U.S. & Worldwide Stamps & Postal History

1885 (14 Aug) 4k stationery card sent by the explorer Sven Hedin from the Tiflis railway station to his father in Stockholm, with Moscow transit and Stockholm arrival pmks, fine (Hedin, on the first of many trips to Russia, was on his way to Balakhany, a suburb of Baku, to act as tutor to the son of Erhard Sandgren, who worked for Nobel Oil. He writes "Dear Dad and Mom, I am now in Asia. We left Vladikavkaz at 6 am Tuesday morning. We traveled in two carriages. The Sandgrens and engineer Fernstrom used the smaller one and I was on the one with the luggage. I had the better view. Now and then we changed places. From Vladikavkaz one follows the Georgian military road. It is a marvel of engineering, snaking along the vertical mountain sides. For several hours one has the top of Mt. Kazbek above one's head. It is overwhelmingly magnificent. The mountains are incredible. They disappear in a bluish fog and are covered by snow. There are no words to describe them. In any case we traveled all day and changed horses at every station. I have twenty photographs of the mountains and stations. We continued all through the night because Sandgren wanted to meet someone in Tiflis. The road is 20 Swedish miles (200 km) long. Where it is very steep one drives with 5-6 horses. We were blessed with gorgeous moonshine and imposing fairytale pictures. Tiflis is a nice city. I am very tired after the journey through the night. Greetings to all from Sven")
Estimate: $150