1965, CEPT 0,60 fr. épreuve d'artise in black with engraver signature, fine

Small envelope with original 3 pages letter on stationery "SERVICE DU BALLON", written by printer Renée Stern to his wife in Bruxelles, franked with Siège 10 c. and 20 c. (affixed partly around the edge of the small cover), tied by 2 strikes of red "PARIS (SC) 14 NOV. 70" with adjacent faint "LUZARCHES 20 NOV.", on reverse transit and arrival marks. The stationery endorsed at top "ballon du Gouverneur". An interesting and unusual piece

TAUROGGEN (Lithuania): 10 kopeck brown and blue, large margins, tied by dotted oval "9" to lettersheet with reverse side boxed "TAUROGEN 20 JULY.1858" and oval handstamp "SPEDITIONS-GESCHÄFT JOHN G. KNIEP/TAUROGGEN", to Riga, with arrival mark. Supposed to origin from (most likely) German soil and forwarded. Just 13 No.1-entires have been recorded with dotted oval (border post office) cancellations and just four similar entires with the Kniep handstamp. Certificate Mikulski (1986, not mentioning forwarder)

Note: The Forwarding Agents handstamp is discussed in Guido Craveris Census, page 11

ROPIT: 1860/70, Lot of 23 shipping documents relating to mostly different ships of the ROPiT line. Excellent basis for study of ROPiT activities

"CHANGCHUN-S I.J.P.O. 4.8.10" and "DAIREN I.J.P.O."  transit and arrival marks on postcard from Germany 1910 to Dairen, very fine

1911, November 12, Calbraith Rodgers' 'Vin Fiz flight', photo postcard, depicting Vin Fiz with pilot C. Rodgers, intended for the final leg of the first successful trans-continental flight which crashed upon take-off at Compton, addressed to Long Beack, California with short interesting text "Just a card to let you see, we have a new way of sending our mail here in Calif. I suppose we will be travelling that way soon ..." showing violet three-line "Machine wrecked at Compton Aviator injured" and five-line cachet, franked with Franklin 1 cent green, pen crossed, card showing on picture side offset of machine cancel. A fine and rare card, just 8 entires are recorded from this crash flight (AANC 2c)

"par Luxembourg", manuscript transit mark on entire letter from Aix-la-Chapelle 1714 to Nancy with adjacent transit mark "DE BRUXELLE"

12½ c. carmine-rose, horizontal pair with sheet margin at left, unused with original gum; the left stamp 2 perfs with slight creasing, otherwise fine/very fine, certificate Böttger BPP (2018)

September 1920 Registered cover, private correspondence, sent from Soveit-control Uman to Riga with Petrograd transits and post-independence RIGA receiver. Correctly franked at 10 roubles with 2 x 10 Sh General issue Ukraine correctly converted to 5 kopeks each and then revalued x 100. One stamp damaged .Good example of Soviet use of Ukrainian adhesives, even on foreign mail

10 c. black with large margins, cancelled by 'Colosse' of 46 bars, very fine, certificate Demuth BPP

1865, unissued 10 pa. brown, unused with large part o.g.; a light diagonal crease in the upper part (invisible from front), otherwise fine and fresh; a rare stamp, certificate ISFILA

BURSA: 1 pia., tied by mute dots and bars postmark to entire letter 1863 to Istanbul, fine

"KUH MALEK SIH ZIARET", 2 quite good strikes in black on 1903/04, 3 ch. in horizontal pair, 12 ch. and 1 kr. on registered envelope to England with additional clear strike on reverse, Indian transit mark and arrival marks; the envelope somewhat reduced in size at top due to rough opening, still attractive and scarce

1891, Avis de Reception from Guatemala to Tegucigalpa with arrival cancellation "OCT 13 1891", fine

 6 Kreuzer braun im waagerechten Paar, voll- bis breitrandig, rechts mit schmalem Bogenrand, mit sauber aufgesetztem oMR "B.P." auf komplettem Faltbrief mit handschriftlichem Aufgabevermerk "Edenkoben" nach St. Remy mit Transit- und Ankunftsstempeln; ein attraktiver Bahnpost-Auslandsbrief

20 pia. with "BLOB BY ARABIC L" (Beta pos. 205), unused, fine (Bale 26L)

ARMY POST: 1904, Russo-Japanese war, red band Fieldpost cover from Mukden (Dec 15, 1904) to Libava (Jan 9, 1905) with postage free cachet of the Manchurian army on reverse.

Wappen gezähnt 1 Kreuzer grün, 2 Einzelstücke, und 7 Kreuzer ultramarin mit EKr. "MÜNCHEN 24 OCT." (1874) auf komplettem Faltbrief nach Lissabon; mit 9 Kreuzern in der 4. Tarifperiode korrekt frankiert mit 3 Kreuzern für Bayern + 6 Kreuzern Weiterfranko; eine 1 Kreuzer durch Randklebung in der Zähnung gering bestoßen, sonst sehr schöne Erhaltung

15 Pfg. im senkrechten Paar als portogerechte Mehrfachfrankatur auf Drucksachen-Umschlag über 100 gr. von "BERLIN-CHARLOTTENBURG 21.3.49" nach Neumühle bei Amberg, Verschlussklappe mittig mit kleiner Fehlstelle, seltene Verwendung, sign. Schlegel BPP

15 Kreuzer braunpurpur, 2 Einzelwerte mit 3 Kreuzer karmin und 9 Kreuzer braun, alle überwiegend vollrandiger Taxis-Schnitt, mit Nr. "134" und nebengesetztem EKr. "MAINZ 28 5" (1864) auf komplettem Faltbrief über Aachen nach New York mit violettem "AACHEN PAID 23 cts." sowie rotem "N.YORK A.B.PKT. PAID"; ab 1.1.1863 waren Briefe, die mit britischen Paketboten befördert wurden mit 42 Kreuzern zu taxieren, davon 8 Kreuzer Vereinstaxe und 34 Kreuzer Weiterfranko; hier wurde das Weiterfranko von 23 cts. (= 34,5 Kreuzer) auf 35 Kreuzer aufgerundet, so dass für Taxis nur 7 Kreuzer übrig blieben; Frankatur etwas fehlerhaft, dennoch attraktiver und interessanter Überseebrief, Fotoattest Sem BPP und Portoerklärung Dr. Zangerle anbei

2 Pfennig - 5 Mark kpl., dabei 3 Pfennig in beiden Farben, die Mark-Werte alle in A-Zähnung, ungebraucht, billige 3 Pfennig Zahnfehler, 1 Mark rechter unterer Eckzahn angesetzt, sonst gute Erhaltung

1966, CEPT 0,30 fr. colour proof, imperforated sheet of 30 with cachet "Musée du Timbre-Poste..." on reverse, unmounted mint, fine

Entire letter with 3 pages of text, franked with Lauré 10 c. and 20 c., tied by star cancel "3" with adjacent "PARIS PL. DE LA MADELEINE 15 NOV. 70" to Jersey poste restante with arrival mark of November 24, very fine

USTYUZHNA: 10 kopeck brown and blue, good to mostly large margins, in combination with 1858, perforated issue 20 kopeck blue/orange, tied by 3 strikes of straight-line "USTYUZHNA" to small piece. A very fine mixed franking of greatest rarity. Just 5 pieces with a No.1-mixed franking have been recorded, this is the only one with the 20 kopeck stamp of the 2nd issue.
 

Provenance: Fabergé (Harmer,1939)  Z.S. Mikulski (Cherrystone, 2006) Paolo Bianchi (Craveri, 2008)
 

ROPiT, 1860/70: Mixed lot of shipping documents, good potential

Incoming mail: 1919, Picture postcard from Wladiwostok to Gensan, franked with 15 k. and 25 k., the first one tied by Russian censor mark

1932, International Congress of Trans-Oceanic Flyers in Rome. Photograph (230:170 mm) of 38 pilots present at the meeting, all recipients of a Medal of Honour granted by King Victor Emanuel III with original signatures of each one, including such prominent names as Italo Balbo, Wolfgang von Gronau, Harold Gatty and Sir H. Wilkins. A highly interesting and rare document

"LUXEMBOURG" with ornament, good strike on entire letter 1793 with bishop mark on reverse; a fine and scarce letter to abroad

12½ c. carmine-rose, horizontal block of 6, neatly cancelled "WILTZ 30 9 77", perforation strengthened by hinges in places but not split; a fine and rare block in this shade, certificate Böttger BPP (2016)

Tariff of 30 September 1920 This retained the previous rates but abolished the Free Post concessions December 1920 Registered cover, private correspondence using improvised envelope, from Moscow to Munich with Moscow Three Triangle censor on front and Munich February 1921 receiver on reverse. Correctly franked at 10 roubles with a revalued 10 kop stamp

10 c. black, slightly touched in the upper frame line at left, otherwise ample to wide margins, tied by red cds. of Remich to small piece; the stamp has been lifted for inspection and replaced by hinge. Unique example of the red cds. of Remich on the first issue; a mighty important item of Luxembourg Philately and a very rare piece, sign. Goebel and certificate Böttger BPP (prifix 1f)

CONSTANTINOPLE: Liannos local post 20 pa., tied by bilingual "BAHCEKPUSU" to entire newspaper, fine and very scarce, certificate ISFILA

BURSA: "BUSAR KASR-I HÜMAYUNU TELEGRAF SUBESI 1327", clear negative seal as arrival mark on postcard 20 pa. from Choles

"LAR", boxed negative seal on 1885/86, 1 ch. and 2 ch. (2) and adjacent on reverse of small envelope to Abbasi, fine and scarce

1882, 5 ch. green as block of ten, unmounted mint, very fine

 6 Kreuzer rotbraun im senkrechten 3er-Streifen, voll- bis breitrandig und in sehr frischer, kräftiger Farbe, mit jeweils sauber übergehend aufgesetztem gMR "515" und sauber  nebengesetztem Halbkreisstempel "TEISENDORF 10/7" (1861) auf Bischofsbrief der 3. Gewichtsstufe an Gregorius in München; ein phantastisch schöner und außerordentlich seltener Brief, Fotoattest Brettl BPP