Auction 265th - 273rd - Day 5

Imperial Post 1868 (Apr 30): Entire letter from Messina to Taganrog, brought by courrier to Constantinople, bearing right marginal horizontal pair of 1868 10 kop. carmine & green perf. 11½, cancelled with two strikes of mute Retta Shipmail obliterator in blue. Information strike of "ROPiT KONSTANTINOP. AGENT. 30 III 68" cds with inverted day slug in blue alongside (Tchilinghirian fig. 8). Filing folds away from the stamps and postmarks, some wear and tear, but an interesting cover.rnNote: This first issue of the Imperial Post in the Levant (if one neglects the 6 kop. 'banderol' stamp) came into use on May 1st, 1868 when the Constantinople Consular P.O. was closed and the ROPiT P.O. became the only official Russian office. This cover is therefore a usage one day before the Official take over of the ROPiT office.