Public auction #38

1870/71: Outstanding collection of the postal history of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71, including many rarities as for example: BALLON MONT franked by 40c sent to an ALGERIAN "TIRAILLEUR INDIG NE" POW in Mageburg, Prussia. Several extremely fine Ballon Monté with correspondance d armée cancels: "ARMEE DU RHIN Bau AL" on postcard (only few known normally only on cover); "ARMEE DU RHIN Bau AN" (outstanding quality, ex Dubus collection); "ARMEE FRANCAISE + LOSANGE A.F.J". Printed CIRCULAIRE OFFICIELLES for a "Taxe habitations" send by Ballon Monté to the german state of Baden, with arrival (UNIQUE); cover carried by the very rare BALLON " GALIT " which only exists as pli confié, here send postage due with railroad cancel (of the few galité covers known this is the ONLY ONE KNOWN WITH THIS POSTMARK); Ballon Monté "La ville de Paris" captured by the german and only released 7 month later ! ( with arrival postmark 27 juil 71); 80c Napoléon on Ballon Monté to VILNIUS, LITHUANIA (RR); Ballon Monté cover REDIRECTED to Switzerland with 10 BORDEAUX franking (the only possibility to find the Bordeaux issue on Ballon Monté RR); LE RICHARD WALLACE, the last Ballon of the siege which got lost at sea, here a cover found on the beach of la Tremblade and restored by the local post office with several sheet margins of the 1c of the Bordeaux (CERTAINLY THE MOST SPECTACULAR COVER KNOWN OF THIS RARE FLIGHT); A 1.2.1871 cover sent by the the first dispatch after the end of the siege. Because of the german control it had to be sent unclosed and postage due, here THE ONLY KNOWN TO SWEDEN; BOULE DE MOULIN rediscovered only in 1882 from the famous "REP CHAGE DE CHOISSY LE ROI" with official circulaire explaining the delay of 11 years (UNIQUE WITH THE ORIGINAL CORRESPONDANCE); Boule de Moulin with its 1 franc franking consisting of 4 examples the rare 20c type I and one example of the very rare 20c type II in the ultramarine shade (UNIQUE and ONE OF THE MOST SPECTACULAR FRANKINGS KNOWN ON A BOULE DE MOULIN); Smuggled mail by the "Compagnie des courriers" with manuscript "donner au porteur 20 francs"; Various SIEGE DE BELFORT mail including "LETTRE SORTIE PAR LA CROIX ROUGE" (RRR); Siége de Sélestat both types of the very spectacular siege handstamp "IN SCHLETTSTADT VORGEFUNDEN" (one of three out of about 10 covers known) and the spelling error handstamp "IN SLCHETTSTAD VORGEFUNDEN" (one out of three covers known), this is certainly the largest selection (4 covers !) ever offered of this handstamp which is the only specific to a siege of any city during the 1870 war; "ARMEE DE LA LOIRE / CARTE CORRESPONDANCE" used postage free from Lyon 2 fevr. 71 (ONLY TWO KNOWN = THE RAREST POSTCARD FORMULAR OF THE 1870 WAR); several CROIX ROUGE handstamps on postage free covers including PONT l EVEQUE and an important cover from the "SOCIETE INTERNATIONALE DE SECOURS POUR LES PRISONNIERS DE GUERRE COMIT DE BRUXELLES" with original contents "CARTE DE PRISONNIERS FRANCAIS EN ALLEMAGNE" (UNIQUE as such); a selection of french stamps directly related to the 1870 War including a rare BORDEAUX ISSUE 4c strip of five on cover; 5c + 20c Bordeaux on cover to Luxemburg (A UNIQUE FRANKING showing this 25c border rate); 5c Bordeaux with the RARE LYON PERFORATION + 20c Siege on cover (RRR); MIXED FRANKING BORDEAUX ISSUE + MEXICO on cover (by far the best of the THREE KNOWN); MIXED FRANKING FRANCE-BELGIUM of june 1870 (RRR), MIXED FRANKING FRANCE-SWITZERLAND of july 1871 in order to avoid the double franking to Alsace-Lorraine (RR); 25c PROVISIONAL HANDSTAMP OVERPRINT OF CREUILLY on Cér s issue cover (UNIQUE); 25c Cér s used DOUBLE PRINT (ONLY TWO KNOWN & THE RAREST VARIETY OF THIS STAMP). German red cross mail (RR); INSURED FELDPOST from Baden (RR); Württemberg Feldpost sent to Switzerland (RR); Alsace-Lorraine rare frankings and postmarks; German Eagle issue 1/4 Groschen + 1/2 Gr. in combination with France (UNIQUE); Alsace-Lorraine the first registration label of the world on cover from ALGERIA (UNIQUE and certainly the most spectacular cover known with this registration label). Many items of this outstanding collection have french certificates or are signed by famous experts. (A)