1800 (ca) outer FL from Yakutsk to the Tambov provincial administration, with straight-line "Yakutsk" (Dobin's rarity factor 9/10), with large part of wax seal (Yakutsk territorial administration) (Image)

Est.$500

1809 stampless outer FL with straight line "Tabolsk" departure datestamp, sent by the Tobolsk provincial administration to the Tambov provincial administration, wax seal mostly removed, rare (Image)

Est.$150

1821 (10 Mar) FL sent by the executive office of the Tomsk provincial administration to the Tambov provincial administration, with straight-line "TOMSK" departure handstamp, wax seal mostly removed. The letter is marked "secret." The message reads, "As a result of your communication of 10 Nov. 1820 concerning the political investigation of the secret prisoner Murza Faizulla Mamleev (from the nobility), we are notifying you that our subordinate city and Zemstvo police and the Office of the Kolyvan-Voskresensk Mining Authority have been informed." (Image)

Est.$150

1835 (30 Nov) FL from Omsk to the Tambov provincial administration. The letter is on printed stationery of the Omsk territorial administration's executive office, which matches the wording on partial wax seal on back. The letter states that the estates in question are not in Omsk Territory. This is the earliest known mail from Omsk and the only known example of the "OMSK" postmark, which was introduced when the post office opened in 1790 (Image)

Est.$500

1845 (23 June) FL sent from Tiflis via the Akhty postal station to the Yerevan district court in Zindzhir, with boxed "Tiflis" boxed departure datestamp, with the wax seal of the Georgian-Imeretian provincial post office in Tiflis. The postmaster is informing the court that ordinary correspondence from Tiflis addressed to the court should be endorsed "via Akhty postal station." Zindzhir was near Darachichag. Akhty postal station was 44 km before Erivan on the road from Tiflis (Image)

Est.$150

1848 (29 May) outer FL sent from Tiflis to the Erivan district court with oval "from Tiflis" departure datestamp (29.5.48). With intact wax seal of the Tiflis provincial government. In addition, there is another stampless letter used in 1860 from Tiflis to Valreas, France, postmarked in Tiflis (20.5.60), Tauroggen (4.6), Tilsit (16.6), Prusse/Valenciennes (19.6), Paris (19.6), and Paris a Marseille (19.6). With handstamps AUS RUSSLAND FRANCO-TOUT and P.D. verifying all charges prepaid (postage included 10k for Russia, 10k for Prussia, 16.25k for France, and 2k for the receipt). This cover, like all mail going abroad, was carried by the extra post (Image)

Est.$300

1851 (10 Dec) 10k stationery entire envelope, with indicia on back, canceled by pen, sent from Omsk, with red double-circle departure postmark (year filled-in by hand), addressed to the "administration of the class lottery of the Polish Kingdom" in Warsaw, with small "Warszawa 24.1." (1852) arrival pmk, minor toning and filing fold, fine usage from Omsk to uncommon destination (Image)

Est.$500

1857 10k brown & blue, margins all around, tied by boxed "Revel 29 Apr 1858" datestamp on outer FL addressed to Riga, v.f., with framed "Polucheno 2 May 1858" arrival handstamp on back (Cat No. 1) (Image)

Est.$2,500

1858 cover (opened for display), franked with 10k brown & blue, canceled by pen and addressed to Tomsk, with red "TOMSK POLUCHENO (6.7.58)" arrival datestamp on back, minor overall toning, scarce usage (Cat No. 2) (Image)

Est.$500

1858 (4 Aug) outer FL sent from Tomsk to the Tambov provincial administration, red "TOMSK OTPRAVLENO (4.8.58)" departure, with the paper seal (torn on opening) of the Tomsk provincial administration (Image)

Est.$250

1858 10k brown & blue, vertical pair, each stamp canceled by pen cross on outer FL from St. Petersburg to Helsingfors, red 5 Feb 1858 departure and "ANK 19/2" arrival datestamp on back, v.f. (Cat No. 2) (Image)

Est.$2,500

1858 10k brown & blue, vertical pair, each stamp canceled by Riga 15 May 1858 postmark on FL to Libau, filing fold away from the stamps, beautiful cover, signed Mikulski and Herman Toaspern (Cat No. 2) (Image)

Est.$2,500

1858 20k blue & orange, thick paper, canceled "Verchovskyi Posadok", good colors and intact perforations, fine stamp, signed Diena, cat. $1700 (Cat No. 3) (Image)

Cat. $1700, Est.$500

1858 20k blue & orange, thin paper, rounded upper right corner, canceled "Belostok 9 Jan 1873", fine appearance, late usage, cat. $1700 (Cat No. 3) (Image)

Cat. $1700, Est.$250

1858 20k blue & orange, thin paper, used, well centered with intact perforations on all sides, interesting variety showing broken frame at bottom right, minor perf. correction, v.f., with Hovest certificate, cat. $1700 (Cat No. 3) (Image)

Cat. $1700, Est.$500

1858 20k blue & orange, thin paper, used, canceled "2" in oval of dots, watermark "2" shifted to right, fine stamp, with Sorani certificate, cat. $1700 (Cat No. 3) (Image)

Cat. $1700, Est.$500

1858 10k brown & blue, horizontal and vertical pairs, 20k blue & orange, single and vertical pair, each with diamond shaped postmark of Odessa, frontier post office strikes used on incoming or outgoing mail to foreign destinations, fine (Cat No. 8,9) (Image)

Est.$250

1861 (21 Jan) money letter sent from Omsk to the Board of Guardians in St. Petersburg. The letter contained 31.4 rubles, but since the weight fee was waived for military mail, the postage was just the 1% insurance fee rounded up to 31.5 kopecks (indicated by manuscript), with four wax corner seals of the horse artillery brigade staff of the Siberian line Cossack troops, minor toning and cover wear (Image)

Est.$250

1865 (1 July) FL from Tobolsk to the Tyumen city council, with Tobolsk departure cds and a paper seal (torn on opening) of the provincial governor, A. I. Despot-Zenovich. The governor is responding to a request from the Tyumen city council, which was petitioned by some residents to obtain fine breed horses from the government stables to improve the local horse population. The governor promises to forward the request to the Governor-General of Western Siberia (Image)

Est.$150

1870 (4 July) outer FL from St. Petersburg to Helsingfors, franked with 10k brown & blue (Scott No.23), tied by oval "SPB", with red double-circle departure postmark on back, framed "ANK" on arrival, filing fold away from the stamp, fine (Image)

Est.$150

1870 (24 Apr) stationery 10k entire envelope, indicia on backflap, sent from Irkutsk to Shpola, arriving 25 May, 1870. The cover was sent by Dionysus Rogalevich who was exiled after the Polish insurrection of 1863-64. The wax seal reads "Vremennoye upravlenye Gubern. Vostoch. Sibir. Dla nadzora za politich. Prestup" (Provisional Administration of the Governor-general of Eastern Siberia for the Surveillance of Political Criminals). Exiles had to submit their mail to the authorities for censorship, some toning (Image)

Est.$250

1875 (4 Mar) registered cover from Tyumen to the Ryazan circuit court, franked with single 5k and vertical pair of 20k, tied by Tyumen departure cds, with Ryazan (16.3) arrival alongside. Postage was 45 kopecks (30k for weight, 10k for registration, and 5k for the receipt). A fine cover, illustrated in Rossica No.163 (Image)

Est.$250

1876 (19 Feb) outer FL from Telminsk (Irkutsk Province) to Riga, with straight-line "Telminskaya Irk (19.2.76)" departure, Nizhneudinsk (23.2) and Moscow (30.3 and 31.3) transits, Riga (3.4) arrival pmks, part of wax seal, clear markings, fine. Sent by the Irkutsk Salt works police to the Riga Evangelical Lutheran Consistory. The salt works, which used hard labor convicts, was a state enterprise located in Usole, five miles from Telminsk postal station (Image)

Est.$250

1877 (19 Oct) outer wrapper (without side flaps) from Tobolsk to the St. Petersburg Board of Guardians, with perfect departure postmark and paper seal (torn on opening) of the Tobolsk circuit court (Image)

Est.$150

1881 (26 Aug) registered cover (opened for display) franked on back with 13x7k red & gray (including strip of three and block of six), sent by the British Consulate in Tiflis to England, postmarked at the Tiflis first postal branch office (26.8.81), Moscow (31.8 and 1.9), St. Petersburg (2.9), and London and York (17.9). Postage was 91 kopecks (12 x 7 kopecks for weight and 7 kopecks for registration). The wax seal reads H.B.M. Consulate Tiflis, with little toning, otherwise fine and impressive cover. The consulate was writing regarding the death in Tiflis of the addressee's brother, Samuel Gabb (1832-1880), a civil engineer who had worked on the Poti-Tiflis Railway. The British Consulate opened in 1876 and closed at the end of 1881 when a consulate opened in Batum. This is the earliest known mail from the first Tiflis branch office, which had opened in the German quarter in 1879 (Image)

Est.$250