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Auction: 26015 - "The Treasure of the Eagles" Collection of Albania - Part I
Lot: 3046

(x) Austrian Levant & Ottoman Postal Interaction in Albania (1869-1870)
1869 (July 20). Cover from Pest to Scutari, bearing Austria 1867 Coarse Printing 5kr. red, pair and single, paying 5kr. for the overland rate and 10kr. for the coastal maritime carriage, tied by "Pest Dél Ötán" c.d.s.'s, with application in Scutari of Turkey 1869 1pi. yellow, cancelled by a superb strike of "scutari d'albanie" (29.7) small thimble c.d.s. in blue. Small gum stains impinging on the Turkish franking and not detracting. An extremely rare cover from this origin featuring a mixed Austrian-Ottoman franking.

provenance: Anton & Elisabeth Jerger and Richard Wittenberg
Note: During the 19th century, the usual route for the transport of mail between the Kosovan territory of Ottoman Albania and Pest, capital of the Hungarian part of the Austrian Empire, was a north–south overland route crossing the disinfection station of Semlin, located along the sanitary cordon on the border with Serbia. More rarely, as in this case, and when particularly important letters required a safer route handled by more reliable postal agents, the communication was carried via the land–sea–land connection Pest–Vienna–Trieste–Antivari–Scutari–Prizren. Letters arriving at the Austrian Consulate of Scutari (Shkoder) and destined for other locations within the Ottoman Empire were subject to the payment of an additional postal tariff for transport by Turkish couriers to the final destination. Starting from mid-1869 and for less than two years, the Austrian Consulate in Scutari replaced the Ottoman Post Office by applying Duloz stamps to the letters in accordance with the Ottoman tariff required for inland transport, cancelling them with a small “thimble” date postmark and delivering the mail to the Turkish couriers for conveyance to the final destination.

Subject to 5% tax on Hammer Price in addition to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium.

Estimate
£1,500 to £2,500

Starting price
£1300