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Lot# 6034 - Auction 298-307

  • Lot# : 6034 DDSG

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    Catalogue# : 2
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    Danube Steam Navigation Co: 1866 10 kr. lilac, a fine and fresh used example on entire letter internally dated "9/20 August 1866" from Braila to Galatz tied by oval framed Ship Sailing Number handstamp "ZRINYI / 149" in blue (Tchilinghirian fig. 306). The adhesive was detached from the cover and re-glued with modified perforation, cover slightly filthy and filing fold away from the franking, a fine strike of this very scarce marking. Sold tel quel.rnrnNote: The date of issuance and the first usage of the rare 10 kr. lilac is in some way enigmatic. In a letter of the DDSG to the Austrian Ministry of Commerce from March 1868 it was stated, that the single rate was already lowered from 17 to 10 kreuzer. Hurt & Kelly (1950) as well as Tchilinghirian & Stephen (1963) assumed, that the rate reduction and the simultaneous issue of the 10 kr. lilac would have happened in November 1867. However, Ringström & Tester (1981) list a group of nine covers with the 10 kr. lilac used already between July and December 1866. The present cover fits in this census as being sent on a pretty early date in August 1866, despatched by the merchant Purcowalash in Braila to the Theologo brothers in Galatz with another cover from this correspondence already being part of the census. One could argue that the first dates for the 10 kr. rate in the literature are simply wrong and that this has to be assumed in July 1866 not in November 1867. What makes the situation enigmatic is the fact that the previous issue, the 17 kr. scarlet perf. 9½ is not known from earlier dates than March 1867, i. e, after the rate should have been reduced already to 10 kreuzer.rnInterestingly, strikes of this Ship Sailing Number handstamp 'ZRINYI' are nearly exclusively found on the rare 10 kr. lilac while nearly no material exists on the 10 kr. green suggesting that this vessel navigated the lower Danube primarily in the years 1866-1868.rnProvenance: Collection J. Steindler, RL, Basel (March 1972) lot 136; collection Dr. Anton & Elisabeth Jerger, Dorotheum, Vienna, (Nov. 2003), lot 57.
    Starting bid : 1,500 CHF
    Hammer price : 6,000 CHF