Help With 1870's-80's Collection Of Letters/Envelopes Posted From Around The World

Hello,

Hoping to solicit some help with a small collection I recently obtained. I know very little about stamps and stamp collecting. This collection is a series of 40 envelopes and letters c. late 1870's - 1880's; personal correspondence from a noted Baltic career Naval Officer to a woman he was courting in PA.

The letters are sent from all over the world, including China, Japan, Egypt, and many more exotic places. Some of the stamps have been previously removed. Every one of them has a letter inside with personable details and ties to historically important events during Russia's early privateering in the 1870s. Hoping to connect with someone who can help explain to me what these may be terms of rarity and scarcity.

Thank you for the time.

If you wish to sell the group, I might be able to recommend an auction house for the sale. I am a long time professional and have written a book about US Post Offices in China and Japan (PD file of the book is here: https://www.rfrajola.com/CandJBook.pdf). The fact the letters are from a Naval officer in Asia certainly helps -

Hi Richard. Thank you for replying - and for sending the link to your PDF; fascinating. I will send you an email with some follow up information.

If these are all from the same correspondence, in my opinion their historic value is much more significant as a group rather than as individual items. This is especially the case if the contents are intact.

Ideally these should remain as a group rather than be sold separately - but if you end up choosing the latter for whatever reason, please consider scanning each item (front, back and contents) and keeping a record of the whole correspondence in its entirety. That way, even though the items may be dispersed, their context would remain intact.

If you make such a record it would be a good idea to publish it somewhere - perhaps you can try to contact a society specialising in Russian postal history for help on this matter?

I imagine the envelopes which (unfortunately) have had stamps removed would be worth relatively little from a philatelic point of view, but they should still retain some historic significance so do not discount them.

One of your more interesting items from a philatelic standpoint (at least to me) appears to be the third envelope in the middle, with British Indian stamps postmarked in Aden (modern Yemen). The Hong Kong cover is probably fairly valuable in its own right as well - I'm sure other members can provide more details on these.

If you have any envelopes from Malta I would be happy to give you my opinion on them.

What a wonderful find!

If they can't be kept together as a group (and they really should be), then Halfpenny Yellow is 100% correct. Scan each side of the envelopes and the letters so that no matter what happens, there is a permanent record of the collection.

I can help with Australian Colonies, particularly New South Wales, if there happens to be anything from there.

When you look at stamp survival rates, and then the ratio of those on cover, and then the ratio of those with the letter still inside, then you have something VERY special as far as I'm concerned.

A few years ago I acquired a batch of dozens of envelopes from a single source and there wasn't a letter in any of them.

You took the words from my mouth.
Wonderful indeed,
Would make a smashing Exhibit Frame.

PS: Fabulous scans, the first one, of bulk covers, how did you do that, please?

I note the covers are all numbered, by the author? or ?

Wow - I agree with the others. What an amazing collection. There's a great story in there I bet and would be a fun project.

What a fabulous find.

I don't believe I'm alone wondering, now, did Miss Lillie Gorhman eventually say, "yes" after this correspondence? Clearly she kept the letters so they meant something to her.

Thank you all for these responses – all of it is very helpful for me.

I could tell that the material might be special when I obtained it. They were part of a large grouping of various ephemera that I purchased from a multi-generational estate sale about a half a year ago. The contents are intact. The numbering on each letter was added either by the recipient or someone else down the line – The envelopes are in sequential order from when the recipient received them. So the letters are in order, with the contents of "#1" being after their first interaction, to the final (#43) being that of the author writing her to tell her he has married someone else. Between 1-43 is a fascinating account of what appears to be a very little told part of history from the eyes of a sailor aboard a Russian cruiser – all of it written in English. There is only one letter missing from the grouping, which was not present when I obtained them. Great advice about scanning each individually. One of the thoughts I had was the direction of publishing as well.

Bandelier, In addition to the possibility of publishing this as a contribution to postal history, if you're any kind of a writer (or want to be) there could also be a good story here. A Canadian writer Marina Endicott published a great historical fiction work based on handed down stories of spending a year sailing the south pacific in the early 19th century. The book is Voyage of the Morning Light (that's the U.S. title, in Canada it was titled The Difference). Endicott did all kinds of research for her writing even spending time aboard the actual sailing ship which is still in use today. Who knows, this could be your life's adventure! Good luck!

The content is certainly there, thank you! I will look into Marina Endicott's work - thanks for the rec.

Replying to rod222 - the first image is not actually a scan. It is a photo of all the letters laying on a piece of black poster board.

Richard does know covers, but has chosen to be secretive. I'll stick my neck out with two auction house references..

Schuyler Rumsey loves covers and is usually long winded in his writeups.

I have never dealt with them, but Raritan specializes in Russia.

edited to add - great find. As someone else pointed out, then ones with the stamps cut off are of minimal philatelic value - I would add the two US covers are also of minimal philatelic value - it is the foreign ones that are good.

eyeonwall I appreciate that. Thank you very much for the into.

Eyeonwall mentions Raritan and I have to add that I would enthusiastically endorse them. I have dealt with Nikolai at Raritan in selling and buying and he is both an expert and exceedingly honest, with a massive WW client base when it comes to Russian stamps and postal history.

The other auction house that comes to mind is Cherrystone. Also big on postal history and Russia.

Eyeonwall - I was not trying to be being secretive. I needed more information before I, or anyone for that matter, could give meaningful advice as to how to handle the material. I give philatelic advice for a living ....

In this case, the owner emailed me and provided additional information on the group and I gave him my best advice after doing some newspaper study myself. Gratis. If he chooses to disclose my advice or take my advice he can share it here if he wishes.

I will say that knowing Russian helped me identify the Russian postmarks as being of very nominal value. The real value is spread over a great geographic area of collecting interests. Best value is in Asia and the near East.