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Europe and Colonies continued...

France continued...
LotNo. Symbol CatNo. Lot Description
226 BM50 imageFrance, 1870 (27 Dec), Tourville (Scott BM50), folded letter to Chateauroux postmarked Sénat, 23 Dec; 20c Siege of Paris tied by star "6", backstamped Chateauroux (29 Dec), Fine to Very Fine, not endorsed "Par Ballon Monté".
Yvert €370 ($480). Maury 50; €450 ($590).
Scott $325.
Estimate $150 - 200. (Image) 		Scott $325
Est. $150-200
SOLD for $100.00
Will close during Public Auction
227 BM52 imageFrance, 1870 (29 Dec), Bayard (Scott BM52), folded letter to Nantes postmarked Paris (60) cds, 28 Dec; 20c Siege of Paris tied by mute star, backstamped Nantes (31 Dec); stamp with clipped perfs, Very Fine.
Yvert €385 ($500). Maury 52; €500 ($660).
Scott $350.
Estimate $150 - 200

The Bayard was carried northeast by strong winds, sometimes as high as 45 mph. The pilot managed to land just ten miles short of destruction in the North Sea. (Image) 		Scott $350
Est. $150-200
SOLD for $110.00
Will close during Public Auction
228 BM52 imageFrance, 1870 (29 Dec), Bayard (Scott BM52), envelope to Epoisse postmarked Paris/Belleville, 27 Dec; 20c Siege of Paris tied by large numeral "432", backstamped Epoisse (8 Jan), Fine to Very Fine.
Yvert €385 ($500). Maury 52; €500 ($660).
Scott $350.
Estimate $150 - 200. (Image) 		Scott $350
Est. $150-200
SOLD for $120.00
Will close during Public Auction
229 BM53 imageFrance, 1870 (31 Dec), Armée de la Loire (Scott BM53), folded letter to Chateauroux on Ballon Monté formular letter sheet postmarked R. Bonaparte (30 Dec); 20c Siege of Paris tied by star "15", backstamped Chateauroux (7 Jan), Very Fine.
Yvert €385 ($500). Maury 53; €500 ($660).
Scott $350.
Estimate $200 - 300. (Image) 		Scott $350
Est. $200-300
SOLD for $120.00
Will close during Public Auction
230 BM53 imageFrance, 1870 (31 Dec), Armée de la Loire (Scott BM53), folded letter to Salles la Source postmarked R. Bonaparte (30 Dec); 20c Siege of Paris tied by star "15", backstamped Bodez (5 Jan) and Salle la Source (6 Dec); stamp with faulty corner, Very Fine.
Yvert €385 ($500). Maury 53; €500 ($660).
Scott $350.
Estimate $150 - 200. (Image) 		Scott $350
Est. $150-200
SOLD for $200.00
Will close during Public Auction
231 BM55 imageFrance, 1871 (9 Jan), Duquesne (Scott BM55), folded letter to Excideuil on Ballon Monté formular letter sheet postmarked Gare du Nord (5 Jan); 20c Napoleon Laureate tied by star "26", backstamped Excideuil (19 Jan); slight stain at upper right, otherwise Very Fine.
Yvert €385 ($500). Maury 55; €450 ($590).
Scott $285.
Estimate $100 - 150

The Duquesne was the first balloon built with experimental steering gear, invented by Admiral Labrousse, working with M. Richard, who piloted the balloon. It was soon determined that the apparatus had no appreciable effect on the course of the balloon. During the landing, the basket hit with such force that Richard was seriously injured. (Image) 		Scott $285
Est. $100-150
SOLD for $150.00
Will close during Public Auction
232 BM57 imageFrance, 1871 (11 Jan), Kepler (Scott BM57), folded letter to Barbezieux postmarked r. de Clery (10 Jan); 20c Siege of Paris tied by star "24", backstamped Barbezieux (13 Jan); stamp with nibbed corner, otherwise Very Fine, not endorsed "Par Ballon Monté".
Yvert €500 ($660). Maury 57; €500 ($660).
Scott $350.
Estimate $150 - 200. (Image) 		Scott $350
Est. $150-200
SOLD for $90.00
Will close during Public Auction
233 59 imageFrance, 1871 (Jan. 11), Général-Faidherbe (Maury 59), 20c Napoleon Laureate on Gazette des Absents No. 25 to Dinan; Paris postmark 11 Jan, backstamped 16 Jan, Very Fine.
Scott BM59; $350. Yvert €385+ ($500).
Maury €500+ ($660).
Estimate $150 - 200. (Image) 		Maury €500+ ($660)
Est. $150-200
SOLD for $100.00
Will close during Public Auction
234 BM62 imageFrance, 1871 (18 Jan), Poste de Paris (Scott BM62), folded letter with black mourning border to Dover, England postmarked R. Montaigne, 16 Jan); 30c Napoleon Laureate tied by stat "9", red boxed "PD", backstamped Dover (29 (?) Jan), Very Fine.
Yvert €790 ($1,040). Maury 62; €750 ($980).
Scott $575+.
Estimate $350 - 500

The letter, written in English from the Hotel Windsor, tells of the death of the sender's mother and talks of the conditions in Paris and of the heroic efforts of a Dr. Smyth, the only English Protestant clergyman to remain in Paris during the siege. (Image) 		Scott $575+
Est. $350-500
SOLD for $275.00
Will close during Public Auction
235 BM62 imageFrance, 1871 (18 Jan), Poste de Paris (Scott BM62), folded letter to Brussels, Belgium postmarked Rue d'Enghien, 17 Jan; 30c Napoleon Laureate (nibbed corner) tied by star "4", boxed "PD", backstamped Brussels (24 Jan), Very Fine.
Yvert €790 ($1,040). Maury 62; €750 ($980).
Scott $575.
Estimate $200 - 300. (Image) 		Scott $575
Est. $200-300
SOLD for $130.00
Will close during Public Auction
236 BM63 imageFrance, 1871 (18 Jan), Général Bourbaki (Scott BM63), folded letter to St. Valery-sur-Somme postmarked R. Bonaparte, 18 Jan; 20 Napoleon Laureate tied by star "15", backstamped St. Valery-sur-Somme (26 Jan), Very Fine.
Yvert €385 ($500). Maury 63; €500 ($660).
Scott $350.
Estimate $200 - 300. (Image) 		Scott $350
Est. $200-300
SOLD for $120.00
Will close during Public Auction
237 BM64 imageFrance, 1871 (22 Jan), Général Daumesnil (Scott BM64), envelope to Montpelier postmarked R. St. DomQUE St. GN 53, 20 Jan; 20c Siege of Paris tied by star "20", backstamped Montpelier (31 Jan), with original letter; stamp with few toned perfs, otherwise Very Fine.
Yvert €370 ($480). Maury 64; €465 ($610).
Scott $325.
Estimate $100 - 150. (Image) 		Scott $325
Est. $100-150
SOLD for $190.00
Will close during Public Auction
238 BM65 imageFrance, 1871 (24 Jan), Torricelli (Scott BM65), envelope to Montpelier postmarked R. St. DomQUE St. GN 53, 22 Jan; 20c Siege of Paris tied by star "20", backstamped Montpelier (2 Feb); stamp with few toned perfs, otherwise Very Fine.
Yvert €560 ($730). Maury 65; €600 ($790).
Scott $425.
Estimate $150 - 200. (Image) 		Scott $425
Est. $150-200
SOLD for $170.00
Will close during Public Auction
239   imageFrance, 1870-71, Siege of Paris, Gazette des Absents, complete set of four illustrated supplements on pelure paper including the map of Paris in color and the infamous "Slaughter of the Elephant in the Garden of Acclimatization" (see below). A lovely, unmailed set of these rare original etchings, fresh; few very minor tone spots, mostly in blank margin, otherwise Very Fine.
Yvert €2,760 ($3,620). Maury €2,100 ($2,750).
Estimate $1,000 - 1,500

During the siege, Parisians were reduced to eating cats, dogs, and rats. However, the bourgeoisie, who still dined at the deluxe restaurants, demanded much higher fare. As food reserves dwindled, these restaurants, including Voisin, a restaurant run by renowned chef Alexandre-Étienne Choron, eyed the animals kept at the local zoos. For the midnight Christmas meal of 1870, Choron proposed a menu principally composed of the best parts of the animals kept in the Garden of Acclimatization, an amusement park for children opened in 1860 in the Bois du Boulogne. His dishes included elephant consommé, roasted camel, kangaroo stew, bear shanks roasted in pepper sauce and wolf in deer sauce. A week after the elephant from the Garden of Acclimatization graced the Christmas table at Voisin, the two elephants (Castor and Pollux) from the Paris Zoological Garden were consumed at the New Year's Eve meal. (Image) 		Est. $1,000-1,500
SOLD for $1,100.00
Will close during Public Auction
240   imageFrance, 1870-71, Siege of Paris: Boule de Moulins, folded letter to Paris endorsed "Paris par Moulins (Allier)", postmarked (and datelined) Potrieux, 31 Dec; postage (apparently a strip of five 20c stamps) has been washed off, as has the postage on a majority of these letters, Very Fine.
Estimate $250 - 350

As an alternative to the pigeon post, the "Boules de Moulins" were zinc spheres, 20cm (about 8") in diameter, which were to be filled with mail and floated down the Seine into Paris. The charge for this service was 1fr, representing 20c postage and 80c to be paid by postal authorities to creators of the system, 40c upon departure and 40c upon arrival. The system was a resounding failure. Between January 4-28, 1871, more than 40, 000 letters were sent by this method—none made it to Paris during the siege. They were found later, one "bottle" being recovered as recently as 1988. (Image) 		Est. $250-350
SOLD for $150.00
Will close during Public Auction
241   imageFrance, 1870-71, Siege of Paris: Pigeon Post, two actual microfilms of official dispatches carried by Steenacker's pigeons, one 30x55mm and holding 16 pages of documents, the other 30x22mm; also a contemporary photographic print of a third microfilm on collodion paper (39x52mm), the last from the "Lafollye" album and not flown; also included are two unused slightly different forms on which a correspondent could answer four "yes" or "no" questions to be microfilmed to be sent into Paris; one of them is pre-franked with an unused 1862 5c Napoleon (Scott 23), Very Fine, a very scarce group.
Estimate $750 - 1,000

The pigeon post was used to get news of the outside world into Paris during the siege. Homing pigeons were carried out of Paris on the same balloons that carried the mail. Messages from unoccupied France were collected, microfilmed (many on a single piece of film) and placed in capsules attached to the pigeons, which were then released to fly back to Paris. Once back in Paris the microfilms were projected onto large screens from which they were individually transcribed onto forms similar to telegraph forms, and forwarded to their intended recipients. The service began on
September 27, 1870 and formally ended on January 31, 1871. During the four months of the pigeon post's existence, more than a million messages were carried into Paris by pigeon.

P. F. Steenackers was Director-General of Telegraphs and Posts (including pigeons) at Tours, one of the two cities where the pigeons were based (the other being Poitiers). It was Steenacker who saw the value of the microfilm in this endeavor. (Image) 		Est. $750-1,000
CLOSED
Will close during Public Auction
242   imageFrance, 1870-71, Ballons Montés balance, small miscellaneous group comprising three covers and a card mailed during the Siege but, due to the length of time needed for delivery and to the lack of ballon monté endorsement, apparently sent by conventional means; first two are from the same correspondence to Vitré, dated 20 & 21 Sep and backstamped Vitré, 24 & 21 Oct, respectively; 3rd is postmarked Pl. de la Bourse, 23 Sep, to Dagachon, where it was backstamped 22 Oct; the card was to Boulogne-sur-Mer and is postmarked Ministere des Finances, 10 Oct, and backstamped Boulogne-s-Mer, 17 Nov; also included are two different unused Depeche-Réponse for sending communications into Paris, three unused blue ballon monté lettersheets, and two imperf propaganda labels urging independence for Alsace-Lorraine, one in French, the other in German. An interesting lot.
Estimate $250 - 350. (Image) 		Est. $250-350
SOLD for $325.00
Will close during Public Auction
243   imageFrance, 1870-71, Ballon Monté literature, 16 paperback publications comprising three in French: Le Poste par Ballons Montés, 1870-1871 by J. LePileur (1943); Catalogue des Ballons Montés du Siège de Paris (1870-1871), Yvert & Tellier (1947); La Poste a Paris pendant le Siège et sous la Commune (1870-1871) by Léon Chamboissier (1914) [covers loose]; and in English: French Philatelic Facts, June 1951; and 12 issues of The Airpost Journal, 1954-1955, each with a ballon monté article by Louis Chaintrier [translated from French]; a useful group, Very Fine.
Estimate $100 - 150. (Image) 		Est. $100-150
CLOSED
Will close during Public Auction
244   imageFrance, 1870-71, Franco-Prussian War: French Prisoner of War, Prussian Fieldpost card sent by M. Vallier, a prisoner of war being held in Silesia, to his parents in Carpentras, informing them of his capture at the Siege of Strasbourg on 28 Sep; datelined Neisse, 20 Oct; blue Prussian Army/Neisse handstamp, Carpentas receiver, 5 Nov; vertical file fold, otherwise Very Fine, scarce.
Estimate $200 - 300. (Image) 		Est. $200-300
CLOSED
Will close during Public Auction
245   imageFrance, 1870-71, Franco-Prussian War postal history, two Prussian covers and a front: 1). cover postmarked "K:Pr:Feld-Post-Amt, 8. Armee Cps," cds, 7 Dec 1870; 2). cover postmarked Ansbach, 14 Jan 1871, to a French prisoner of war in Magdeburg, backstamped Prussian censor handstamp and Magdeburg cds (16 Jan); 3). registered cover front postmarked "K.Pr. Feldpost-Relais, No. 20", 1 Sep, with blue boxed unit marking.
Estimate $150 - 200. (Image) 		Est. $150-200
CLOSED
Will close during Public Auction
Other Postal History
LotNo. Symbol CatNo. Lot Description
246 36 imageFrance, 1868, folded letter from Le Havre to Trinidad (Scott 36), franked with 80c rose perforated Napoleon III issue, prepaying the single-weight letter rate to Trinidad, stamp tied by "1769" lozenge, adjacent Le Havre May 16, 1868 circular datestamp, red "PD" marking & London transit, backstamped receiving postmark, Fine to Very Fine, scarce destination.
Estimate $200 - 300. (Image) 		Est. $200-300
CLOSED
Will close during Public Auction
247 36 imageFrance, 1870, folded letter from Marseille to Jacmel, Haiti (Scott 36), franked with 80c rose perforated Napoleon III issue, prepaying the single-weight letter rate to Haiti, stamp tied by "2240" lozenge, adjacent Marseille Apr. 14, 1870 circular datestamp, red "PD" marking & London transit, backstamped Marseille-Paris railroad postmark, Fine to Very Fine, scarce destination.
Estimate $200 - 300. (Image) 		Est. $200-300
CLOSED
Will close during Public Auction
248 48, 57 imageFrance, 1870, Bordeaux, 80c rose on pinkish and Siege of Paris, 20c dull blue on bluish, pair (Scott 48, 57), tied on cover by numeral "1441" star cancels and red PAID London transit circular datestamp, adjacent Etoile Jul. 23, 1871 dispatch & receiving datestamps, plus "2/ CENTS" & "PD" framed handstamps, addressed to San Francisco, with two French railroad postmarks on reverse; cover and stamps with few faults, otherwise Fine to Very Fine, a scarce transatlantic cover, signed Calves.
Maury 37, 49.
Estimate $250 - 350. (Image) 		Est. $250-350
CLOSED
Will close during Public Auction
249 () 54b imageFrance, 1870, Siege of Paris, 10c bister on yellowish, bisected (Scott 54b), tied on address panel with 20c by numeral "3422" cancels, adjacent Solesmes 1871 double-circle datestamp, addressed to Bordeaux; light file fold affecting adhesives, otherwise Fine to Very Fine, a rare piece of postal history, ex Blenis, signed Calves with photocopy from 1994 auction catalog with description, Calves embossed seal & signature.
Maury 36 tc; €6,250 ($8,190).
Scott $5,000.
Estimate $800 - 1,200. (Image) 		Scott $5,000
Est. $800-1,200
CLOSED
Will close during Public Auction
250 37,58 imageFrance, 1874, letter from Paris to Castelsarrasin (Scott 37,58), address panel franked with 5fr x2 gray Napoleon III & 25c two horizontal pairs + vertical pair blue Ceres perforated issues, prepaying the declared-value rate, stamps tied by multiple "1" stars of dots cancels, plus red Oct. 23, 1874 rectangular handstamp tying 5fr stamp & 25c pair; 5fr stamp with faults, Fine, a rare franking.
Yvert 33,60C.
Estimate $1,000 - 1,500. (Image) 		Est. $1,000-1,500
SOLD for $550.00
Will close during Public Auction

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