1838 outer FL from Odessa to Genova, disinfected, showing Odessa Quarantine Station markings on departure, second disinfection at Brody, with usual cover slits, charged on arrival (Image)

Est.US$250

1858 30k carmine & green, thin paper, used, colorless watermark "3" shifted completely to bottom, irregular perfs in places, well centered, fine, signed Eisold, etc., (Cat No. 4var) (Image)

Est.US$900

1881 (26 Sep) money letter (opened for display, slightly reduced at top), sent from Stretensk in Trans Baikal Territory to Helsinki, Finland. The letter contained 50 rubles. The postage was 53 kopecks (calculated on back at 21 kopecks for weight, 25 kopecks for insurance, and 7 kopecks for registration). Sent by Johan Albin Stierncreutz, who was the captain of an Amur River steamship (Image)

Est.US$150

1883 (24 July) 7k stationery entire envelope sent from the Tiflis railway station to Captain I. K. Kirpotin at the camp of the 1st Caucasian rifle battalion in Suram (Georgia), postmarked "Tiflissk. P. O. Poti-Tiflissk. ZH. D." (only recorded example) and "Pocht.Vagona Poti-Tiflissk Zh.D. Vagona Poti-Tiflissk. ZH. D.", some toning, but this is the earliest recorded mail from the Tiflis station branch office, which opened in 1873 (the Poti-Tiflis railway mail transport administration allotted money for salaries, cancelers, weights, etc. Ivan Kuzmich Kirpotin, born in 1841, fought in the Caucasian and Russo-Turkish Wars and was awarded the Order of St. George for valor. Grand Duke Michael Nikolayevich, the Caucasian viceroy, was godfather to his son) (Image)

Est.US$250

1885 (14 Aug) 4k stationery card sent by the explorer Sven Hedin from the Tiflis railway station to his father in Stockholm, with Moscow transit and Stockholm arrival pmks, fine (Hedin, on the first of many trips to Russia, was on his way to Balakhany, a suburb of Baku, to act as tutor to the son of Erhard Sandgren, who worked for Nobel Oil. He writes "Dear Dad and Mom, I am now in Asia. We left Vladikavkaz at 6 am Tuesday morning. We traveled in two carriages. The Sandgrens and engineer Fernstrom used the smaller one and I was on the one with the luggage. I had the better view. Now and then we changed places. From Vladikavkaz one follows the Georgian military road. It is a marvel of engineering, snaking along the vertical mountain sides. For several hours one has the top of Mt. Kazbek above one's head. It is overwhelmingly magnificent. The mountains are incredible. They disappear in a bluish fog and are covered by snow. There are no words to describe them. In any case we traveled all day and changed horses at every station. I have twenty photographs of the mountains and stations. We continued all through the night because Sandgren wanted to meet someone in Tiflis. The road is 20 Swedish miles (200 km) long. Where it is very steep one drives with 5-6 horses. We were blessed with gorgeous moonshine and imposing fairytale pictures. Tiflis is a nice city. I am very tired after the journey through the night. Greetings to all from Sven") (Image)

Est.US$150

1903 (11 Mar) cover franked with 2x10k dark blue, sent by Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich (brother of Tsar Nicholas II) from Gatchino to his former tutor Ferdinand Thormeyer in Carouge, Switzerland, with German "Vom Auslande uber Bahnpost 11 Eingerschrieben" Registry label, bearing the Romanov Crown and Michael's cipher on the backflap, v.f. (Image)

Est.US$250

1916 (19 Feb) cover franked with 10k dark blue, addressed to Petrograd, Shlisselburg Fortress, with oval Prison Censor cachet, v.f. (During Imperial times the fortress was used as a notorious political prison. Among its famous prisoners were Ivan VI, who was murdered in the fortress in 1764, and Lenin's brother, Aleksandr Ulyanov, who was hanged there as well) (Image)

Est.US$100

1917-24 Madagascar Postes & Telegraphes "Collection de Berne" Archive, five large sheets, dated 8 November, 1924, numbered 5-8, with 126 different horizontal (few vertical) strips of three, tied by red overprints and countersigned by the secretary and director of Post and Telegraph in Berne, Switzerland, with virtually complete R.S.F.S.R., including surcharges, Early Soviet Commemoratives and Definitives, plus Semi-Postals, Air Post (C1-5), as well as Postage Dues, some gutter strips (rare), surcharges and Imperial definitives to 10r (used in RSFSR), fine-v.f., possibly unique (Image)

Est.US$2,500

1918 (12 Apr) postal card sent by an Englishwoman in Kharkov to her brother in England, franked with two each 1k and 3k imperf. and 10k/7k Arms. The lady witnessed the German occupation of Kharkov on 8 April: "Yesterday morning we heard cannonading in the distance. The commandant went out to meet them and say we surrender and in the evening they arrived in great numbers", fine and interesting eyewitness account (Image)

Est.US$150

1922 10,000r (with periods after Cyrillic letters) on 40r slate, type I and II, usual disturbed gum, h.r., fine-v.f., signed Dr.P.Jemchouhin and Mikulski, rare, (Cat No. 200c,f) (Image)

Est.US$500

1924 50k brown, typographed, l.h., large margins all around, fresh and v.f., (Cat No. 275A) (Image)

Est.US$2,500

1924 15k lemon, l.h., well centered, fresh and v.f. example of this extremely rare stamp, showing rich color and full typographed characteristics, without the usual inclusions and faults, with 1988 Mikulski certificate ("very good quality, with full original gum, small trace of a hinge"), (Cat No. 287) (Image)

Est.US$12,500

1925 18k violet, watermarked, imperforate lower right sheet corner margin single, without the usual chalky lines, n.h., v.f., rare (Cat No. 316var) (Image)

Est.US$2,500

1925 Lomonosov, perforated and gummed essays on thick, gummed paper, n.h., v.f., (Cat No. 326-27E) (Image)

Est.US$100

1926-28 Lenin, 1r brown, 2r dark violet, 3r green, three imperforate horizontal pairs, mostly l.h., last one n.h., with handstamped guarantee mark, very rare, only a few "sets" exist (Zagorsky 128,129,221Pa) (Cat No. 342,43,406var) (Image)

Est.US$10,000

1927 10th Anniversary of October Revolution, 5k deep brown, imperforate single, h.r., disturbed gum and folded at right sheet margin, fine, (Cat No. 376a) (Image)

Est.US$250

1928 (28 May) parcel card from Moscow to New York, franked with a combination of three different Regular Issues, including 50k brown (watermarked), 40k carmine and 2r (Lenin), minor toned and paper clip rust spots, otherwise fine and attractive. Also included is a registered cover from Leningrad to USA, franked with 4k definitive issue, used in combination with two Semi-Postals (Image)

Est.US$200

1929 Pioneers, 10k olive brown, 14k slate, each perforated 12 1/2x12x10 1/2x12, l.h., fine-v.f., scarce, (Cat No. 411b,412a) (Image)

Est.US$300

1933 Order of the Red Banner, 20k black, red & yellow, perf. 9 1/2, n.h., v.f., (Cat No. 518var) (Image)

Est.US$2,500

1934 Fedorov, 20k carmine rose, 40k indigo, imperforate vertical pair, l.h. at top, bottom stamps n.h., v.f., signed Mikulski, etc., (Cat No. 529a,530a) (Image)

Est.US$2,000

1935 Spartacist Games, complete set, n.h., usual gum, fine-v.f., (Cat No. 559-568) (Image)

Est.US$200

1935 Kalinin, 3k, 5k, 10k and 20k set of four perforated trial color proofs in brown, v.f., rare (Cat No. 573-76P) (Image)

Est.US$6,000

1935 Kalinin, 20k brown black, imperforate horizontal pair, h.r., v.f., (Cat No. 576a) (Image)

Est.US$1,000

1938 First Trans-Polar Flight, 20k brown black & red, vertical pair imperf. between, canceled to order (with original gum), v.f., extremely rare, with 2016 Zagorsky certificate (Zverev $6,500) (Cat No. 637var) (Image)

Est.US$4,250

1946 Sverdlov Theater Square, 20k red brown, horizontal strip of three, imperf. between and at left, n.h., v.f. (Zagorsky 983Pa) (Cat No. 1062var) (Image)

Est.US$500