David Jay - 6/20/2018 at 00:44
Another very nice Rossica issue, a while back (its been busy in my part of the world).
Meer Kossoy has a very nice article on labels in various covers applied by the St Petersburg post that were designed to be applied to items that were
unfranked, under-franked, franked with invalid stamps, invalid postal stationary items (outdated), or found in damaged condition. There is another one
in yellow for items received in damaged condition from other offices. K&R list all the items, but the explanations for the use of the labels in
the Kossoy article was really enlightening. Most of these labels are scarce to very scarce, but the two small ones in purple are less so -- I have a
half dozen and have sold others to friends.
I have little to add to the article, but it does seem relevant to show a nice example that also has an SPB geometric XXXI -- the conjunction of two
very scarce factors on one card.
David Jay - 6/20/2018 at 00:47
This is the earlier of the two labels, the one that leaves out the most common reason for the label in the first place -- the fact that the item is
underfranked. In theory, the postman was to have crossed out the non-applicable reasons (both of them in this case) and initialed the item. None of
this happened.