Russia Postal History

Lot 777- Sale #30

These are examples of the 60 or so lots we have in our sale #30 of Russia Postal History. Many of the lots contain several covers and the pictures are only examples of one or 2 pieces in the lot. I can send scans of entire lots to anyone interested. The Sale will close at midnight Tel Aviv time October 30. Bidding available now by internet at www.romanoauctions.com or by phone or fax. 

Lot 765 examples, Sale #30

Lot 765- 1890-1915 lot of 10 postal cards from unusual places like Borysofka, Dlibben, Mitau, Tiflis, Kharkov, Vosnensk, etc. 

lot 745, Sale #30

1904 Money Order Warsaw to Pzensuvalki, a small town on the Lithuanian border.

I will admit to not having a great deal of specific knowledge of the intricate area of the Postal History of Russia and the Soviet Union. The collection in this auction we broke down by place or date. There are many covers and cards from the present day Baltic states during the period of Russian sovereignty. There were many postal stationery covers and cards which are identified with Michel Ganzsachen Catalog numbers.

Lot 775, Sale #30

1923 Registered formula prisoner card franked with Mi 206, 217. Many interesting markings, prisoner Zed Bish? in Minsk.

Ex. from lot 763, Sale #30

Lot 663- 1889-1916 lot of 6 Moscow area items including 'Expedition' cancel, Ostatheva, Segieski Posad, etc.

Ex from Lot 790- Sale #30

Lot 790- misc lot including pre philatelic 'AUS RUSSLAND FRANCO, AUS POLEN, and 3 other items with difficult to read postmarks.

Lot 784- Sale #30

Nice postage due item Registered to Holland. T 175c. Backstamped Leiden.

Questions or comments please do not hesitate to contact me at gbailey15@gmail.com

Hong Kong and China

It is fun to read about the constant stream of record breaking realizations for Asia stamps. While we have no million dollar rarities in this sale, we are offering some stamps which are not the usual fare. In the sale we have about 20 lots including some PRC sets. Here are a few of the less usual items:

The Auction closes October 30 at midnight Tel Aviv Time. All lots can be seen and bid on online now with our interactive bidding feature. www.romanoauctions.com



Some nice Hong Kong 'back of the book' stamps

Lot 694, Sale #30

1891 Stanley Gibbons S3 with clear Canton (SG type D) Treaty Port postmark. 'S.O.' Stamp Office overprint. Postmark unlisted on this stamp in Gibbons. 

Lot 687, Sale #30

1874-1902 Postal fiscals. Stanley Gibbons F1, F2, F9, F10. Nice group of high values. 

Lot 698, Sale #30

1945 Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong. Stanley Gibbons J1-J3 complete postally used.


A few nice things from China:

Lot 387, Sale #30

1950 Southwest China- East Szechuan $1200 on $100 Carmine. These handstamps are pictured in Yang Catalog as black. I can find no reference to magenta overprint.  This is a great used strip of 4 with one complete strike of the postmark at the top.

Lot 383, Sale #30

Who doesn't like 'Red Revenue' stamps. Michel 33 type 1, large 4. OK the 'small 4' would have been better. Still a nice stamp.

Lot 869, Sale #30

These wartime crash covers have their own stories written on them in the pilot's own hand. At least the bottom one was in China for a while. 

Any questions about these or other lots in the auction please feel free to contact me. 

gbailey15@gmail.com

George Bailey

Beauties from the British Commonwealth

Everything in these blog posts are auction lots in our current sale. You can view the auction at www.romanoauctions.com

Lot 674, Sale #30

This corner block of the 1929 PUC Pound speaks for itself. There are hinges in the margins only to reinforce the perforarions. All 4 stamps are NH. The spot on the gum of one stamp was only mentioned in the auction description for accuracy, it is indeed trivial. A beautiful and rare block.   

Lot #371, Sale #30

Certificate for Lot #371, Sale #30

Sometimes I get so wrapped up in the specialized collections I neglect the better individual worldwide stamps that are right in front of me. This 6d Australian Kangaroo with the 'substituted cliche' is such an item. I believe it may be unique (but am open to correction) as it not only has the scarce variety but but an inverted watermark. You can see the upper right corner perforation is folded over on the certificate. It was subsequently unfolded by some previous owner and expertly reinforced. We have a few nice Australia stamps in the auction.   

Lot 375, Sale #30

This is a favorite stamp of mine, the margins are a bit tight on this example but it is a sound 4 margin stamp. It is signed 'GR' on the reverse.

Lot 665, Sale #30

There is something about mint Queen Victoria stamps. This group is quite fresh with good color. All are hinged. Stanley Gibbons 197-211, 213-14. Very nice group. There are other mint and used Great Britain in the sale.

A few more photos of some of the British area in the auction:

Lot 681, Sale #30

Lot #688, Sale #30

Lot 691, Sale #30

All these and more can be viewed at our auction at www.romanoauctions.com. Illustrated printed catalogs also available to prospective bidders. You may email me directly for more information at gbailey15@gmail.com 

Some Treasures from British Mandate in Palestine

Lot 42, Sale #30

This is a bit of a primer on the stamps of British Palestine. The area was part of the Ottoman Empire prior to 1918 and was divided up at the end of WW1 between the British (Jordan and Palestine) and the French (Syria and Lebanon). With the end of World War 1 in 1918, a British military government was set up. This was replaced by a "Civil Administration" in 1920.  The British were given a "Mandate" to rule the region by the League of Nations beginning in 1923.  The British rule lasted for 30 years, ending with their evacuation in 1948 when Israel won their war for Independence.

The stamps used in the region during British Military period did not say Palestine but were printed EEF (Egyptian Expeditionary Forces). These were used in Palestine, Jordan and other areas of the occupation until 1920 (They were never used in Egypt). #1,3,4 are pictured above, these are known among collectors as "The Blues" and were quickly replaced by a set of 9 values known as "The Typographs". The typographed set without overprint was used until the Civil Administration period in 1920, when trilingual (Arabic, English and Hebrew) overprints were put on the typographed stamps to denote their use in Palestine.

Here is what the typographed set looks like: 

Lot 22, Sale #30

There are shade, perforation and plate varieties which are listed in specialized catalogs for this set, but the real fun begins with the overprinted stamps. As a primer for identifying the overprints, I recommend an illustrated identifier on US dealer Henry Gitner's website. Here is a link to it  

Lot 39, Sale #30

This is a stamp with a story.

 It was never issued, but part of a small run of 'Trial Overprints' done in 1920 when the new Civil Administration under the leadership of Sir Herbert Samuel was just coming into power. Believe it or not, there was controversy between the Jews and the Arabs about the name of the area. 

According to a January 1955 article  in The Holyland Philatelist by S. Resnik of Tel Aviv:

 "The Hebrew overprint adopted 'Palestina EI' resulted in protests from both the Jews and the Arabs. The Jews insisted that the country had never been called 'Palestina' in Hebrew, and was known to them solely as 'Eretz Israel' (hence the EI). The Arabs, on the other hand, regarded even the initials of 'Eretz Israel' as too much of a concession, and they went so far as to take the matter to court."

In a letter dated 14/7/20  from Sir Herbert Samuel to the Postmaster General  pictured in the article the newly (he had only been in the country 2 weeks) appointed  Samuel ordered that the Eretz Israel initials be included at the end of the Hebrew line of the overprint. The Trial Overprint has the 'EI' at the beginning of the Hebrew 'Palestina'.

 It is stated in the Bale Palestine Specialized catalog that

 "Probably 12 stamps (3 blocks of 4, one of them divided) of each value exist. One set of 4Blocks are in the Royal Collection. Trial Overprints per stamp $3500."

Of great interest to me was another note from Sir Herbert which is documented in the same Resnick article.

"Please let me have in due course three sets of blocs of four specimens each of any new postage stamps that may be issued and of any essays for new stamps, to be sent to the King for His Majesty's collection, also one for the Sultan of Egypt." 

The Collections  Egypt's of King Farouk were seized by the military leaders who took over the government in 1952. They were sold at a major auction in Cairo by HR Harmer of London. Dealers from around the world came and partook, among them Jacques Minkus from the US. Minkus marked the back of some of his buys in 1954 in Cairo. 

Here is the back of the Trial Overprint Stamp:

Lot 39 back, Sale #30

So this stamp has a story; from the dicey early days of British rule in Palestine, to Sir Herbert Samuel, gifted to King Fuad of Egypt, handed down to King Farouk, siezed by the Military Government, auctioned via HR Harmers to American dealer Jacques Minkus.

A few more...

I will now give a couple highlights from the regularly issued overprints. They are all one mil brown stamps, the lowest value in the set, all with the 10mm Arabic, and all perforated 14x14. 

One is from the second local overprints (called Jerusalem 2) It is Bale/SG #38, Bale Catalog Value $1600, Dorfman Certificate: 

Lot 51, Sale #30

One is from the 3rd local overprints (Jerusalem 3), It is SG/Bale #58 (only known used, 25 exist) catalog value $3250. This one signed Dr Hoexter. 

Lot 60, Sale #30

The other perforated 14x14 1 mil, called 'narrow setting'. SG/Bale #45 catalog value $75. 

Ex from lot 54, Sale #30

If all 3 of the above stamps look the same to you, don't worry. But you may wish to polish your skills at identifying these, you never know what you will find!

We have numerous other lots from the British Mandate period in this sale, which closes 30 October. You may check it out at www.romanoauctions.com. Also printed catalogs are available to prospective bidders, please email me if you would like one. George Bailey- gbailey15@gmail.com.

   

Turkish Delight- some Ottoman Items

Lot #19 in Sale #30/ Rare railway postmark

Ottoman Philately has been a fascination of mine for years. The size of the empire and number of cultures encompassed from Eastern Europe to Asia makes it a great area of study. For postal history the area is a huge combination of negative seals, cds with Turkish dates, bilingual and trilingual postmarks. Add to that the plethora of WWI military postmarks and censors and you have a postal historian's dream. We have examples of several types of covers and cards in our Auction this month, some are quite scarce and several of the usual smudged negative seals are quite clear and complete on these. The above example of the "JAFFA-JEROUSALEM" Railway postmark in blue has not been on the market before. The Bale catalog says '1 known'. I guess they have to change that now. 

We obtained certificates from expert Yakup Nakri on several of the better items.

Here is the Nazareth Negative Seal Postcard from the certificate above:

Rare Nasra negative seal- Lot #14, Sale #30

A nice strike of the Turkish 'Yafa Posta Shubesi' (Jaffa) on a lettercard to Germany:

Lot 15, Sale #30

Here is a nice "JERUSALEM 6" octagonal postmarks 'R' cacheted cover Jerusalem to Germany.

Beautiful Registered cover. Lot 21, Sale #30

Here is one Jerusalem to Beirut- 'Jerusalem 5' octagonal with clear purple box negative cancel. It is a military censor applied in Jerusalem "QDS-1-SHERIF MINTIQASI ASKERI SANSURU" (Jerusalem district military censor)  (Collins CM4).  Note the addressee is Moise Behar (see earlier post) This is what led me to believe he worked at the Ottoman Post Office in Beirut prior to the French Mandate. 

Lot 23, Sale #30

I will include this just because I like it. Postmarks were applied to Telegraph receipts when the telegraph fee was paid. All are quite scarce. We have 2 in the auction, one with a stamp, the other 'Official' so no stamp needed.

 The first is a negative seal (Jerusalem) on a receipt for message from Walach to Markus in Constatinople;

Lot 26, Sale #30

The second has the 'Jerusalem clocks' (Collins T13) from the Telegraph Center on the reverse and a light strike of bi-lingual telegrah center on front. Here is a picture of  the clocks;

Lot 27, Sale #30

We also have a rare example of a Turkish unit negative seal postmark from WW1. Probably one other known. This one in Red.

Lot 25, Sale #30

   

 Here is the Nakri certificate for this:

I will end with my favorite Turkish item from this auction, 

I believe the photo speaks for itself;

Lot 808, Sale #30, Turkey to Brazil, forwarded with postage dues.

The auction is online and active now. www.romanoauctions.com . It is closing at midnight Tel Aviv time on October 30th. Prospective bidders may request a printed catalog for this auction by emailing me directly  gbailey15@gmail.com. We are mailing catalogs this week. Thank You

Interesting 1948 Israel Stamps

perf 10x10, Lot 108- Sale #30

I recommend the article "I Printed Israel's First Stamps" by R. Aronsohn, Manager Haaretz Printing Press, Tel Aviv. I located it in issue #2 of "The Holyland Philatelist" from December of 1954. I read somewhere that Stanley Gibbons magazine had reprinted the article and I am certain others have as well.

In the article the author paints the picture of the difficult conditions under which the first stamps of Israel were designed, test printed, printed and perforated. As we have some nice perforation varieties in our Sale 30,  I was interested in the perforating part of the process as Aronsohn described it. To give some background, a printing press was moved under cover of darkness from the Newspaper Haaretz offices to a 2 story house in the old Templar Colony of Sarona (Sarona has an interesting history, you can read about it in this article on Wikipedia ). The house had been used by the Hagana after they drove out the Palestine Police. The secrecy was necessary as the preparation of the stamps was illegal under British rule, and the British had not completely vacated the country yet. As Haaretz was a newspaper, it was decided that it was both too public and full of reporters to ensure that there would be no leaks to the British.

 The original perforating machine was "a small and primitive contrivance, which had to be set in motion by pedals, but which could do the job..." It was a perf 11 machine. Here are some of the stamps which are perforated 11:

Doar Ivri, Lot 119- Sale #30

 The workers soon realized that the perforating would go too slowly with this single machine. At the rate they were able to work they would not  meet their deadline. As the quantity of low value stamps needed was by far the highest, they decided to roulette some of the 3 lower values to relieve the 'bottleneck' created by the pedal-driven perforating machine.

1-3 Rouletted, lot 115- Sale #30 

At some point someone had located another perforating machine which was perforation 10 and brought it to the house in Sarona, some of the sheets were ordered run on the original machine vertically and on the new machine horizontally so work could progress faster, creating the 10x11 perfs:

Lot 116- Sale #30

Again I quote from Aronsohn's article; "It seems that on one occasion, unnoticed at the time, the new perforation machine was used both ways- an oversight which resulted in the very rare 10 x 10 perforation variety." See the strip of 3 mil stamps at top of article, also this one:

Very rare perf 10x10 tab strip with perforated bottom- Lot #123- Sale #30

I have read somewhere that the "perforated base" stamps were prepared for use on Minister's Sheets. These were given out to dignitaries as examples of the stamps of the new state. Normally the 250 and 500 mil values are straight at the bottom, the 1000 mil is normally perforated. Here is an example of a Minister's Sheet: 

1-9 on Minister's Sheet, Lot 131- Sale #30

On this particular Minister's Sheet the 7-9 are all as normally issued, however the 3 mil is perf 10x11 and the 50 mil is perf 10x10. 

As far as valuations of the different perforation varieties pictured above, I will record here what the mint and used tab prices are from the 2013 Bale Catalogue.

1-6 (3 mil to 50 mil) Perf 11 tabs mint $340- tabs used $100

1c-3c (3 mil to 10 mil) Rouletted tabs mint $375- tabs used $155

1d-6d (3,10,20,50 mil) perf 10x11 tabs mint $920 tabs used $500

Perf 10x10 each stamp-

3 mil tab mint $3200, tab used $2000

50 mil tab mint $2800 tab used $2000

250 mil tab mint $2700- unlisted y Bale with perforated base.

If you have any questions or comments you may feel free to contact me gbailey15@gmail.com  . Our sale #30 is now online at www.romanoauctions.com and we should have printed catalogs available in a few days.

India Aerophilately Collection of Lady Rachel (Sassoon) Ezra of Calcutta

Airplanes, Flying Boats, Crashes, Earthquakes, Monsoons, Pigeons, Air Taxis and Rockets

Flying Boats

Crashes

Earthquakes

Pigeons

Air Taxis

Rockets

Airplanes

This is an overview of a remarkable collection of India Aerophilately assembled in India between 1930 and 1945. The collector was Lady Ezra of Calcutta and she seemed to enjoy all things air mail related sent to, from and through India. The collection is being sold at our Sale #30 at www.romanoauctions.com . This section of the auction is about 120 lots comprising over 250 pieces from this collecting area. As I was initially examining the collection I noticed that not only were almost all the covers signed by noted aerophilatelist Stephen Smith, they were also almost all addressed to Sir David Ezra or Lady Rachel Ezra. I am grateful for the internet at times like these, and was able to piece together a brief biography of the collector.

Sir David Ezra (1874-1952) was born into a leading Jewish family in Calcutta. His parents and grandparents had prospered in their business in India. The family owned a large amount of real estate and they established a tradition of philanthropy by building hospitals, synagogues, etc. He married Rachel Sassoon of the Bombay Sassoon dynasty and the couple stepped into a leadership role in Calcutta. Sir David was named the Sheriff of Calcutta and both of them received various honors and titles from Great Britain and the Indian government. 

At some point the couple became acquainted with Stephen Smith. Smith was an early experimental Rocketeer (his second rocket was named The David Ezra). Smith was also the secretary of the Indian Airmail Society on Elliot Road in Calcutta and it was through him, I believe, that Lady Ezra became a collector. She was meticulous about clipping from newspapers regarding whatever cover she received and wrote them up on pre-printed pages designed for flight covers. She used her connections around the world to have covers addressed to herself or her husband (c/o whoever she knew at a given destination) and must have talked about the collection in her circle of acquaintances. The enclosure with one crash cover from an officer stationed at the Viceroy Camp said that he hoped the envelope would fit into her collection. It also had some newspaper clippings. For the auction we put 3 ' "Cygnus' crash covers together with the additional material.

Here is everything that is included in (lot 866)

For me it is always a pleasure when research material is included with a collection. It made this one quite interesting to break down. There was also some things which I found quite amusing. Stephen Smith seems to have had quite a good sense of humor. He named one of his Rockets "Miss Fortune" and had covers which had a number of clever markings. Here are a few of these from Lady Ezra's collection:

 

 

 

Nice Elephant

Lot 841

 

 

 

 

 

Cargo of fish

Lot 842

 

 

 

 

 

"The one armed Parachutist"

Lot 852

 

 

 

 

 

 

"MISS CREEPY" My favorite

Lot 908

 

 

As you have probably guessed, I very much enjoyed working on this collection. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions or would like more information.

 

George Bailey

gbailey15@gmail.com

www.romanoauctions.com