Questions About 1917 US To Russia Registered Censored Cover W/Content

I have no experience with censored and little experience with registered covers plus I can't read the language so I'm at a double disadvantage.

My first question is, are there two addressees on this cover? On the left I see a Miss Virrick, then on the right it appears another name and address.

Second is the triangle with the 5 over 6 inside a register marking?

Lastly the red pencil markings including the #118 is that the censor? You can see the 118 also shows at the top of the first page of the letter.
The same red pencil shows throughout the body of the letter, I assume this is the censors marks also but… I don't know.






Thanks for any insights or comments.

The address on the front side is the same, in English at the left and in Russian at the right - addressed to Miss Nina Ernestovna (patronymic name, daughter of Ernest) Virrich.

118 is the number of that letter duplicated on the cover and in the letter itself.

I cannot say whether it was underlined by a censor or by a recipient - the text in red at the end writes "An interesting letter"

Your first question was answered in the previous post.



This is not a registered marking. It is probably a censor marking. I can't say from where, but probably Russia.

The same for the Boxed "23" on the reverse. Likely censorship.

The censor label is probably Great Britain, but could be from anywhere that there was a British Colony censorship station along the route. I don't think mail was routed via Bermuda, etc., during World War One, but that is a possibility. One would have to know for certain where Examiner #4057 was stationed at the time of the letter, which is beyond my resources..

The violet boxed REGISTERED #248 is the US registration mark and letter number added at the office of mailing, as is the Double Circle mark on the backflap at top left: "WILLIS MASS /REGISTERED." This is in accordance with US registration regulations that no date stamp is to appear on the front of a registered letter, but must be on the reverse and along the backflap. This regulation was to force the postal clerk to verify the letter was properly sealed when received.

The two New York oval markings on the back: "New YORK / REC'D (9) FOR'GN" were applied at the Foreign section of the New York Registry Division, and were the result of a clerk again verifying that the letter was properly sealed.




I think it is likely that the "118" is a letter number, indicating this is the 118th letter sent in a series. The recipient probably added the #118 to the envelope after receipt and reading the letter, to make it easier to keep in sequence.

The red pencil with "29 / x11/17" is probably the date received, and was added by the recipient.

The red pencil "85 ???" is again probably a notation by the recipient. Perhaps a note as to cash received with the letter?

Upon a closer examination, I can state that the markings in red were made by the recipient. The key one is in the lower left corner - 85... - it's in Russian, 85 dney, i.e. 85 days (time the letter was on the root)

mml1942, wow! VERY interesting - thank you for deciphering everything written, stamped, and placed on this envelope.

I was wondering myself about this cover because I too am very new to researching postal history and markings on envelopes and I am just starting to get to know what everything means. I loved reading your response - Thank you very much for carefully explaining everything there that stampcrow posted...your explanations helps me out greatly when I go to research my own covers. I learned something valuable today.

Thanks to vicaf60 for providing the translation on the second address, and the explanation of the "85". I missed that one completely
Mike

Yesss agreed, thank you also vicaf60 as well - very much appreciate your knowledge input as well.

Calendars:
The origin registry postmark is dated October 17, 1917 and the red pencil mark on the front is dated 29/XII-17 (December 29, 1917), which is a difference of 73 days.
BUT .. Russia was did not convert from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar until 1918 when January 31 was followed by February 14, jumping forward and omitting 13 days for a total transit time of 86 days..
Thus the red pencil calculation of "85 days", probably forgot the 31st of October or some other simple counting glitch, but reflects the two calendars.

So it is fairly easy to find pre-1918 letters from the US or Europe to Russia which appear to be received BEFORE they are sent! Here is a thread which shows such a mail piece:
https://goscf.com/t/48119&whichpage=1#414987

Fantastic, everyone.
I will consolidate the information here and create a label to mount with this cover.