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Auction: 26015 - "The Treasure of the Eagles" Collection of Albania - Part I
Lot: 3191

(x) Partisan Liberation of Berat (1943)
1943, 2q. olive, marginal pair, and single 5q. green, overprinted in red with a five-pointed star and the "VF-LP" initials, the three tied by "berat" straight-line postmark and correctly paying the local 9 qindar rate on an envelope from the Partisan Command in Berat to Vasil Gallani, Notary Public of Berat. Only two covers and one notarial act (sent in newspaper format) are known bearing this issue; these three items represent the only genuine postal-history examples of mail franked with Partisan stamps in Albania, and the three were addressed to the Notary Vasil Gallani.

provenance: Robert Ballauri
note: The two covers and the notarial act sent through the post were discovered in the personal archive of Notary Vasil Gallani after his death (as far as we know, he was not a philatelist). None bear a dated postmark, as the only device available then was the straight-line handstamp produced in Berat in 1915 for the local issue under the regime of Essad Pasha; this postmark continued to be used provisionally after the war in 1946. The partisan issues of Berat must have been in use for a very short, though undetermined, period (as confirmed by the Luftwaffe officer Martin Erler), beginning some time after they took control of Berat on 11.9.1943 and lasting until the end of October or mid-November 1943; -the city enjoyed temporary freedom in this first period of Liberation as a city-state, which is a unique case in Albania during the war-. This item was discussed by Robert Ballauri and Martin Erler, both of whom reached the conclusion that it is a genuine piece; it was also published in a bilingual article by Robert Ballauri in issue 2/98 of “Koleksionisti”.

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

Estimate
£3,000 to £5,000

Starting price
£2600