Italy, Italian States and Colonies Italian Occupations WWII Crete
Sale No: 22JE
Lot No: 20320
Symbol: F,WWW
Crete. 1941 (Aug 3) Stampless cover from Crete, sent from a mother to her son, addressed to the Italian Consulate in Salonica for onward transmission, with full contents which were censored where the dateline with the name of the locality of origin was cancelled, but indicating in line 13 in the text "here in Crete...", with "P.M.550E/Comando Superiore FF.AA.Egeo/Essente da Tassa Autorizzazione Postgen/N.563613-164634.V.3 del 26.4.4.1XIX" free-postage marking, which was mysteriously applied on a mail from a mother (was she a member of a military unit?), two P.M. 550 cds's, one also intriguingly struck one day after (as it was not necessary), but justifying why this letter was never delivered to the addressee, and then, being even more surprising, showing the "Return to Sender/Service Suspended" cachet which may have been applied years later when the British arrived to Greece in 1945 and could not forward this mail as the addressee was no longer available. (Valter Astolfi acquired this envelope deducing that it was never opened, as it was not delivered, and extracted the contents by removing one lap of the censor's label). An extraordinary, mysterious and fascinating postal history usage also illustrating the liberation of Crete. (Image)
Opening EUR 250.00
Sold...EUR 300.00
Closed..Jun-13-2022, 11:59:00 EST
Sold For 300
Sale No: 22JE
Lot No: 20322
Symbol: F
1941 (Aug 10) Cover from Vrachasi to Athens, slightly overfranked by 5c or the airmail external rate with Aegean 10c, 20c, 50c pair (one defective), tied in transit at Rhodes, with the dispatch cds, as it was the norm in the early period, struck at left with ""Vrakhasion/Kritis" cds (Astolfi fig. 2, p "="), "Neapolis/Kritis" in transit on back (Astolfi p. 12), censorship label removed at top. A very infrequent mail from this small village with an extremely rare cancellation. (Image)
