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| Item # |
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US$ | Used US$ |
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237535 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
21 [1875 20 penni Ultramarine 4-Numeral, Perf 11] Used F-VF with sharp RAILWAY "42" 1870s cancellation. Attractive. ACTUAL item. |
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7.50 |
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401427 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
Scott #173 [1936 2 mk carmine M-30 Lion design] (VF) solo use on 11 March 1940 domestic CENSORED cover with nice RAILWAY cancellations: "POSTIL.J.V.I-Y. / POSTIL.J. KUP. I-Y" (bridge-posthorn style). This was sent two days before the end of the "Winter War" which spanned 30 November 1939 thru 13 March 1940. The return address is written oddly and I cannot parse it out (there may be an interesting story there). It is addressed to a puzzling address in KUPIO with a 15 March 1940 receiving postmark (bridge-posthorn style) on the reverse. I read the addressee as a woman at "Kupio / O.Y. SKT." which offers two possibilities [some information from Google AI]: 1) Suojeluskunta (Civil Guard): If the "O.Y." was a slight misread or a joke by the sender (and this was not the address of a commercial company), Sk.T. was a common historical shorthand for Suojeluskuntatoverit (Civil Guard Companions/Auxiliaries) or a localized branch of the Kuopio Civil Guard District. One function of this organization was to host foreign volunteers (mostly Swedish) that had come to Finland to defend against the Russians. 2) There was a far-right, ultra-nationalist Finnish political and paramilitary organization active in 1940 called Suomen Kansallissosialistinen Työjärjestö (The Finnish National Socialist Labor Organization), abbreviated as SKT. Again there was also a potential Swedish Link: This group was heavily active in organizing ideological volunteers, recruitment, and anti-communist paramilitary collaboration across the Nordic region. 3) If this was addressed to a commercial company in Kuopio, the most likely are: a) Savon Kirja- ja Työ Oy (Savo Book and Labor Ltd.), a major regional printing house and newspaper publisher in Kuopio. b) 2. Suomen Kenkä- ja Nahkatehdas Oy (Kuopio Branch), another massive industrial employer in the region during the Winter War era, which commonly shortened its name to SKT in logistics paperwork. The factory operated around the clock and was overwhelmingly staffed by local women stepped in to fill industrial roles. c) Savon Kiinteistö- ja Tontti Oy, a prominent regional property, housing, and estate management cooperative operating in downtown Kuopio. In 1940, Kuopio faced a massive housing crisis as tens of thousands of civilian evacuees fled eastward from Karelia after the Winter War border changes. This company managed localized housing networks and emergency shelters, employing administrative staff to process displaced families. Why might this letter have been addressed to a company instead of to a residential address? During the air raids and chaos of 1940, residential mail delivery in Kuopio was highly unreliable. It was common practice for a woman to have family letters addressed directly to her workplace (c/o O.Y. SKT). The civilian mail carrier would drop the bundle off at the corporate office secure mailroom, where a standard military or civil censor would open, read, and stamp it before clearing it for hand-delivery to her at her desk or factory station. (If you can determine what the story of this cover is, I would enjoy knowing more about it.) ACTUAL item. |
16.00 |
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