Lucky Find- Prestamp Cover Clausenburg-Gratz

This is a recent purchase ( ebay) for 4,50 USD (including shipping).
I bought it for the cancellation - CLAUSENBURG pre-philately (now CLUJ in Romania, Trannsylvania) to Gratz.
But today I examined it more closely- and it was adressed to `Madame la contesse HOHENSTEIN, née (born) contesse Rhédei`
Her great-great granddaughter is Quenn Elisabeth II.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counte...s-Rh%C3%A9de
The wax seal on the back is intact, and the Rhedey coat of arm (on the left) is visible- so was sent by a relative- I`m still looking for the second coat of arm on the right...
http://hu.wikibooks.org/wiki/C%C3%A...y_c%C3%ADmer

So if it`s still a forgery, it`s an elaborate one.






The Hungarian version of the wikipedia article contains more information about countesse Rhedey, I found very interesting, that her father initially refused the suitor (reason: he is not speaking Hungarian)- but it seems that love was too strong- Duke Alexander of Wurtemberg quickly started to learn Hungarian and finally he obtained the hand of the countess...

Wow, great cover and great story. An excellent find.

Why do you suspect it may be a forgery? Everything looks right to me. Great Cover.

What makes me a bit suspicious is that the `Handbook of the Hungarian Pre Stamp Mail` says this type of postmark was used bw. 1841-1846. Countess Rhedey died in October 1841 (she was traweling to Graz), was buried in Erdoszentgyorgy (now Singeorgiu de Padure, Transsylvania) at 12.October. 1841. So the postmark date is a bit strange....send at 13.Oct. from Cluj - from a Rhedey family member ... So either this is an earlier usage (probably 1840), and the Catalogue is wrong, either a forgery..

How fast did the news of someone's death travel back in those days? Would the sender know that she was already dead before the letter was mailed? Could it be a form of mourning cover without the black border (not sure if this area had that tradition or not)?