388th Auction

"IBΡAIΛA (BΛAXIA) 23 OKT.59" and "BOYKOYPEΣTI 27 OKT.59" clear c.d.s. in blue on reverse of entire letter from to Syra with adjacent "P.E.D.", to Bucarest. Very fine and extremely rare.

"IBRAILA (BΛAXIA) 12 MAPT.60" clear c.d.s. in blue on entire letter with adjacent "P.E.D." to Syra, taxed on reverse with "100" lepta. Very fine and extremely rare

1857, entire letter from Sulina, carried by private ship to Syros, with arrival mark. Taxed upon arrival with "10" lepta. Small ink erosion on front, still fine and very scarce.

BRAILA: 1843, Entire letter to Constantinopel, upon arrival struck with all Arabic negative "An Canib Posta-i Deraliyye 257" greenish handstamp. Very rare; just 5 entires from this early period have been recorded.

"HIRSOVA", all arabic double-circle, clear and complete strike in blue on 1869/71, 1 pia. yellow. Extremely rare. Certificate Nakri AIEP (2019). Ex Kuyas.

KALAS (GALATZ), "AN CANIB-I POSTA-I KALAS", blue negative seal cancel, nice clear strike on tatar postal document from Shumnu, Bulgaria, to Galatz. Very rare.

"MACIN", all arabic double-circle, clear and complete strike in blue on 1869/71, 20 pa. green. Extremely rare. Certificate Nakri AIEP(2019). Ex Mellon.

"MECIDIYE", all arabic double-circle, clear and complete strike on 1870, postage due 20 pa. Extremely rare. Certificate Nakri AIEP(2019). Ex Mellon.

“KÖSTENCE” all Arabic double-box, clear and almost complete strike on 10 Pa. revenue stamp (for Postal receipts). Very rare

"TULCA", all arabic double-circle, clear and complete strike in blue on 1869/71, 1 pia. Extremely rare. Certificate Nakri AIEP(2019).

BRAILA: 1853, entire letter endorsed on front “Braila” and “Galazi”, written in Braila and routed via “GALATZ 1853 APRIL 8” (Tchilinghirian Type 4; Dobin-Nr. 1.03) to Odessa with double-framed “POLUCHENO 10 APR:” arrival marking. A very fine and attractive entire; the letter refers to the accompanying remittance of 1,500 Ducats (!) and kindly asks the recipient to wait for the next post for the remainder of the payment. A delightful entire showing the convergence of a rare origin and an uncommon Galatz postmark used as a transit marking 

1826, "BUKAREST" Cyrillic straight-line (Tchilinghirian Type 1), an exceptional strike on reverse of an entire letter written in Greek and addressed in French to “madame Alexandra de Soulzo la postelnitzesse à Kisnowe”. The letter disinfected with rastel marks, very fine. Probably the earliest recorded used of this elusive postmark, predating the Russian occupation of the city, and an early disinfected cover from the Danubian Principalities. Outstanding and very rare.  

1830, “BUKAREST” Cyrillic straight-line (Tchilinghirian Type 1), a rather faint but complete strike with additional handwritten date “21” on reverse of an entire letter addressed to Jassy, the cover disinfected with rastel marks. A fresh and very fine entire from the period of Russian occupation of the city. Very scarce

1833, "BUKUREST. OKTIABR 12 1833" Cyrillic two-line handstamp (Tchilinghirian Type 2, this very strike being illustrated), on reverse of an entire letter to Jassy, endorsed “N100” on front, very fine. Rare

BUCHAREST: 1857, Postal receipt from the “BUCHAREST POST OFFICE" for a parcel sent from the Imperial Russian Consulate to Novocherkask, dated 29 November 1857; the receipt lightly folded as usual, very fine. Rare

1858, “Reçu le 1er Avril”, French two-line Bucharest arrival handstamp (Tchilinghirian Type 5, this very mark illustrated), fair strike on an entire letter written in Greek with reverse oval postmark “MOSCOU AVRIL 4”, dated inside 3 April 1858, on front endorsed in crayon “32K(opek)” (correct rate), very fine. A very rare entire

1859, “BUKAREST OTPR(avleno) 8 MAIYA” Cyrillic two-line (Tchilinghirian Type 4), a very fine strike of the despatch mark on reverse of an envelope from “KRONSHTADT APRIL 1859”, addressed to the ruler of Moldavia and Wallachia, Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza. Slight toning, otherwise very fine. A delightful, historically significant, and rare item. 

BUCHAREST INCOMING MAIL: money letter with undated framed “BALTA” (Kamenets Podolsk province) despatch on reverse, sent to Bucharest and regarding the sum of 30 silver roubles and 90 kopeks, extremely fine. A very scarce usage 

CONSTANZA: 1875, entire letter with full content endorsed in Greek script on the inside “Constanza 15 sept. 1875”, sent by steamer franked with Russian Levant 3 k. green and 5 k. blue as (horizontal pair) all struck on arrival with cds “ODESSA 17 CEP. 1875” repeated alongside; the entire with light vertical archival fold of no significance, very fine. Extremely rare, signed and certificate Holcombe (1992)  (Michel-Nr. 7x, 8y)

1846, “V GALATZ 1846 MAIYA”, Cyrillic two-line (Tchilinghinrian Type 2, Dobin-Nr. 1.01), a very good strike in red on the reverse of a large part lettersheet to Bucharest, red crayon “30” rate marking; despite the minor part missing still fine Russian abroad mail from this Moldavian port on the Danube. A very rare handstamp with only a few recorded

1846, “V GALATZ 1846 NOV. 30”, Cyrillic two-line (Tchilinghinrian Type 2, Dobin-Nr. 1.01), a very good strike in red on the reverse of an entire lettersheet to Odessa, very fine, also an entire letter dated inside “Galatz 15/27 Maggio 1828” to Odessa with disinfection rastel marks and slices, fine. A delightful duo

GALATZ: 1869, “GALATZ 19 MAI. 1869” (Tchilinghirian Type 6) in blue, fine strike (repeated on reverse) with additional blue dotted lozenge tying a Russian Levant 10 k. carmine/green to lettersheet to Taganrog via “ODESSA 20 MAYA. 1869”. Minor peripheral toning of no significance, very fine and visually appealing. Very rare and desirable combination, featuring both the Galatz cds. and the Retta cancel, from the known Svorono correspondence (Michel-Nr. 5)

ISMAIL: 1843, “ISMAIL APRIL 2() 1843” Cyrillic two-line despatch handstamp (unrecorded in Tchilinghirian), fair strike on reverse of entire letter to Odessa with alongside cachet from the Vice Consul from Sardinia, dated inside “Ismail lo 14 Aprile 1843”, fine. Very rare

ISMAIL: 1846, “ISMAILA OTPRAV MARTA 8 1846” Cyrillic two-line despatch handstamp, excellent strike to reverse of a free frank official letter from the Azov military regiment to Tavabeyuev, vertical archival fold of no importance. Very fine, and very rare

1839, “YASSI” Cyrillic handstamp in slanting capitals (Tchilinghirian Type 1, Dobin-Nr. 1.02), a very fair strike on reverse of an official entire letter from the Kharkov Court to Yassi, endorsed both inside and on the back flap “Kharkov 15 September (1839)”. From Jassi the cover was forwarded to Bucharest via the weekly mail service linking the two cities, with manuscript dockettings “6 October” (reverse) and “10 October” (inside), very fine. An exceptional redirection  and a noteworthy use of this rare Jassi marking