2017-08-07 Mon

David Feldman hosted a sale of worldwide stamps and postal history from 27th to 30th June in Geneva, Switzerland. The catalogue spanned several volumes, featuring France, Russia and other areas. One of the most remarkable items was a French “ballon monte” cover from the siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian war.

In late 1870 and early 1871, German forces cornered the French capital, and mail was unable to get in or out. This made the Parisians resort to the world’s first airmail service, sending mail out through a balloon or a pigeon.

Most of the balloon flights ended in disaster but a remarkable number of them were successful. Majority of letters were addressed within France, although a few scarce foreign destinations are known.

Among these is a rare ballon monte cover to Tampico, Mexico. Posted Dec. 28, 1870, and franked with an 80-centavo carmine Napoleon III stamp (Scott 36a), the letter presumably flew early the next morning on the balloon Bayard. Soon, after that, the balloon landed and the mail was recovered. The cover passed through London on 3rd January and left for Southampton on a steamship bound for the Caribbean or Central America. Ballon monte flights are listed in the Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue of Stamps and Covers 1840-1940, after France’s semi-postal stamps. The Bayard flight is listed as Scott BM52, with an average value. However, there is always a premium for covers to scarcer destinations.

The Mexico cover sold for about $25,350, including the 20 percent buyer’s premium added by Feldman to all lots.

An exhibit collection of the postal history of the Trans-Siberian railroad was among the many large lots and collections in the Feldman sale. In 1900, the railroad connected the European part of imperial Russia with its farthest-flung parts on the Pacific coast.

The 128-page exhibit focused on the postmarks used along the line from Chelyabinsk, in central Asia, to Manchuria.

Most of the markings were unique and rare; each page was embellished with maps and other details to help place their usage in context. The lot sold for $28,150.

The Russian embassy in Berlin produced a set of official airmail stamps, by overprinting consular fee stamps with words “Vozdushnaya pochta” (air mail) and the initials R.S.F.S.R. (for Russian Soviet Federative Soviet Republic), together with a denomination in German marks.

Only the lower two denominations appear to have been put into use. Of the higher denominations, the scarcest by far is the 1,200-mark-on-50-kopeck (Scott CO6). Feldman sold an unused example described as “fresh and very fine,” with a hinge remnant, for $36,600.