1882 (May 6), 7k. carmine & green, tied by framed oval "R.O.P.I.T. / BURGAS" datestamp in blue (Tchilinghirian = fig. 729) to cover to Constantinople, reverse with next-day "R.O.P.i.T. / CONSTANTINOPLE" arrival datestamp, a remarkably fresh cover of great rarity, very fine

ORGHEEV: 1887, 3 k. rose-carmine, two singles neatly tied by bluish-green Star cds to envelope (petition to a court) to Orgheev with adjacent cds “ZEMSKAYA POCHTOV. KONT. 17 MAR. 88”, light central archival crease, fine and scarce (Schmidt-Nr. 18)

1858, Coat of Arms 10 k. brown/blue, fresh colours, neatly tied by dotted rectangular “270” to entire letter to Saratov with reverse departure two-line “ARZAMAS SEPT. 29 1858”,  and front arrival large cds “SARATOV 18(58) OCT. 3”, very fine. A very scarce usage

1 k. black/yellow, 3 k. black/green and 5 k. black/deep lilac (2), fresh colours, tied by small posthorn cds. “SMOLENSK JAN. 1882” to reverse of small registered envelope to Groß Basel, Switzerland, on front German label for foreign registered mail “Vom Ausland über Eydtkuhnen-Dirschau Eingeschrieben” and Russian framed “ZAKAZNOE”, reverse transit via travelling post office and arrival cds. “BASEL 23 I 82”, very fine 

1868, 3 k. black/green, vivd colours, neatly tied by red cds “S. PETERBURG CITY POST 19 MAY 1872” repeated alongside to formula card (first issue), fine text in French on reverse “Please be kind enough to come at my place to finish our negociations…”, superb and very scarce usage

5 k. black/lilac, fresh colours, neatly tied by cds “REVAL 2 JUNE 1872" repeated alongside to formula card (first issue) addressed to Gapsal with adjacent arrival cds, one perf tip with a tiny tone spot, the card with some minor water stains on reverse, still fine. An extremely scarce usage of the 5 k. on vertically laid paper showing the inland formula card rate in force from 1st January 1872

7 k. grey/carmine, vertical pair of fresh colours, tied by superb two-line “ST SHUMOVSKAYA MARCH 20 1879” to double weight step envelope to Simbirsk with reverse arrival cds on the same day, slight peripheral toning of no importance, fine. An exceptionally early use of the 7 kopek value issued a few days before

1899, Empress Maria advertising postal stationery lettersheet 5 k. light lilac, Issue # 125 (dated 1901), complete, unused, very fine

“DZHALIA-ABAD FERG(HANA) 28 11 21”, on money order card for the sum of 100,000 roubles with 250 roubles (x8) sent to a prisoner at Syzran´s county jail, together with “P-T KONT. PETRO. VEYMARN. 24 11 21”  and “NIKOLAEVSKA SIMB. 30 11 21” to registered money order cards, all franked with 1921 RSFSR definitives, small fault to very fine. A scarce trio showing the usage of the definitives on money transfer forms

“KHOLM” straighline on 10 k. brown/blue to reverse of an envelope to St Petersburg, alongsisde departure cds “KOLM 10 MAY 1869” and arrival cds “S. PETERBURG 12 MAY 1869”, very fine. A most unusual usage of a prehilatelic handstamp as an obliterator, signed Mikulski 

“SMOLNECHNOGORSK STANTS 22 JULY 1871” two-line repeated twice on 10 k. brown/blue (2) to double weight step envelope to “KROVELETS 28 JULY 1871”, on the reverse endorsement “Comtesse d´Alsoufieff” and the scarce two-line station mark repeated with departure day corrected “23”, fine and most unusual

“1179” LAPI, dotted Triangular, two very fine strikes on 7 k. grey/carmine-rose bloc of four paying the quadruple weight step rate to a large envelope to the Nobility Trustees in St Petersburg, with its reverse matching departure two-line “LAPI LOMZHI GUB 23 AUGUST 1875” and arrival cds “S. PETERBURG 24 AOU. 1875”. The envelope with a light diagonal crease at lower right affecting one adhesive and one archival fold at left, still fine. A rare...