Nicolaistad (present-day Vaasa, Finland) with arrival framed “ANK 7/12”, very fine. A scarce multiple on cover

1866, Coat of Arms 1 k. black/orange yellow, 3 k. black/green and 10 k. reddish brown/blue, fresh colours, neatly tied by Polish truncated 4-square numeral “1” with red departure cds “VARSAW 1 JULY 1871” to folded entire to Berlin with transit- and arrival, very fine

3 k. black/green (single and vertical pair) and 30 k. carmine rose/green, fresh colours, tied by cds “SLOBODSK 20 OCT. 1876” to large 3rd weight step registered envelope to Viatka with arrival cds alongside, vertical archival fold well away from the adhesives, very fine

1866/68, 3 k. black/green on vertically laid paper (three singles), together with horizontally laid paper 1 k. black/yellow and 10 k. brown/blue, fresh colours, tied by cds “RIGA 23 FEV. 1873” to entire letter to Paris, transit and blue cds “ALLEMAGNE ERQ.PARIS 10 MARS”; one 3 kopek corner fault, otherwise very fine. An unusual three-colour franking with the two issues, signed Maslowski

10 k. brown/blue, two singles tied by cds “ODESSA 15 MAY. 1874” to 2nd weight step envelope to Marseilles, underfranked by 6 kopek and accordingly marked with cyrillic framed “NOT FULLY PAID", endorsed at top right ”80" (centimes, the corresponding 20 kopek franking) and taxed “6” (Décimes due), reverse transit via Varsaw and arrival cds “MARSEILLES 2 JUIN 71”; one 10 kopek with a few short perfs, still very fine, unusual 

20 k. blue/orange, tied by TPO cds “POSTAL WAGON 27-28 11 FEV. 1872” to entire letter from Varsaw to Paris, incorrectly marked at departure by Cyrillic “PAID” but underfranked by 8 kopek, rightly taxed upon transit with red two-line “Unzureichend frankirt.”, manuscript “11” (Décimes = 110 centimes = 28 kopek at current change, full postage due) and blue “3” (Sgr. for Prussian transit), scarce small framed “P.38” (22x9mm, Von Der Linden.-Nr. 2100), reverse arrival, very fine.

30 k. carmine rose/green and 5 k. black/lilac, fresh colours, tied by cds “YARANSK 21 JAN. 1875” repeated on reverse to 2nd weight step registered envelope to the Justice Court in Vyatka with arrival cds, the 5 kopek pays for the receipt, very fine 

20 k. blue/red tied by cds “S. PETERBURG 11 DEC 1891” to reverse of a registered envelope to Nagasaki, Japan, addressed to the “care of the Russian Consul, Imperial Russian frigate staff surgeon”, endorsed on front “Via Brindisi”, reverse transit cds “HONG KONG FE 11 92” and arrival mark “NAGASAKI 6 FEB 1892 JAPAN”, very fine and most unusual, in addition two registered covers from Vladivostok to either Hakodate or Nagasaki. A fine trio

1915, Money stamps Nicholas I. 15 k., complete sheet unused without gum as issued, folded twice, slight peripheral faults as to be expected, still fine

1919, Arms 5 k., horizontal strip of three and pair tied by red cds. “SIGULDA 30 4 19” to front of a money transfer for the sum of three roubles to Riga with reverse arrival cds., the card and franking cut in at right otherwise very fine and exceptional usage in Soviet Latvia, both cities being under Bolshevik rule; also a 1919 parcel card from “PSKOV 27 4 19” to Riga, also under Soviet rule, very fine. A scarce Bolshevik duo

St. Petersburg City Post: 1848/68, envelope 5(+1) k. blue, size 135x105, used in Moscow locally with arrival mark and manuscript arrival note of October 11, 1858. Very fine and rare. Certificate Mikulski (2007)  

St. Petersburg City Post: 1848/68, envelope 5(+1) k. blue, size 121x88, used locally with clear city post arrival mark of 23.12.1858. Very fine and scarce.  

“BLAGOVESHCHENSK-NIKOLAEVSK 18 7 12 a” (type 2, large format), very fine strike on 3 k. to postcard to St Petersburg, fine and scarce ship mail on the river Amur

“GEORGIYEVSK” undated straightline (Dobin-Nr. 48.1.02), fair strike to reverse of folded entire without correspondance to Tambov, the letter disinfected with rastel marks during the early 19th century cholera pandemic in the Caucasus, very fine and scarce

“MURAVIEVSKI LAGER 20 VI 1907” CAMP MURAVIEV on postal money transfer order for the sum of 262 roubles and 15 kopek with the camp label alongside, reverse arrival “KOVNO 21 VI 1907”, 5 k. couple of short perfs. of no importance, very fine and very rare, one of only a few postal money order from this temporary post and telegraph office which was opened during Summer only

“PARAKHODA. OBSCH. R.V.A.P. z 19 4 09” (STEAMSHIP OF EAST ASIATIC STEAMSHIP COMPANY), fine strike on 2 k. (2) to postcard to Shanghai, China with arrival cds “SHANGHAI POSTE RUSSE 6 5 09” and Chinese PO “SHANGHAI 6 MAY”, very fine and attractive. A very scarce combination

“VILNA TEMP(ERORY) P. O. V LAGER 16 May 1892” VILNA MILITARY CAMP special cds. on 20 k. registered postal stationery envelope to Roma with reverse arrival cds. “ROMA 6 -92”, minor imperfections no detracting, still fine. Extremely rare and the earliest date of usage recorded for this camp

“FIELDPOST OFFICE P.B. 55 23 MY 19” cds, fine strike on small soldier´s envelope to England, vertical fold and flap rebacked, still fine. A scarce mail from the British forces during their intervention in Northern Russia

1920, 20k. on 14k. cobalt/red tied by cds. "VLADIVOSTOK 28 10 21" to registered cover with Russian and French r-label to Miloslaw, Poland with adjacent polish censor mark "P10" of Posen, London transit and "MILOSLAW 16.12.21" arrival mark, horizontal fold and some light transport wear, a very rare and with polish censor mark probably unique cover, certificate Mikulski (2005)

1920, Vladivostok issue 70 k. on 1 k. imperforate, four large margins all around, tied by cds. “VLADIVOSTOK 4 10 21” to registered envelope to New York with reverse transit and arrival marks, fine and scarce usage

1921, Vladivostok issue 2 k., good to large margins, tied by cds. “VLADIVOSTOK -1 3 21” to printed matter band to Riga, Latvia, alongside singleline “PECHATNOE”, mail sent “via Japan”, reverse arrival cds. 13 IV 21, very fine. A very scarce single usage at the printed matter rate

SHATSK: 1886, 3 k. black with Zemstvo PO head office straightline “RYAB(inski)” to registered envelope from “MORSHANSK 7 FEV. 1887” correctly franked at the 14 kopek rate, reverse Imperial post transit cds “SHATSK 9 FEV. 1887”; light vertical archival fold and negligible aging mentioned for accuracy, still very fine. A scarce mixed franking (Schmidt-Nr. 7)

Provenance: Oleg Fabergé (120th Corinphila auction, 1999)

1945, Science Academy 2 r., left sheet margin with paper production variety “part of the design printed on additional strip of paper”, mint never hinged (the right half with traces of the underlying paper on back), very fine. A most unusual variety