Lot 539

1917 Tsingshih (29 May) to Finland but not delivered due to WWI, f.w. Junk 1c + 3c in strip of 3, tied by Tsingshih bilingual cds. With "Via Siberia" annotation. Transit Hankow (4 Jun), Harbin (6 Jun) but did not proceed further and redirected to USA where the cover censored and resealed. Then returned to Return Letter Office at Shanghai (3 Oct). On front f.w. New York PO slip, stating that delivery to or via Germany was suspended while mails to some parts of Russia were accepted at sender's risk. Historical

1917.5.29 津市寄芬蘭但因一戰而未被送遞，貼帆船1分 + 3分三連，銷津市腰框日戳。寫有“via Siberia”批示。6.4經漢口，6.6經哈爾濱。但應未有前進而改經美國，於美國檢查重封，10.4退回上海退信局。正貼紐約郵局告示，指停止送遞寄/經德國郵件，但仍可寄俄國部分地區，惟寄件人責任自負。極具歷史意義。