386th Auction

“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

“DVINSK POLIGON VITEB. 4 VII 1911” DVINSK ARTILLERY POLIGON temporary cds. tying a 4 k., to postcard to St Petersburg, a further strike alongside, one negligible perf toning, still very fine and rare, latest date of usage recorded

“PARAKHODA. OBSCH. R.V.A.P. z 17 7 08” (STEAMSHIP OF EAST ASIATIC STEAMSHIP COMPANY), fine strike on 4 k., repeated alongside to postcard to Bern, Switzerland, fine and very scarce

“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

“KYAKHTA ZABAIK(AL) OB(LAST) TEL(EGRAPH) OFF(ICE) 26 XI 1908”, blue cds. on 4 k. repeated alongside on photocard to the Great Northern Telegraph Corporation in Shanghai with adjacent arrival cds. “SHANGHAI POSTE RUSSE 21 12 08”, the card with one minor peripheral tear of no importance, very fine, also an unused scenic postcard of the city of Kyakhta. Located at the Mongolian border, the post office of Kyakhta was supposedly transferred to nearby Troitskosavsk, and continued solely as a telegraph office. An extremely rare item

“TROITSKOE TEMP(ORARY) P. OT. SYR. DARYA. OBL(AST) 12 7. 12” cds. on unfranked postcard to St Petersburg with oval postage due handstamp “DOPLATIT TROITSKOE" for 6 kopek, some minor toning, still fine and very scarce temporary office postmark from a small settlement in the area of Tashkent

“TROITSKOSAVSK ZABAIK(AL) OB(LAST) 4 IX 19-10” cds. (Hellrigl type 1b), repeated alongside and tying a 3 k. to postcard to Kyakhta, extremely fine, also an unused scenic postcard, scarce duo

“TROITSKOSAVSK 12 8 13 g” cds. (Hellrigl type 2), tying Romanov 7 k. pair (one stamp teared at top before posting) to reverse of a registered envelope to Chita with arrival cds., on front a superb departure strike and the very rare registration label in Russian “Z N°660 Troitskosavsk Zabailkalskoy Obl.” (Hellrigl type 5), still fine and rare, the serial “g” on the postmark is unrecorded by Hellrigl

“SIMFEROPOL TAVR. 6 18”, two fine strikes, one tying Russia 50 k. to registered envelope addressed to the “Kais Deutsches General Consulat” in Kiev with reverse arrival cds “KIEV 20 6 18”, fine and scarce registered mail from Civil War Crimea

1918, Rostov 25 k. on 2 k. perforate, vertical bloc of twelve and pair tied by cds "VESHENSKAYA -1 2 1919" to money order card to “KARGIN 17 II 1919” for the sum of 298 roubles (correct 1% rate with 3 roubles paid), money not collected by the recipient and returned to sender, upon arrival and refund the stamps were invalidated by cissors cut, some imperfections but of no importance in regards to the scarcity, still attractive

“ROMANOVSKAYA KUB. OBL. 26 3 18”, superb strike on Russia 3,50 r. and 5 k. on parcel card to “ARMAVIR KUB. 29 3 18”, undelivered and readdressed to Stavropol without success, finally returned to sender with cds “ROMANOVSKAYA KUB. OBL.11 5 18”, usual vertical archival fold, very fine and attractive. A scarce and well travelled card, the Kuban People´s Republic declared independance from Bolshevik Russia on February 16th, 1918 thus leading to numerous military actions and much upheavals in the region during the following months

1918, Kuban 1 r. on 3 k., Type II, two vertical strips of five, tied by oval “NOVOROSSIISK VOKZAL -2 10 20” to money order card to “USTRETSTSKOI VOLOG(DA) 16 10 20” for the sum of 500 roubles, correct 2% rate, some faults but very scarce

25 r. on 3 k. vertical strip of four, tied by cds “ROMANOVSKA KUB. OBL. 5 7 20” repeated alongside to an improvised parcel card (initially cash on delivery) to “TURKI SAR(ATOV) 17 8 20” for a sending of 38 funt, correct 100 roubles rate (sending 95 roubles plus registration 5 roubles) reverse additional manuscript note of receipt by addressee dated “21 VIII 1920”. The card with the vertical archival crease, fine. A very scarce Soviet usage of that issue as Trophy, the card being endorsed “Red army” at top and the whole of Kuban being occupied by the Bolsheviks from 27 March 1920

“MINERALNYI VODY 139 KISLOVODSK”, two fine strikes to envelope from a Denikin´s Volunteer Army soldier addressed to Station Kavkavsk in Kuban, franked on reverse with Russia 20 k. and 15 k. paying the 35 kopek rate, reverse arrival cds “ROMANOVSKAYA KUB. 28 4. 19”. The envelope with a light horizontal crease at bottom, fine. A rare Postal Wagon usage

1919, United Russia 5 k. yellow imperforate, a single and a bloc of six, tied by cds “MARIUPOL EKATERIN. 2 7 19” to reverse of an envelope to Rostov on Don, sent underfranked at the previous tariff (new 70 kopek rate coming into force two days earlier), on front scarce postage due oval mark “DOPLATIT MARIUPOL", as 70 (k) due, reverse arrival cds, some minor imperfections, very scarce

10 k. imperforate, horizontal strips of four and three, tied by cds “MARIUPOL 20 6 19” to reverse of registered envelope to Rostov on Don, framed registration cachet and arrival cds “ROSTOV 22 6 19”, the envelope roughly opened at left, of no importance, very fine. A scarce mailing at the 70 kopek rate (1st weight step 35 k. plus registration 35 k.)

35 k., two horizontal pairs tied by cds “KERCH 16 9 19” to registered envelope to Novorossyisk with reverse arrival, correct 1,40 roubles rate (Tariff of July 1st, 1919: single weight step 70 k. plus registration 70 k.), fine

70 k. imperforate, two singles and a pair, all tied by cds “VORONTSOVSKOE-NIKOLAEVSK STAVR. GUB. 1 1 19” to envelope to Rostov on Don with arrival cds, paying the correct quadruple weight step at the 2,80 rouble rate, very fine, scarce

3 r. strip of five, neatly tied by cds “ROSTOV ON DON 20 4 20” with additional 2 r. to parcel card for 17 funt to “SERDOBSK -5 20” (November 1919 Soviet tariff), endorsed at top “Red Army certified 1026”, the card with a central light archival crease of no importance, very fine. A dramatic testimony of the red army lootings during the civil war, Rostov was seized by the Bolsheviks on 10th February 1920 and the White Army stamps used as Trophy