386th Auction

“TRANSPORT RECEIPT 1856 March 5th”, large format document (211x273mm) for the ackowledgment of receipt of a parcel available for collection at Simferopol, minor imperfection and peripheral wear, still fine and most unusual 

1858, Coat of Arms 10 k. brown/blue, fresh colours, neatly tied by dotted rectangular “270” to entire letter to Saratov with reverse departure two-line “ARZAMAS SEPT. 29 1858”,  and front arrival large cds “SARATOV 18(58) OCT. 3”, very fine. A very scarce usage

1858, 10 k. brown/blue, fresh colours, neatly tied by dotted rectangular “130” LUTSK to envelope to Helsingfors with reverse arrival boxed “ANK 3 10”, on back flap superb departure two-line “FROM LUTSK OTPRAB. (LIENE) 7 SEPTEMBER 1859”, extremely fine

1 k. black/yellow, 3 k. black/green and 5 k. black/deep lilac (2), fresh colours, tied by small posthorn cds. “SMOLENSK JAN. 1882” to reverse of small registered envelope to Groß Basel, Switzerland, on front German label for foreign registered mail “Vom Ausland über Eydtkuhnen-Dirschau Eingeschrieben” and Russian framed “ZAKAZNOE”, reverse transit via travelling post office and arrival cds. “BASEL 23 I 82”, very fine 

3 k. black/green and 10 k. brown/blue, tied by cds. “ODESSA 11 JAN. 1874” to fully paid first weight step lettersheet to Messina, framed “FRANKIROVANO” and oval “OPLATCHENO”, reverse transit via Travelling Post Office 47-48 (line Zhmerinka-Volochisk) and arrival, very fine, together with 10 k. brown/blue tied by cds. “BERDIANSK 15 MAR. 1875” to underfranked first weight step to Nice, France, endorsed “via Varsawa” and marked with red two-line “AFFR. INSUFF. ETR” and Russian boxed NEVNOLN OPLATCHENO", transit via Varsawa and Erquelines, reverse arrival, very fine. A scarce and most interesting duo displaying both correct and underfranked rate from the Black Sea and Azov Sea regions via Odessa and the Polish route 

1868, 3 k. black/green, vivd colours, neatly tied by red cds “S. PETERBURG CITY POST 19 MAY 1872” repeated alongside to formula card (first issue), fine text in French on reverse “Please be kind enough to come at my place to finish our negociations…”, superb and very scarce usage

5 k. black/lilac and 1875 2 k. black/red, each of vivid colours, neatly tied by cds. “BOROSSENSKAYA P. S BESSARABIA 28 AOU. 1882” to registered 7 k. grey postal stationery envelope to Corsier sur Vevy, Switzerland, endorsed on front “via Novoselitz” with framed “ZAKAZNOE” alongside, reverse Russian transit cds. “NOVOSSELITZ 31 AOU. 1882” and Austrian “OESTERR. NOWOSIELITZA 12 982, arrival cds. ”VEVEY 15 IX 82", extremely fine. A scarce registered outgoing mail from Russian Bessarabia 

5 k. black/lilac, fresh colours, neatly tied by cds “REVAL 2 JUNE 1872" repeated alongside to formula card (first issue) addressed to Gapsal with adjacent arrival cds, one perf tip with a tiny tone spot, the card with some minor water stains on reverse, still fine. An extremely scarce usage of the 5 k. on vertically laid paper showing the inland formula card rate in force from 1st January 1872

1868, 20 k. blue/orange, fresh colours, neatly tied by cds. “POSTAL WAGON N° 21-22 6 JAN. 1873” (Odessa-Kazatin line) to folded entire to Montpellier, France, framed “FRANKIROVANO” (franked), red “P.D.”, reverse Russian TPO 47-48 and TPO Breslau-ODERBERG, blue entry cds. “ALLEMAGNE ERQ. PARIS 22 JANV. 73”, extremely fine

7 k. grey/carmine, vertical pair of fresh colours, tied by superb two-line “ST SHUMOVSKAYA MARCH 20 1879” to double weight step envelope to Simbirsk with reverse arrival cds on the same day, slight peripheral toning of no importance, fine. An exceptionally early use of the 7 kopek value issued a few days before

1899, Empress Maria advertising postal stationery lettersheet 7 k. blue, Issue # 50 (dated 1899), complete, unused, very fine

1899, Empress Maria advertising postal stationery lettersheet 5 k. light lilac, Issue # 125 (dated 1901), complete, unused, very fine

“P(ORT)-ALEXANDROV(SK).NA SAKHAL(IN) 24 9 12 ** b”, clear strike on 1907 7 k. postal stationery envelope to Vladivostok, handstamp repeated alongside and on reverse, a further strike  four days later on mail departure and arrival cds. “VLADIVOSTOK 5 10 12”, vertical archival fold and slight horizontal bend at top, still fine. The Sakhalin Island on the Northern Pacific shore and Strait of Tatar was placed under Russian rule by the Treaty of St Petersburg in 1875, mail from the main post office at Port Alexandrovsk is extremely scarce

“DZHALIA-ABAD FERG(HANA) 28 11 21”, on money order card for the sum of 100,000 roubles with 250 roubles (x8) sent to a prisoner at Syzran´s county jail, together with “P-T KONT. PETRO. VEYMARN. 24 11 21”  and “NIKOLAEVSKA SIMB. 30 11 21” to registered money order cards, all franked with 1921 RSFSR definitives, small fault to very fine. A scarce trio showing the usage of the definitives on money transfer forms

“P(ostal) S(tation). in H(amlet) KRINKACH 14 AOU. 1881”, cds. on 1 k. black/yellow and 2 k. black/red  pair and single, franking an envelope to Novodvor, then re-addressed to “PETRIVITCH RODNIENSK 21 AOU. 1881”, one 2 k. trivial corner crease, very fine, also cds. “P.S. in VILLAGE KEMLI 4 NOV. 1880” on 5 k. violet postal stationery envelope with additional 2 k, black/red and 7 k. grey/carmine to St Petersburg with reverse arrival, light archival fold, still fine. A most unusual duo of those scarce postal station circular datestamps

“KHOLM” straighline on 10 k. brown/blue to reverse of an envelope to St Petersburg, alongsisde departure cds “KOLM 10 MAY 1869” and arrival cds “S. PETERBURG 12 MAY 1869”, very fine. A most unusual usage of a prehilatelic handstamp as an obliterator, signed Mikulski 

“MOGILNICA WAR(SAWA). 20 OCTOBER 1877” two-line cancellation on 1866 1 k. black/yellow, 3 k. black/green vertical pair and 1875 8 k. grey/carmine-rose as additional franking to registered 8 k. grey postal stationery envelope with arrival cds. “KOVEL 23 OCT. 1877” alongside, very fine and very scarce, certificate Mikulski (1994)

“SMOLNECHNOGORSK STANTS 22 JULY 1871” two-line repeated twice on 10 k. brown/blue (2) to double weight step envelope to “KROVELETS 28 JULY 1871”, on the reverse endorsement “Comtesse d´Alsoufieff” and the scarce two-line station mark repeated with departure day corrected “23”, fine and most unusual

“ST. TSARSKOE SELO ZHELEZNOY DOROGI …”, superb on 8 k. grey/deep carmine rose to envelope to Vyborg, Finland, with reverse transit cds “S. PETERBURG 21 JUNE 1876” and arrival framed “ANK 4/7” on front, cover opened on three sides for display, fine. A rare usage of the special railway station postmark on the Tsarskoe-St Petersburg line

“1179” LAPI, dotted Triangular, two very fine strikes on 7 k. grey/carmine-rose bloc of four paying the quadruple weight step rate to a large envelope to the Nobility Trustees in St Petersburg, with its reverse matching departure two-line “LAPI LOMZHI GUB 23 AUGUST 1875” and arrival cds “S. PETERBURG 24 AOU. 1875”. The envelope with a light diagonal crease at lower right affecting one adhesive and one archival fold at left, still fine. A rare postmark, part of an obliterator group assigned in November 1870 to Polish stations (Nr. 993-1208)

1914, WWI mute cancel four `Circle of Rays´ superb strikes tying a 14 kop. Romanov to registered envelope to Riga with violet censor on flap “Opened by the censor”, very fine, also two-circle mute cancel on 3 kop. punctured stationery card from Zabeln, very fine, a nice duo

Provenance: Harry von Hofmann (359th Heinrich Köhler auction, 2015)

“12th INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF MEDICINE MOSCOW 8 AUG. 1897” on reverse of a 3 k. postal stationery reply card, the indicium used with “MOSCOW 8 VIII 1897 CITY POST" and locally addressed to “Poste restante (manège)”, very fine and extremely rare, also a printed envelope with heading in French “XII CONGRÈS INTERMATIONAL DE MÉDECINE Moscou 19-26 Aout 1897.” sent registered with cds. “MOSCOW 18 VII 1897” to Rotterdam with arrival cds., fine. A unique duo

“FIELD POST ON MANEUVERS / FIELD POST OFFICE N°2 / SOUTHERN  CORPS.”, three-line framed violet handstamp tying a 4 k. and repeated alongside to postcard to Viborg, Finland with arrival multilingual cds. “VIBORG 13 VIII. 00”, some minor toning not distracting, fine and extremely scarce 

“FIELD POST OFFICE ON MANEUVERS 7 VIII 1898”, superb violet oval handstamp on 7 k. blue repeated both alongside and on front with rare boxed bluish-green “Head Field Post Office", to reverse of envelope to St Petersburg with arrival cds., very fine. A delighful, most attractive and rare temporary field post office cover

“LYUBUTSKI-LAGER KALUG. -9 7 13” LYUBUTSKI MILITARY CAMP special cds. tying a 7 k. to reverse of envelope to St Peterburg, a further departure strike on front, reverse arrival cds., fine mail from this temporary office probably operating only during Summer months. Very rare

“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

“ORANI-LAGER -7 7 13” ORANI CAMP cds. on 3 k., repeated alongside, to postcard to St Petersburg, minor aging, still fine and scarce. Camp Orani was located in the Vilnius region and was home to some infantry regiments

“SERGIEVSKI POLIGON 11. 8. 11” SERGIEVSKI ARTILLERY POLIGON cds., super as receiving mark on postcard with travelling post office “RIGA 39 TAPS 10. 8. 11” addressed to the Artillery School, very fine and very scarce, this artillery facility in the St Petersburg province had a civilian temporary post office opened from 1st May to 15 September

“S. PETERBURG * TEMPO. P.(ost) TEL.(egraph). OTDEL. 21 V 1908” TEMPORARY CONGRESS OF NAVIGATION special cds. on 4 k. to postcard to Liège, Belgium with arrival cds., very fine. The event was held at the St Petersburg conservatory as an exchange forum concerning maritime issues and marine fauna, no specific, a very rare temporary postmark

“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

“VOROBEVY GORY POCHTOBOE OTDELENYE 29 VI 16” superb strike on 5 k. to postal card to Italy with arrival cds. VILLA D´OGNA -5.8.16", very fine, also “MOSCOVSKI POCHTAMT VOROBEVY GORSKOE POCHT. OTD: -9 VIII. 10” on 4 k. to postcard to England, fine. A unique duo with two different cds. types from “Sparrow´s Hill” Temporary Office located at the Krynkin ´s restaurant, and opened from May until end of August

“ VR (TEMPORARY) KURTENGOF LIF(LAND) 11 8 09” superb strike of the seasonal postmark as arrival mark on postcard from Switzerland (from the known “technician Andreyev in the house of Yan Kippe" correspondence), very fine and very rare, also the standard cancel “KURTENGOF LIGL. 28 6 14” on 7 k. postal stationery card. A delighful duo, Kurtengof was a resort on the Riga-Orel railway line

“AMUR STEAMSHIP AND TRADING COMPANY / STRYETINSK AGENCY” violet cachet on reverse of a registered envelope addressed to the company´s agency in Chita, with Romanov 14 k. used with cds “STRYETINSK 8 8 14” and registration label alongside, fine and scarce

“BAKU-ENZELI PAROKH. 30 1 13” oval cds., clear strike on 10 k. on reverse of envelope to Ispahan with transit cds. “TEHERAN (DÉPART) 17. 11 13”, “(TEHERAN) 20.11.13” and arrival bilingual cds. “ISFAHAN. N°5 25.11.13”, very fine, also a similar cover from 1912, and 10 k. tied with manuscript cancellation and bilingual cds. “(TEHERAN) 25 XII.11” to reverse of commercial envelope from Baku to Ispahan with arrival, very fine. A scarce shipmail trio from the Caspian Sea 

“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

“BLAGOVESHCHENSK-STRYETINSK PARAKHOD 31 9 11 b” (type 1, large format), very fine strike on 3 k., repeated alongside to postcard to Kharkov with arrival cds, in addition the second type (small format) “BLAGOVESHCHENSK-STRYETINSK PARAKHOD 25 8 07 b” on 5 k. to postcard to Austria (minor toning) and a scenic view postcard of the steamer pier at Stryetinsk on the river Shilka. A very scarce ship mail duo