386th Auction

1894, BRUMANA: 1 pia. blue three stamps on registered envelope, two tied by "BRUMANA POSTA SUBESI" (Coles-Walker No.75, AP Type 04, no.1,RRR) all arabic type cancellation, one stamp tied by BEYROUTH c.d.s., transit “LIGNE N PAQ. FR.  No.3 2/2/94” on front and arrival mark BERLIN 21.294, tiny spot and some flaw on front and border, according to A&P less than five recorded, very clear cancellations, This cover is shown in Coles Walker catalogue 

1906, DERA 20/6/06 bilingual c.d.s. on postcard to France bearing 1905 issue 20 para on front, clear cancelled, on reverse Malain 1/7/06 arrival mark. Fine and scarce (Coles & Walker no.50)

Miscellaneous: 1931, telegram from the president of France, Gaston Dumergue, to the Emperor Haile Selassie, postmarked "ADIS ABEBA 9.1.31" in violet. Very fine and scarce

1890, "TELGRAF VE POSTAHANE-I ALI EL GHARBI 300" (1886), (Bayindir no.1 RRR, isfila unrecorded) red arrival mark on reverse of cover bearing Baghdad local bisect stamp 1 pia. on 2 pia. on front, tied by "POSTAHANE-I BAGDAD" all arabic cancellation. Cover with some edge tears, still fine strikes of these unusual cancels and an important rarity of Turkey and Iraq postal history

1915, “GAZA 3.1.15” c.d.s. on cover bearing 1 pia. 10 pa. rate with Damas transit mark to Germany, ms. "seen and objected by censor" with signature and large oval all Arabic "GAZA ASKERI HASTAHANESI SER TABIBI" ('Military Hospital Gaza chief doctor'; if the sender was an officer in the hospital, the chief medical officer had to censor) and signature mark, transit mark Damas and red censor label Istanbul. A Palestine and Turkey WWI rarity

"HAYFA POSTA SUBESI 1287" violet all arabic postmark (Coles-W.No.52; 20 Pt.) on postcard Haifa bearing Turkey 20 pa. dull violet with transit mark "ALEXANDRIE 1/8/97" to Germany with arrival mark "WEISSER HIRSCH 25/8/97", fine and very scarce

"JAFFA-JEROUSALEM" railway ds. on postcard bearing 5 Para ochre, flaw on top right, to Constantinople, very scarce 5 Para imprimes maritime rate, two tiny corner crease, otherwise fine and very attractive

PALESTINE 1917 "KUDS 2" all Arabic c.d.s. (Bale 886, JERUSALEM 2) on postcard with censor mark to Adana Turkey, fine and very scarce

NABLUS (Coles-Walker no. 71), very clear all arabic oval one frame cancellation on reverse of envelope bearing 1 piaster greyish blue, addressed to Jerusalem, tiny spots, otherwise fine, mounted on exhibition page, scarce

“NAZARETH FEV/22/900” c.d.s. and all arabic "TELGRAF VE POSTAHANE-I NASRE" (Coles-Walker no.75 & 78, 25 Pts.) on 20 para postal stationery card to France with arrival mark Avignon 5.Mars.01 on reverse, fine and scarce Holy Land & Palestine forerunner!

1916, Death certificate officially registered from Naplous sent with stamples wrapper to a military address "Firka 19 Alay 35" (Regiment 35, unit 19) tied by cds. "NAPLOUS" and fieldpost cancellation "SAHRA POSTASI 35" alongside, all Arabic "NAPLUS VATAN HASTAHANESI SER TABIBI" (Nablous Homeland Hospital chief doctor) under wrapper and signature, a Palestine WWI rarity

1892, "AB POSTA SUBESI" (“IBB” Isfila & Coles Walker unrecorded type) blue all arabic cancellation on 20 Para dull violet block of four, paper remain on reverse, short perfs and minor faults, a great rarity of Jemen & Turkey postal history, showpiece!

1915, US 2 c. red postal stationery envelope used uprated and registered from "CHATHAM N.J. SEP/2/1915" addressed to American Mission in "Adana Syria", transit New York "Sep/29/1915", redirected via "BEYROUTH 5 - 16/11/15" and "Istanbul 7/12/15", retour to US with several arrival marks in January 1916. At left unrecorded censor label "BEYRUT POSTAHANESI" (Beyrouth Post Office), crescent and star military censor mark "BEYRUT ASKERI SANSÜR HEYETI" and turkish ms. "iyade" (retour) and "Amerikaya" (to US) on front. A unique censor cover and showpiece for a Lebanon and Turkey postal history collection

1879, Turkey 1 Pia. yellow pair (1875 issue), one diagonally bisect tied by "POSTE EGIZIANE SUEZ 1/MAI/79" blue cds. to piece at arrival. J.v. Uexkull writes in his book "The postal history of Saudi Arabia" : "Sometimes mail from Jeddah was posted on board the steamer to Suez without going throuh the Jeddah Post Office. Such items were either cancelled in ink on board the steamer and then postmarked in Suez or left uncancelled" (page 37), fine and fresh, a unique bisect usage of an ottoman Duloz issue in Saudi Arabia!

1875 1c blue, 2 copies, tied by intaglio corks with adjacent “ST. THOMAS 12/2 1876” to entire letter to New York, datelined St. Thomas, 9th of February,  with oval Lamb & Co (Forwarding Agents) anchor handstamp. The franking  paying the 10c rate for carriage on the King Line, whose King Richard called at St. Thomas on its final northbound journey on February 12; postmarked on arrival in Baltimore with two “BALT / PAID ALL” c.d.s. Edge creasing and vertical filing folds, of trivial importance given the tremendous rarity of this cover, being the only recorded example carried on this final trip of the King Line. Certificate Philatelic Foundation (2025) (Scott 179)

"The inclosed letter was recovered from the wreck of the Steamer Metropolis, lost on Currituck Beach, North Carolina, January 31, 1878" printed on reverse of Postal Service entire with printed 'Division of Dead Letters' return address at left, cancelled by cork with adjacent "Philadelphia Pa. Feb. 12" circular datestamp, addressed to St. Thomas, Danish Westindies. Very Fine, a most unusual usage, the Metropolis was bound for Para, Brazil and was driven ashore during a gale near the Kitty Hawk Signal Station -- 102 lives were lost -- this official entire was used to transit pieces of mail recovered from the wreck (Scott UO16)

1869/76, Yokohama French Office, alluring group of 11 covers, showing an impressive display of tariffs from the 1866 to 1876 period, some better items with Laureated 80 c. and 40 c. tied by Dotted Diamond  “5118” to envelope to France with alongside cds. “YOKOHAMA 15 MAI 71” (scarce 1,20 Francs tariff valid six months from January until end of June 1871), two 1876 envelopes the first one franked at the 1 Franc tariff (endorsed “Voie Française”, French paquebot to Marseille), the second at the 1,10 Francs tariff (endorsed “Via Brindisi”, British paquebot), some faults but a rare duo exhibiting both routes, also some underfranked mail, etc., some signed Calves, mixed condition. 

1881/1914, Imperial Post Offices in Transcaucasia, interesting collection of 69 covers and cards, including postal stations on the Georgian Military road, some better items with 1917 registered envelope from the anti-plague station “ZURNABAK YELIZAV. PROTIVOCHUM STAN.”, 1909 postcard from “NOVYI-AFON SUKHUM.”, 1914 free frank envelope from “AKHMETY TIFL.”, 1904 postcard with blue cds. “ANANUR TIFL.”, 1904 postcard from “BYELI KLYOUTSK TIFL. G.”, also mail from Dishet, Kazbek, Kobi, the meteorological station Mleti, etc., together with two envelopes with different types of the 1899 provisional violet registration label from Tiflis. Slightly mixed condition, neatly housed on expertly described album pages

1918/23, Civil War Issues, fine group of circa 140 mint never hinged/unused and used, including Revenues and Areas, some scarcer items throughout with some gutter strips and inverted overprints, noted Siberia, Chita, Armenia, Kharkov provisional overprints, etc., overall in good condition, neatly housed in one booklet

1891/1900, Russian Mail to Latin America, fine group of 9 registered covers, some good destinations with Montevideo in Uruguay, Santiago and Valparaiso in Chile, San Jose in Costa Rica, Buenos aires in Brasil, better routes with registered envelope from “VLADIVOSTOK 21 NOV. 1890" to Rio de Janeiro with transit cds “NAGASAKI 21 DEC 1891”, “REGISTERED 25 DEC 1891 YOKOHAMA”, New York transit registration etiquette and reverse arrival (some faults), etc., slightly mixed condition

1918/23, Armenia to Transcaucasia, mint never hinged/unused and used accumulation, many scarcer items throughout with Pateman guarantee notes, overall in fine condition, neatly housed in one booklet

1906, Ganzsachenkarte 10 C. auf 10 H. rosa mit “JAFFA a 17/11/06 ÖSTERR. POST”, mit rs. Text nach Breslau mit Ankunftsstempel, etwas bügiger Bedarfsbeleg aus Palästina mit klarer Abstempelung

1856, entire folded letter with commercial content written in SHEMLAN cancelled “BEYROUT 10 NOV SYRIE”, red PAQUEBOT DE LA MEDITERRANEE and taxe “10” alongside, on reverse Marseille transit and Lyon 27/11/56 arrival mark, usual file fold, fine

“NAGASAKI 18.NOV.97 JAPAN” cds. on Russia 1897 7 k. blue and 3 k. carmine-rose on cover originating from Vladivostok with boxed "PAQUEBOT" and YOKOHAMA 22.11.97 c.d.s. alongside, via "Gensen", Korea (where the Paquebot) was applied, forwarded to Hannover, very fine, with arrival postmark 8/12/97. A very rare ship cover

1889, Bagdad provisional issue 1 piaster on 2 piaster bisect diagonally on envelope, tied by "BAGHDAD TURQUIE" c.d.s. with arrival mark "KERBELA 15/NOV/89" on reverse, shortened at left and tiny toned, otherwise fine. In PROFI archive earliest recorded usage of the Bagdad provisional, very scarce