386th Auction

1872, 1 kopek brown and 5 kopek blue, two of each, fresh colours, tied on transit by Russian post office blue cds “ALEXANDRETTA”, repeated on reverse, and an additional single pen strike, to commercial envelope from Mersina to Aleppo, handed over on transit to the Ottoman post with Turkey 1876 Duloz 1 piaster yellow, strip of five and single, paying the domestic rate and cancelled with negative seal; one adhesive folded in half on the edge of the envelope and a few short perforations, still fine. A rare and appealing mixed franking

Provenance: Joseph Hackmey (Spink1986)

1872, 5 kopek blue, tied by blue cds “KONST-NOPOLSK FEV 74” with an additional strike alongside, to small envelope (with content) to Mitylene, originally posted at Odessa with Russia 3 kopek black/green and 10 kopek brown/blue paying the correct 13 kopek rate to Turkey via Russian steamship up to Constantinople, the last leg to Mitylene being paid by the Russian Levant adhesive. The 5 kopek with light vertical crease, 10 kopek shortened perforations on the right side and the envelope with part of back flap missing, still fine. An attractive colourfull mixed franking and most unusual Levant usage

1876, “8" on 10 kopek carmine/green, fresh colours and good perforations, neatly tied by cds “KONSTANTIN 15 JUNE (18)78” to letter sheet with content to Taganrog, reverse transit via Odessa and arrival cds “TAGANROG 20 June 1878”, fine and rare usage of the provisional issue correctly paying the 8 kopek rate

Provenance: “Cihangir” (121. Corinphila Auction, 2000)

1879, 7 kopek on 10 kopek carmine/green, Type II in black, tied by cds “CONSTANTINOPLE 21 JUL 1880” to printed commercial envelope to Odessa; on reverse arrival cds “ODESSA 23 NOV 1880”. The envelope with minor peripheral wear and aging, not distracting. Fine and very rare. Signed Romeko and certificate Eisold BPP (2000)

1884, 1 kopek orange, Second Printing, a vertical block of six of fresh colours and good perforations, used with cds “ROPIT AFON 15 OCT 1900” to reverse of an envelope to Mount Athos, originally posted at Samara with Russia 7 kopek blue paying the domestic rate, endorsed on front “via Odessa and Konstantinople” with all appropriate transit cds, taxed “T”, envelope opened on two sides, fine. A very scarce usage

Mail underfranked by 3 kopek, the 6 kopek Levant adhesives acting as postage due stamps representing the taxation of double the amount missing

CONSTANTINOPLE (LEVANTE): 10 kopeck brown and blue, good to large margins, used with almost central and clear blue oval "FRANCO". Very fine. A great rarity of Russian Post in the Levante; just one further stamp recorded. Signed Buchsbayew.

Provenance: Liphschutz

CONSTANTINOPLE (LEVANTE): 10 kopeck brown and blue, good to large margins, used with almost central blue boxed "FRANCO". Very fine. A great rarity of Russian Post in the Levante; no further No.1 with this cancellation has been recorded. 

“SHANGHAI POST OFFICE 15 I 1900” large cds (T&S type 1), two fine strikes on “KITAI” 1 k., 2 k., 7 k. and 10 k. to reverse of registered envelope to Germany with transit cds “HONG KONG” and arrival cds “HAGEN 17. 2. 00”, repeated on front with red registration label in English language “I(mperial).R(ussian).P(ost).O(ffice) / Shanghai, China. N°4 R”, trace of one adhesive taken off probably before sending (as the franking pays the correct rate), very fine. A rare use of the registration label and attractive early mail from the Russian Post Office at Treaty Port of Shanghai

“CHEEFOO 20 IX (18)99” large cds (T&S Type 1, Gregorian calendar), superb strike on “KITAI” 10 k. horizontal pair with adjacent framed “R Tchéfou, Chine N°. 254” to registered envelope to Austria, re-addressed to Bohemia, reverse transit Russian cds “SHANGHAI 10 SEP. 1899” (T&S Type 2, Julian calendar), “HONG KONG SP 29 99” and arrival cds, endorsed on back flap “Imperial Russian Post Master”, very fine. A remarkable cover, probably the earliest registered mail from the Russian Post Office at the Treaty Port of Cheefoo (opened 1896) and an extremely scarce registration mark 

1889, Russia Coat of Arms 1 kop. yellow-orange tied by cds. “OSCH FERGHANA OBL. 2 XI 19-02” to 3 kop. postal stationery card to Freiburg, transit “MOSCOW 11 XI 19-02” and arrival cds. “FREIBURG 27.11.02”, the card written in Kashgar (Sinkiang) and in all probability transmitted from the Russian Consular Post Office via Pamir to the border, very fine. An appealing and rare item, being one of the earliest outgoing Russian mail sent from Sinkiang 

1865, 10 pa. brown/blue, fresh colour and good margins all around, 1845, Sperati forgery, fine, signed A. Diena and certificate Mikulski (1998)

1872, 5 kop. blue on horizontally laid paper and 1879 1 kop. black on orange on vertically laid paper, tied by light ALEKSANDRETA c.d.s. (Tchilinghirian fig. 200) in violet, an information strike alongside. On reverse Turkey Duloz 1 pi. yellow and Due 2 pi. brown misperforated at foot paying the journey to Aleppo, tied by all Latin "ALEP TURQUIE" c.d.s. in black. A fine combination cover

Provenienz: Collection Cihangir, Corinphila sale 121 (May 2000)

1882 (May 6), 7k. carmine & green, tied by framed oval "R.O.P.I.T. / BURGAS" datestamp in blue (Tchilinghirian = fig. 729) to cover to Constantinople, reverse with next-day "R.O.P.i.T. / CONSTANTINOPLE" arrival datestamp, a remarkably fresh cover of great rarity, very fine

Provenance: CIHANGIR (121. Corinphila Auktion, 2000)

Lipschutz (Harmers SA, 1994)

Hitzler (Private Treaty)

1900, 1 k.- 10 k., complete set including 2 k. pair and 1 k. strip of three, fresh colours, neatly tied by cds “R.O.P.I.T. KONSTANTINOPOL 29 DEC. 00” with adjacent red framed register handstamp “R Konstantinopol N°”  to envelope to Germany with reverse transit Odessa and arival cds. One 2 k. adhesive has a trivial corner bend of no importance, very fine and scarce

“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

“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

“PORT ARTHUR 266 KHARBIN v 3 10 (19)05”, superb strike on stampless envelope to Kiev, sent under the free frank status as the sender was a military personal, very fine and rare 

KHARBIN PORT-ARTHUR railway line, superb strike of the postal wagon cds “POCHTOVYI WAGON N°265 5 X 1903” on postcard to Compiègne, France with Kitai 1 k. and 3 k. tied by cds “PEKIN 2 X 1903” with arrival cds, fine and scarce, signed Holcombe

1899, Kitai 3 k. rose-red, two blocs of four and an horizontal pair, fresh colours, all neatly tied by cds “PEKIN 7 VI 1903” to reverse of registreed envelope to Soisy sous Montmorency, France, with regsitration white label on front, reverse travelling post office transit cds “POCHTOVYI WAGON N 260 2” (MANCHURIA-CHITA) and arrival cds. One adhesive with a few short perf, the envelope with some minor toning, still fine and attractive, very scarce

“R.O.P.I.T. * AGENTS. MERSINA 1 JAN (18)83”, greenish oval handstamp on printed form with heading “COMPAGNIE RUSSE DE NAVIGATION A VAPEUR ET COMMERCE” concerning the dispatch of a cotton cargo from Mersian to Triest, slight peripheral toning, fine and very scarce

1868, 10 pa. rose/blue and 2 pia. blue/rose, good to large margins all around, tied by illegible dotted rectangular to lettersheet from Aleppo to Beyrouth, endorsed inside “Aleppo" by the sender and merchant´s cachet on front, the adhesives probably cancelled upon arrival at destination port. One back flap missing and the cover tatty, still fine. The rare convergence of a most unusual combination franking and an elusive port of origin

1856/1913, ROPIT and Ship Mail in the Levant, group of 6 forms and receipts, together with 7 k. grey/carmine-rose tied by cds. “TIFLIS 17 DEC.” to reverse of envelope to Constantinople with transit Odessa and oval “R.O.P.I.T. * KONSTANTINOPOL 27 DEC 82”, very fine, overall in fairly good condition

1908/12, SHANGHAI POSTE RUSSE cancellations on 19 stamps and pairs on piece, including margin stamps, fine lot

1865, ROPiT 2 pi. blue & rose without rose underlying below "R.O.P.iT.", fresh colour and large margins all round showing part of the cutting lines on three sides, fold in the upper part, tied by framed "P.P." in black (Tchilinghirian fig. 148) and two strikes of "COMPAGNIE RUSSE DE NAVIGATION SMYRNE" c.d.s. in black (Tchilinghirian fig. 150) to outer letter sheet to Mersina. The rare datestamp of Smyrna is described by Tchilinghirian to be used in blue and was thought to be used only on incoming mail to Smyrna which is here proved not to be the case. In spite of its faults a rare and appealing cover.

1863, 6 k. pale blue with central blue KONSTANTINOPEL 14 JUL 1864 datestamp, well to wide margins, heavy thin, otherwise fine, good appearance