1914 (16 Jan) registered cover to Berlin, franked with single 20k carmine & blue, tied by Aleksandrovsk on Sakhalin cds, with two registry labels (one in Cyrillic), additional departure (21 Jan), St. Petersburg transit (13 Feb) and Berlin arrival (28 Feb) pmks on back, fine and scarce usage (Sakhalin is a large Russian island in the North Pacific Ocean, administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast. About one fifth the size of Japan, Sakhalin is just off the east coast of Russia, and just north of Japan. Japanese forces invaded and occupied Sakhalin in the closing stages of the Russo-Japanese War. Per the Treaty of Portsmouth of 1905, the southern part of the island reverted to Japan, while Russia retained the northern three-fifths. In 1920, during the Siberian Intervention, Japan again occupied the northern part of the island, returning it to the Soviet Union in 1925) (Image)

Est.$1,000